Insurance on Shopbot?

[Davo]

I cannot find a single company to insure the machine with, they all say they cannot insure it

Statefarm, farmers, Allstate

All said they can't

[coryatjohn]

If you have your shop in your home, you should be able to add it as a "listed" item. That's what we do.

[Davo]

Yea that's no longer an option for my, I rent now and the machine is in a storage facility

[coryatjohn]

I can see why you would have trouble getting insurance.

[tri4sale]

Are you trying to insure it against damage / theft while in storage or are you trying to insure it for business use issues?

[Davo]

Both, it operates out of this warehouse inside my trailer, so theft, fire, transport etc

[ken_rychlik]

How about auto insurance on the trailer rig?

[Davo]

My trailer is covered, but they said the contents probably won't cover the cost of the machine

[tri4sale]

Give Hiscox a call, they do a lot of small business insurance.

http://www.hiscox.com/

They do some insurance for my small business that a lot of the big names won't (or charge an astronomical charge for). You might run into issues if trailer is titled under personal name, not business name. You may need to look into an umbrella policy or a rider on the policy to cover the ShopBot.

[jTr]

If you have a Business Owner's Policy, you can simply attach an inland marine floater on your policy with a declared value for your machine by presenting the original purchase documentation. In doing so, you are also assuring reimbursement at replacement cost, ( or at least the original price paid), as scheduled property with a declared value will not be subject to Actual Cash Value assessment in the event of a loss.

Issue at hand is not the machine, but rather the circumstances. You simply need to present this to a prospective insurance provider with different terminology. From your description, sounds like you're no different than a mobile welder, food vendor, etc. As such, a BOP will include a general equipment value, Inland Marine scheduled items as described above, and some vitally important liability. (BTW, I hope you've set your business up in an LLC format while you're at it . )

Typically, an independent insurance agency with an emphasis on business coverage will have many more options and specialty markets available that are accustomed to your business format.

Final qualifier: If this is just a novelty and you're not actively operating a business, the game changes entirely. May be able to add a floater to a renter's policy, but cost may be prohibitive and indeed, you are way outside the box and can expect a continued series of rejections - the big carriers especially are not generally interested in venturing into unusual territory like this.

Margins and gray areas are where we all like to be- adventurous, cutting edge, coloring outside the lines/box, etc. Problem is, insurance companies live and die by the stats. No stats = no help.

Good luck with your venture,

Jeff