Insurance for hired out tractors

[gooseman]

My daughter runs a small hire fleet of tractors. As we have always insured with the NFU on the farm, she instinctively went to them to arrange insurance. When not hired out they are used on her own farm, where she and her partner drive them. When the tractors are hired out the hirer arranges and pay the insurance. My daughter would rather arrange the insurance, so she is in control and she can be confident the cover is in place. The NFU won't do this and will only cover the tractors when used by herself or someone under direct instruction of herself. When they go on hire she has to cancel the insurance for the exact period the tractor is on hire, so as to ensure that the tractors are never dual insured. This is a nightmare especially when there is a short hire period of a day or two, made even worse when the period covers weekends or bank holidays. Has anyone else encountered this problem and if so any ideas and suggestions would be appreciated. Have a good Easter everyone

 

[uztrac]

Visit your local plant hire company.They will have insurance in place and can advise the best way forward. Theft is the biggest worry for any hire company.

 

[Boysground]

I quite often hire tractors usually for a couple of weeks or so. I always have to do the insurance, but I see the pain it is for your daughter. There must be a way around this. Different insurance company I expect.

Sorry not much help

Bg

 

[Mur Huwcun]

Is this with the NFU branch office or actual insurance advisor? They should be able to offer a cover that doesn’t need cancelling every time. No firm will insure them for hire without an extorionate premium anyway. Maybe she needs them on some form of fleet policy or worst case scenario motor trader policy

 

[Formatted]

NFU won't be equipped to sort out of this kind of insurance. Go talk to an insurance advisor like Towergate

 

[betweenthelines]

There must be policies for "any driver with the owner's permission" as there are for cars?

In any case, she should be asking for a list of drivers and copies of their licences.

 

[Barleycorn]

I had to hire a roller when we had the silage pit tarmacked and had to insure it myself.

 

[Cowabunga]

Be very careful to actually see and copy a customer’s insurance certificate for the hired tractor or the tractor that will be used with a hired machine. Some scum will try insuring third party only, which is absolutely useless to the owner.

 

[lloyd]

Is it not best to keep the hire tractors and farm
tractors seperate otherwise seems like a bit of a muddle .
Only seeing it from the insurance co perspective.

 

[Nukemall]

Can't tell from the OP if your daughter is experienced at this, but a word of caution. A friend has a successful self storage business, and diversified briefly in to van hire, as it seemed to complement their current business. In the first month of hiring out they had a brand new transit engine swapped out for an older one, a brand new set of tyres swiped as well. Numerous other issues meant they sold most of the vans, and only hire to existing storage clients now.

On the insurance subject, surely if the nfu does not cover the hirer, then you are not double insured if you just leave your current insurance in place.

 

[RAF]

I know I shouldn’t say it but there some fair lads out there . Swapping engines I would never have thought off that !

 

[Courier]

On the other side of the page but whenever we hire extra vehicles in we always have to provide the vehicle hire company with a pdf. certificate from (in our case) the NFU with all the relevant details. A little bit of admin time involved but usually sorted within the hour and surprisingly good value.

 

[Courier]

Can't tell from the OP if your daughter is experienced at this, but a word of caution. A friend has a successful self storage business, and diversified briefly in to van hire, as it seemed to complement their current business. In the first month of hiring out they had a brand new transit engine swapped out for an older one, a brand new set of tyres swiped as well. Numerous other issues meant they sold most of the vans, and only hire to existing storage clients now.

FYI - Northgate Van Hire record tyre depths at the beginning and end of every hire period and also take a number of photographs for damages and under bonnet discrepancies - All digitally filed and countersigned by the hirer or his agent / driver.

 

[nick...]

FYI - Northgate Van Hire record tyre depths at the beginning and end of every hire period and also take a number of photographs for damages and under bonnet discrepancies - All digitally filed and countersigned by the hirer or his agent / driver.

A lot of plant hire companies do this too.pics before and after every hire and hirer signed to say so
nick...

 

[borderterribles]

I know I shouldn’t say it but there some fair lads out there . Swapping engines I would never have thought off that !

I used to know a Midlands haulier, (now deceased) that told me he'd blagged a lorry to get home to get home for weekend leave when he was on National Service. He went back to base with a different engine in it, having swapped it into his Dad's lorry!

 

[Cowabunga]

I used to know a Midlands haulier, (now deceased) that told me he'd blagged a lorry to get home to get home for weekend leave when he was on National Service. He went back to base with a different engine in it, having swapped it into his Dad's lorry!

Thieving scum!

 

[gooseman]

There must be policies for "any driver with the owner's permission" as there are for cars?

In any case, she should be asking for a list of drivers and copies of their licences.

Thanks for your reply. Yes she has any driver policy when for her own use on her farm. The trouble is that doesn't cover the tractor when its out for hire. NFU say the absolute only way is that this insurance must be temporary cancelled. Whilst the hirer arranges there own insurance. It a complete pain in the neck. Especially if the tractor comes back during a bank holiday and cant be re insured for a day or two.

 

[gooseman]

On the other side of the page but whenever we hire extra vehicles in we always have to provide the vehicle hire company with a pdf. certificate from (in our case) the NFU with all the relevant details. A little bit of admin time involved but usually sorted within the hour and surprisingly good value.

Yes thats basically what my daughter does, so if she was hiring to you she would have to "manually" cancel her insurance to exactly correspond with your period of insurance to avoid a dual insurance. This proves quite difficult at times, especially for short term hire of a few days. Keep safe and thanks for your input.

 

[Netherfield]

Try an Insurance broker.

 

[gooseman]

Can't tell from the OP if your daughter is experienced at this, but a word of caution. A friend has a successful self storage business, and diversified briefly in to van hire, as it seemed to complement their current business. In the first month of hiring out they had a brand new transit engine swapped out for an older one, a brand new set of tyres swiped as well. Numerous other issues meant they sold most of the vans, and only hire to existing storage clients now.

On the insurance subject, surely if the nfu does not cover the hirer, then you are not double insured if you just leave your current insurance in place.

Thanks for your reply. The NFU say that the vehicle is dual insred as both the hirer and the owner have insurance in place . So she has t ring and cancel everytime a hire agreement starts and visa versa when it finishes. Keep safe thanks again