Crane Insurance
Protection for equipment hire and crane operations that mainstream insurers won't touch.
100%
AU Owned
24h
Typical Turnaround
50+
Lifting Risks
Recognition
Access to Australia's leading insurers and underwriting agencies, including:
Crane Insurance
Whether you're running a mobile crane business, hiring out boom lifts, or operating heavy lifting equipment, Crane Insurance protects your gear and your liability when things go wrong. This isn't cover you can pick up from a comparison site. Most mainstream insurers won't touch crane operations, especially if you're hiring equipment out to third parties.
RISK ARCHITECTURE
What Crane Insurance Covers
Covers your crane, boom lift, or elevated work platform for damage from accidents, fire, theft, or storms, whether it's on-site, in transit, or in storage. This applies to equipment you own or lease long-term.
Protects you if your crane or lifting equipment causes property damage or injures someone. This covers third-party claims, legal costs, and compensation. Most construction contracts require this before you can start work, and coverage limits need to match project requirements (typically $10 million to $20 million).
Protects your equipment during transportation between job sites, covering accidents, collisions, or theft while the crane is being moved.
Covers lost income if your crane is out of action due to an insured event, helping you cover fixed costs like loan repayments or wages while repairs are underway.
Crane Insurance protects your business from financial losses related to lifting operations.
MARKET DYNAMICS
Why Crane Insurance Is Hard to Place
Crane operations are high-risk. Insurers know that a single incident can result in massive claims, especially if you're lifting loads on construction sites or hiring equipment to third parties. Here's why most businesses struggle to get cover:
Many insurers have blanket exclusions for crane hire or elevated work platforms, particularly dry hire arrangements where the hirer operates the equipment. If you're hiring out boom lifts, scissor lifts, or cranes without operators, you'll find most insurers decline outright.
Certain equipment types, like trailer-mounted boom lifts or older machinery, are considered too risky by mainstream insurers. Even if they'll cover the business, they exclude specific plant.
If your main clients work in high-risk industries (tree lopping, demolition, high-rise construction), insurers see compounding risk and either decline or refer to underwriters who often come back with a no.
Unlike standard trade insurance, there are only a handful of underwriters in Australia who'll touch crane and plant hire. If you don't have relationships with those markets, you're stuck.
CLIENT SUCCESS
How We've Helped
This is typical for crane and plant hire businesses. The market is small, and most brokers don't have access to the underwriters who'll actually write this work. If you've been knocked back elsewhere, we can help.
Boom Lift and Elevated Work Platform Insurance
Boom lifts, scissor lifts, and other elevated work platforms (EWPs) sit alongside cranes as some of the hardest equipment to insure in Australia. The combination of working at height, third-party injury risk, and frequent dry hire arrangements means most mainstream insurers avoid this class entirely.
We insure boom lifts and EWPs alongside cranes and other lifting equipment, whether you own them outright or hire them out. For businesses that also operate excavators or do civil construction work, we can bundle everything into a single program with one renewal date.
If you run a dry hire business with a mixed fleet of cranes, boom lifts and EWPs, talk to us. We have access to the small number of underwriters in Australia who actually write this work.
KNOWLEDGE BASE
Frequently Asked Questions
Questions? Call us now on 02 9000 1155
Get the right cover for your crane business, even if you've been knocked back before.