Policy Types & Coverage

Inland Marine Insurance

Inland marine insurance covers business property that is movable, in transit, or used at locations other than the insured's primary premises. Despite its name, inland marine has nothing to do with boats or waterways — it evolved from ocean marine insurance in the early 1900s as a way to cover goods once they left the ship and moved over land. Today, it is the go-to coverage for contractors' tools, mobile equipment, property in transit, and any business assets that travel between job sites.

Why Inland Marine Matters for Independent Agents

Standard commercial property insurance covers business personal property at a scheduled location — the contents of an office, inventory in a warehouse, furniture in a retail store. But the moment that property leaves the premises, coverage becomes limited or nonexistent. A plumber's $40,000 worth of tools stolen from a job site, a caterer's mobile kitchen damaged in a highway accident, or an IT consultant's $15,000 laptop bag left at a client's office — none of these losses are reliably covered under a standard commercial property policy.

This gap affects a huge portion of a commercial agent's book. Contractors, photographers, caterers, event planners, IT consultants, medical equipment suppliers, and fine art dealers all depend on property that moves. When agents fail to identify the inland marine exposure, clients discover the gap at the worst possible time — after a loss — and that's when E&O claims against the agency follow.

Inland marine is also a strong cross-sell line that carries solid commissions. For contractors especially, the conversation flows naturally: you're already writing GL and workers' comp, so asking about tools and equipment on job sites is a logical next step. Carriers like Hartford, Progressive Commercial, and Nationwide offer inland marine as either a standalone policy or a coverage part within a commercial package.

How Inland Marine Works

Inland marine policies fall into several broad categories:

Inland marine policies are typically written on an "all-risk" (special form) basis, which provides broader coverage than the named-perils approach used in many commercial property policies. This means the policy covers any cause of loss that isn't specifically excluded, rather than only covering losses from a listed set of perils.

Valuation is a critical underwriting detail agents must get right. Inland marine policies can be written on replacement cost, actual cash value, or agreed value basis. For contractors' tools, replacement cost is almost always the right choice — a five-year-old DeWalt table saw doesn't lose its functional value to the contractor just because it has depreciated on paper.

When submitting an inland marine risk, agents should gather a detailed equipment schedule listing each item, its value, and its age. Carriers like Hartford and Progressive typically require the ACORD 125 as the base application, plus a supplemental inland marine form or the carrier's proprietary equipment schedule. For larger accounts with $250,000 or more in scheduled equipment, underwriters may request maintenance records and storage location details.

Deductibles on inland marine policies are generally lower than commercial property — often $500 to $2,500 — because the individual items being covered are discrete and their values are well-documented.

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