Forklift for Hire – Finding Out About Insurance
No business owner will buy an expensive forklift without first insuring the item for accidents and major repairs that may become necessary over time. And it should be no different when you are looking at a forklift for hire. Insurance for forklift rentals can work in much the same way as insurance coverage for a care hire in that you can take a short term policy directly from the owner of the vehicle for the duration of the lease term.
However, with a forklift for hire the rental agent will hold an insurance policy against major damages or theft of the equipment. The amount that they for the insurance will be proportionally worked into the rental rate so that you won’t even be requested to fill out an insurance form when you enter into the lease agreement. However, it is your responsibility to ensure that the owner does indeed have insurance for the forklift as you may become liable for the cost of repairs or for the entire replacement value of the equipment if theft occurred while it was in your possession.
It is also imperative that you read the insurance portion of the lease agreement for a forklift for hire carefully. As per every type of insurance policy an excess will be charged when a claim is made against the insurance provider. Find out whether you will be responsible for paying this excess amount and more or less what that excess would be if anything happened to the forklift. Excess amounts will be different for damages than for the replacement of the forklift due to theft.
You should also be aware that the insurance provider will only cover any claims if the forklift was driven by a qualified forklift operator when damages occurred. This will be made clear to you before you sign the lease agreement for a forklift for hire with the rental agent. Very few forklift rental agent will be able to provide you with a qualified forklift driver so make sure that you have one in your employ, train an existing employee to become a forklift driver or find a forklift operator before entering into the agreement.
You can find out whether your forklift rental agent offers any forklift operator courses that one of your employees can enrol on. Remember that some training course can be specific to a particular forklift manufacture. This means that the forklift operator will only be qualified to drive that specific brand of forklift. Rather try and find forklift operator training courses that provide comprehensive training that is relevant to all types of forklifts available for hire.
Remember to also find out what exactly is covered by the insurance policy. No insurance providers will ever cover the costs of regular wear and tear on the forklift for hire with a normal insurance policy. Regular maintenance and servicing will also not be covered by a general insurance policy. You will need to find out whether the forklift rental agent has a motor plan to cover these costs over and above the insurance policy.
If you are entering into a long term rental agreement that exceeds a period of three months all maintenance, servicing and incidental repairs should be covered by a motor plan policy. It is unlikely that servicing or incidental repairs will become necessary for rental periods that are shorter than 3 months and any problems will be from the previous renter of the forklift. Even if there is not motor plan your forklift for hire agent should be liable for these expenses and you will carry no responsibility unless it is found that repairs are necessary due to neglect or abuse of the forklift.
