Best Companies For Long Term Lawn Care Insurance
NEXT Lawn Care Insurance
Pros
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Get covered online
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Get instant proof of insurance and send it as a text message, email, or social media post
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Bundle policies and get a 10% discount
Cons
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Some customers reported that NEXT increased their rates without proper notice
NEXTs lawn care insurance includes general liability, workers compensation, and commercial property insurance. The company also offers optional tools and equipment coverage if you want to insure your work tools.
NEXT underwrote its workers compensation insurance comprehensively. The workers compensation insurance NEXTs customers get comes with employers liability insurance. Youll find it advantageous to have employers liability insurance together with workers comp because its a coverage that shoulders costs if employees file a claim and accuse you of delaying or failing to provide work benefits.
NEXT allows you to get an instant certificate of insurance and send it to the client as a text message, email, or social media post. You can also pay for insurance and add or cancel insurance policies online. Another thing, if you bundle two or more policies, NEXT will give you a 10% discount on premium rates.
NEXTs lawn mowing insurance cost $38 per month or $456 per year provided that you only decide to purchase a $1 million general liability insurance.
Best for: Lawn care insurance with policy bundle discounts
Average cost: $38 per month
Our rating: 8/10
Cons
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Slow online quotes
Average cost: $40 per month
Pros
Cons
Homeowners Insurance Guide: A Beginner’s Overview
Homeowners insurance isn’t a luxury it’s a necessity. And not just because it protects your home and possessions against damage or theft. Virtually all mortgage companies require borrowers to have insurance coverage for the full or fair value of a property and won’t make a loan or finance a residential real estate transaction without proof of it.
You don’t even have to own your home to need insurance many landlords require their tenants to maintain renter’s insurance coverage. But whether it’s required or not, it’s smart to have this kind of protection. We’ll walk you through the basics of homeowners insurance policies.
Replacement Cost Vs Fair Value
Not all insurance policies offer homeowners the replacement cost of the property. Buying coverage for replacement cost helps to bridge the gap caused by inflation and the loss of value when property is no longer new. Otherwise, when you claim a loss, the item in question will be assessed at the current fair market value.
Since some items depreciate quickly, this means you may not get enough money from a claim to replace the items that were lost or damaged. Replacement-cost coverage ensures youre able to replace the items that were lost with similar items. If having this coverage is important to you, youll want to be sure both your home and personal property are covered in this way.
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Does My Homeowners Insurance Policy Cover My Compact Tractor
Sub-compact/Compact/Utility/Estate Tractors are one of the most popular and fastest selling products in the Farm Equipment sales industry. Whatever label you put on them, they typically range in horsepower from 25 to 60 or higher and can range in purchase price from $15,000 to $60,000 or more.
Most of these tractors fall outside the coverage of your regular homeowner insurance policy. This gap in coverage can lead to expensive replacements or repairs without the proper coverage.
Many homeowner insurance policies have horsepower restrictions limiting coverage for lawn mowers and garden tractors up to only 25hp or 30hp. Even that older used tractor you bought to blow snow from your lane way can exceed the horsepower limitations under a typicalhome insurance policy.
To the left is a John Deere 2720, 30.5hp, replacement value with attachments ~$32, 0000. To the right a John Deere x300 lawn tractor, 17hp, replacement value ~$4000.
In addition some policies often have a monetary limit, which includes attachments and accessories, some as low as $5,000, depending on the insurance carrier.
With the cost of the Tractor itself, and add in the usual accessories and attachments mower deck, bucket, snow blower, backhoe, you have quite a bit of money tied up in caring for your property. The investment you just made to blow snow from your driveway, cut your grass, haul wood or till your garden may not be insured under your homeowners insurance policy if stolen, damaged or destroyed.
Ride On Lawn Mower Insurance
A homeowners policy can be used as a ride on lawn mower insurance but only to a certain extent. Coverage only applies when:
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The ride on lawn mower is damaged or lost while being kept in the house
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The ride on lawn mower got damaged or lost due to perils covered by homeowners insurance
No insurance companies in the USA sell a specialized insurance program for ride on lawn mowers. But say, if your lawn care business is utilizing ride on lawn mowers, then you can get them insured using theft insurance, inland marine insurance, or equipment breakdown insurance.
Another thing, riding on mowers are considered motor vehicles the moment theyre traversing public roads. And so, you need to cover them with short-term or long term auto insurance to comply with traffic regulations.
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Lawn Mowing Professional Liability Insurance
Personal injuries and property damage arent the only reasons for a lawsuit to be filed against your lawn mowing business. And so, general liability or public liability isnt the only liability insurance needed for lawn mowing business.
Clients will file a claim if the lawn service you provided was substandard or had substantial errors. Professional liability insurance for lawn mowing service provides protection in this situation. This type of lawn service liability insurance gives $1 million – $2 million insurance money you can use to pay for administrative costs, settlements, and other legal expenses if a client files a claim because you committed or allegedly committed the following:
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Missed deadlines
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Other acts considered errors and omissions
Professional liability insurance for lawn care company is underwritten as a claims-made policy. This means that it only provides coverage if you file a report to the insurance company the moment a covered peril happened.
Note that professional liability insurance for a lawn care business is also known as errors and omissions or professional indemnity insurance. Regardless of how its called, its function is still the same. Another thing you need to know is that some insurance companies sell this type of lawn mowing insurance as a coverage in general liability insurance, a good example is NEXT.
Many Homeowners Dont Know They Already Have Coverage
Many homeowners misunderstand their home insurance coverage. This includes a large portion who dont know that they already have coverage for common problems, according to a survey by Forbes Advisor. For example:
- 40% of homeowners didnt know that water damage from a burst pipe is covered by a standard home insurance policy.
- 61% didnt know that damage from a wildfire is covered.
When homeowners dont know whats covered, they may not make insurance claims for damage theyre entitled to get compensation for.
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What Insurance Do I Need For A Lawn Mowing Business To Run Smoothly
What insurance do I need for a lawn mowing business to run smoothly? – another great question. General liability and surety bond are the most essential types of insurance needed for lawn care business.
To further answer your question about what type of insurance do I need for a lawn care business know that if you have employees, workers compensation insurance is also required. Also, if your business owns a commercial vehicle, dont think twice about getting commercial auto insurance.
Why Is My Standard Homeowners Policy Not Sufficient
Your homeowners insurance policy covers many riding and pushes mower brands against flood, fire, and theft. This is assuring, but the problem arises in case of an accident.
A mishap caused because of a mower leads to expensive healthcare insurance deductibles to treat injuries. The homeowners policy only covers limited third-party accidents. So if a passer-by gets injured with your mower, then you are entitled to liability insurance only up to the policy limit.
Homeowners insurance does not cover medical bills, and this is a concern. Liability insurance does not have a high coverage under the homeowners plan, and a medical emergency caused by a lawnmower injury may break your bank.
Always check with your agent if the homeowners policy covers the damage. Lawn mower accidents, in most cases, fall under a questionable area.
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How Much Does Personal Liability Insurance Cost
How much is personal liability insurance? Fortunately, its reasonable.
Again, typically, it comes as part of a standard home insurance policy, and it isnt usually something you can purchase by itself.
But if youre looking for a breakdown on how much liability is, here you go:
According to an Insure.com rate analysis, youre typically paying around $10 a year for every $100,000 in coverage. So, for half a million in liability, youre paying approximately $50 a year or a little over $4 a month.
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Riding Mowers Are You Insured
When the wording in a new version of an insurance policy is changed there can be a significant impact on the coverage provided. This can happen even if just one word is added, changed, or deleted. As a case in point, this article will look at the coverage provided for a riding lawnmower under a 1991 vs. 2000 edition of the ISO standard Homeowners policy.
As indicated above, this article will look at the coverage provided for a riding lawnmower covered under a homeowners policy written under the 1991 edition date, then written under the 2000 edition date. As a side note, the same coverage implications would apply for a 4-wheeler used to service the premises, or a golf cart used by the owner to service the premises as examples will show.
The 1991 homeowners policy states there is both property coverage and liability coverage for:
ehicles or conveyances not subject to motor vehicle registration which are used to service an insureds residence
Clearly a riding mower is used to service the residence so, under the 1991 policy, if the mower is stolen there is coverage under property section of the homeowners policy, subject of course to the deductible. Likewise, if the insured were using the mower to cut their yard and negligently ran someone over with the mower, there would be protection under the liability section of the policy.
Enter the ISO Homeowners 2000 program, with the following property and liability wording concerning vehicles used to service the premises:
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Lawn Care Liability Insurance By The Month
Lawn care liability insurance by the month is a general liability policy that, as the name implies, only lasts for a month. Monthly lawn care liability insurance has the same optional policies as a one day lawn care liability insurance. Optional policies in lawn care liability insurance monthly basis are products and completed operations coverage, equipment and tools coverage.
Why Is It Important To Hire Contractors That Are Insured
There is the possibility of leaving yourself open to risk that can result from hiring an unlicensed or uninsured person to do work at your house. It is possible that an uninsured worker may sue you for damages if he is injured on the job. Therefore you should care if the person mowing your lawn is not insured, especially if you do not carry adequate homeowner’s insurance.
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Will My Insurance Go Up If I File A Tree Damage Claim
Maybe. A sad fact about insurance coverage is that it often costs a bit more every time you use it. Unlike car insurance, there is no accident forgiveness provision for home insurance claims. On the other hand, some losses are forgiven if a particular storm is deemed catastrophic, again though, depending on your prior loss history.
Environmental And Occupational Impact
A 2001 study showed that some mowers produce the same amount of pollution in one hour as driving a 1992 model vehicle for 650 miles . Another estimate puts the amount of pollution from a lawn mower at four times the amount from a car, per hour, although this report is no longer available. Beginning in 2011, the United States Environmental Protection Agency set standards for lawn equipment emissions and expects a reduction of at least 35 percent.
Lawn mowers produce GHG emissions. A minimum-maintained lawn management practice with clipping recycling, and minimum irrigation and mowing, is recommended to mitigate global warming effects from urban turfgrass system
Mowers can create significant noise pollution, and could cause hearing loss if used without hearing protection for prolonged periods of time. Lawn mowers also present an occupational hearing hazard to the nearly 1 million people who work in lawn service and ground-keeping. One study assessed the occupational noise exposure among groundskeepers at several North Carolina public universities and found noise levels from push lawn mowers measured between 86-95 decibels and from riding lawn mowers between 88 and 96 dB both types exceeded the National Institute for Occupational Safety and Health Recommended Exposure Limit of 85 dB.
The risk of hearing loss and noise pollution can be reduced by using battery-operated mowers or appropriate hearing protection such as earplugs or earmuffs.
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Does It Matter Who Owns The Tree
If a tree lands on your home, homeowners insurance generally covers its removal and repairs regardless of where it fell from.
For example, if a tree on your neighborâs property falls onto your fence or another covered structure on your property, youâd file a claim with your insurance to cover the damage. If the fallen tree was dead or rotting and you can prove that your neighbor knew about the dead tree and it fell because of their negligence, then your insurance company may reach out to their insurer to collect a claim reimbursement. Your insurer may also try to reach out to your neighborâs insurance company to collect the claim payout regardless of how the tree fell, in a process called subrogation. If the subrogation process is successful, you may be reimbursed for your policy deductible.
Ready to shop home insurance?
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Commercial Property Insurance For Lawn Care Business
Your lawn care business cant operate without a commercial building. If youre worried about the resulting expenses if something happens to it, purchase commercial property insurance for lawn care business. This type of lawn care business insurance provides coverage for the following perils:
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Building damage-Commercial property insurance will cover repair expenses or reimburse your losses if the roofing, door, windows, flooring, wall, siding, or other structure of your lawn mowing businesss building sustains damage due to fire, theft, vandalism, and other covered perils
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Building destruction-Commercial property insurance insures the continuity of your lawn care business even if its building is damaged or destroyed by fire or extreme weather. The policy does this by paying for reconstruction costs or reimbursing the value of the building destroyed
Just like general liability insurance, commercial property insurance for grass cutting business is scalable. In other words, you can also add optional coverages to this type of business insurance for lawn care, specifically:
Note that this type of lawn care company insurance doesnt shield you against earthquakes, floods, and mudslides. To get covered against these perils, you need to purchase specialized types of lawn service insurance such as:
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Earthquake insurance
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Flood insurance
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What If I Dont Have Insurance
Well, its possible that your neighbors homeowners insurance would cover the incident if you didnt have your own policy, but you shouldnt bet on it. Really, you shouldnt ever be without homeowners or auto insurance, and certainly never missing both at the same time. So, hopefully you shouldnt even have to consider a situation like this.
If you were really upset about the incident and wanted to sue your neighbor, youd have to rely on your homeowners insurance again. Without liability coverage provided by a homeowners insurance policy, the out of pocket fees to hire a lawyer and go to court could be much too expensive.
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Lawn Care Liability Insurance By The Hour
Lawn care liability insurance by the hour is usually sold as a general liability insurance policy. The function is still the same. What makes hourly lawn care liability insurance is that premiums are calculated based on how many hours you want to get covered. For example, if coverage is $34 per hour and you want to get covered for 12 hours, then the premium will be $408.
Hourly lawn care liability insurance is perfect for individuals who mow lawns as an occasional side gig. But know that its also possible for lawn care companies to buy lawn care liability insurance hourly basis if they lack adequate coverage to comply with the insurance requirements of a project contract.
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Preventing Water Damage From Air Conditioners
Once your air conditioner is at the point where it is leaking water, its only a matter of hours before it can cause permanent damage. You might leave your A/C on before leaving for work in the morning during the summer months, expecting to come home to a cool paradise after a long days work. Instead, you might come back to a home that needs extensive repairs due to A/C water damages that happened while you were away, all because you didnt maintain it. Why not take precaution now to prevent things like that from happening, while saving hundreds of dollars in potential repairs in the process.
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