Inland Marine Insurance for Veterinarians

Mobile Property

Protect high-value specialized mobile property to bridge the gap of traditional property coverage

Most veterinary business owners have all their assets at one physical location, like a brick-and-mortar hospital. Others, however, offer specialized services that include regularly transporting property away from the hospital. Whether assets are stationary or mobile, they need to have proper insurance coverage for financial protection.

Inland Marine insurance protects mobile property in the event it becomes damaged while in transit or other locations since most business insurance policies either exclude or significantly restrict coverage once property moves outside of 1,000 feet from a scheduled premise.

Who needs Inland Marine insurance?

Inland marine insurance may sound like it has something to do with lakes or waterways. However, this coverage focuses on commercial property that is mobile or travels across land, to jobsites, errands, customer homes or is in storage away from the business's primary location. Inland Marine insurance also covers some perils that a traditional business policy may exclude.

Businesses that could benefit from Inland Marine insurance include:

Mobile veterinarians (small, mixed and large)
Brick-and-mortar hospitals offering at-home services to pet owners
Any veterinarian who may have their equipment leave the hospital routinely

Why does a business policy not typically cover mobile property?

A Business-Owner Policy (BOP) can differ greatly from one insurer to another, so comparing "apples to apples" when shopping for coverage can be difficult. Many business policies are not designed for property to leave a scheduled location routinely. In fact, most business policies are only covering your property at a scheduled location, within 1,000 feet of a scheduled location or at a newly purchased or leased location for up to 60 days. New locations should always be added as a scheduled location to your policy.

Some insurers, over the last 10 years, have broadened their definitions and coverage offerings to include protection for "property off-premises" and "property in transit." However, even in those cases, the perils covered follow the rest of the policy. So, if your business policy excludes flood and earthquake, but you have a mobile ultrasound in the back of your car and there is a flash flood that damages the equipment, there would be no protection. True Inland Marine coverage should also contemplate flood and earthquake where business policies typically do not.

What about mobile veterinary clinics?

If you have a mobile veterinary clinic and you use a vehicle like a LaBoit or Ford E450 for example, the auto policy covering the vehicle should contemplate all equipment permanently installed inside the vehicle. However, even when you have a very expensive mobile veterinary hospital, any and all equipment that is not affixed to the mobile unit should be covered by an inland marine policy.

When insuring the vehicle, your agent must take the "original cost new" that is generated from your vehicle identification number (VIN) and increase it to the modified or adjusted new cost which contemplates all the enhancements made to the vehicle to create the mobile veterinary clinic. For example, a Ford E450 is just an E450 until you make the inside a functional veterinary clinic. From wiring to cabinets, exam tables, etc., anything permanently installed and part of the vehicle becomes the vehicle. Failure on your agent to understand this and their subsequent failure to alert the carrier of the intrinsic (true) cost of the vehicle could leave you significantly under protected in an auto accident. For all equipment not installed and a permanent fixture of the mobile unit, needs Inland Marine coverage and should be scheduled with an insurer.