Damage from within · wearing parts · downtime
Machinery breakdown insurance through Chubb
A fire policy covers what happens to a machine from outside. Machinery breakdown cover responds to what goes wrong inside the machine itself, and that is precisely the gap into which most failures fall.
- Several insurers compared objectively
- 9.5 customer rating for a new policy
- AFM licence 12016589
- Personal 072 - 509 24 56, weekdays 9–17
Deze pagina in het Nederlands: Machinebreukverzekering via Chubb.
The calculator and the quote form below are in Dutch. Prefer to do this in English? Email info@finassverzekert. nl or call 072 - 509 24 56 and we will take it from there.
Work out for yourself what it would cost.
Enter your details; you will receive a proposal within one working day.
- We compare the offerings of several insurers
- An adviser checks whether the cover suits your activities
- We arrange the switch, including cancellation
A premium indication, not personal advice. Prefer to talk it through? Call 072 - 509 24 56.
In brief
Finass Advies acts as an intermediary and compares the offering of several insurers objectively. Chubb is one of them and comes into the picture for businesses with a machine fleet whose downtime directly affects production. The choice of insurer follows from the cover you need and from the conditions, not from the name on the policy schedule. See also Chubb insurance.
The distinction that decides everything is an external peril as against damage from within. Fire, storm, burglary and impact sit on the fire or business contents insurance. A broken shaft, a burnt-out winding, a seized bearing, a short circuit in the controls, overheating caused by a failed cooling pump or damage because a foreign object gets into the machine: that is machinery breakdown, and it is almost always excluded on a property policy.
Machinery breakdown cover also responds to operating errors and carelessness by your own people. That is a fundamental difference from an ordinary property policy, where human failure is rarely a covered cause. The counterweight is a strict regime around maintenance: the conditions refer to the manufacturer's instructions, and failure to follow them is the most common reason for a rejection. The main outline is set out on the hub machinery breakdown insurance.
This page deals with one situation. The full overview is on Compare machinery breakdown insurance.
What to look out for
Four provisions that are more often decisive in machinery breakdown claims than the sum insured.
Wearing parts and tooling do not count
Almost every policy excludes parts with a limited service life out: blades, moulds, drills, filters, belts, gaskets, hoses and lubricants. If you replace those after a failure, that is maintenance. What is covered is the consequential loss to the machine when such a part gives way and takes the rest with it; check that this provision appears in the conditions.
Wear, corrosion and scaling
Gradual deterioration is not a sudden event. Excluded are wear, erosion, corrosion, boiler scale and fouling, even where a machine eventually fails as a result. The argument then turns on whether the failure was the result of a sudden cause or of a process that had been under way for months. Maintenance logbooks and measurement data settle that question.
Guarantee, erection and test running
Damage the supplier has to repair under guarantee is excluded; the insurer does not pay for what someone else is obliged to do. New installations in the erection and test running phase belong on a Construction all risks (CAR) or erection insurance, not on the machinery breakdown policy. Record the date on which cover transfers.
Downtime is a separate section
Machinery breakdown cover pays for the repair or replacement of the machine. Lost turnover during the repair, express carriage for parts and overtime are not, unless a business interruption following machinery breakdown section is insured as well. Match the indemnity period to the actual delivery time of critical parts; see business interruption insurance.
What does your premium depend on?
- Nature and age of the machines: assessed per item, not as a total
- Replacement value: replacement value as new or market value as the basis
- Production process: continuous operation weighs more heavily than a single shift
- Maintenance regime: in-house department or a contract with the supplier
- Spare parts and delivery times: determines how long a period of downtime lasts
- Excess: often per event and per machine
Insurers weigh these details differently. That is where your saving is.
What is covered
| Situation | Business contents insurance | Machinery breakdown |
|---|---|---|
| A seized bearing that causes the main shaft of your press to break | No | Yes |
| An operator who starts the wrong programme and crashes the spindle | No | Yes |
| A foreign object that gets into the shredder and damages the rotor | No | Yes |
| Fire in the machine hall that destroys the control cabinet | Yes | No |
| Theft of a forklift truck from the locked shed | Yes | No |
| Lost turnover during the weeks you wait for a part from abroad | No | Provided that |
The two policies cover each other's exclusions. Only when the description of the machines is the same on both does no gap remain between them.
Frequently asked questions
This is what people ask us most.
Is machinery breakdown not already included in my business contents insurance?
No. A business contents or fire policy covers external events such as fire, storm, water and theft. Damage that arises inside the machine itself is expressly excluded there. That is the reason machinery breakdown insurance exists. The two policies dovetail; check that the description of the machines is the same on both.
Is an operating error by an employee covered?
Under machinery breakdown cover, usually yes, because carelessness and incorrect operation are among the insured causes. The limit lies at intent and wilful recklessness, which are excluded under Article 7:952 of the Dutch Civil Code. Routinely working without guards or outside company procedures can be treated as reckless and affect the settlement.
What happens if maintenance was behind schedule?
There is then a good chance the claim will be rejected or reduced. The conditions refer to the manufacturer's maintenance instructions, and a loss adjuster reconstructs after the event what was done. So keep a logbook of services carried out, parts replaced and readings taken. Under this cover that file is the most important piece of evidence.
Does every machine have to be listed on the policy?
Usually yes. Acceptance is based on a machine list showing type, year of manufacture and value. New machines sometimes fall under automatic cover temporarily, but must be declared afterwards. An incorrect or incomplete declaration affects the duty of disclosure under Article 7:928 of the Dutch Civil Code and can reduce the settlement under Article 7:930 DCC.
Read more
Within Werkmaterieelverzekering
Similar pages
- Machinery breakdown insurance through Nationale-Nederlanden
- Machinery breakdown insurance through Allianz
- Machinery breakdown insurance
- Compare machinery breakdown insurance
- Machinery breakdown in power generation through Chubb
- Plant and machinery insurance through Allianz
- Compare plant and machinery insurance
- Insuring harvesting machinery