As distributors of equipment to warehouses or other commercial establishments, you have a few unique insurance exposures.
Equipment dealerships or distributors most assuredly have General Lability insurance that hopefully provides Premises /Operations coverage including Products and Completed Operations coverage.
The Products and Completed operations section will generally provide coverage and defense for claims involving bodily injury and property damage that is the result of an alleged defect in/from your product or your completed operation (i.e. installation).
If written on an occurrence form, it should cover claims that occur during the policy period that is in effect at the time of the occurrence. For example: A rack system is sold/installed in 2018; a collapse happens in 2020. It is the 2020 policy that will respond.
A little complicated, but most unendorsed General liability policies contain exclusions K and L that exclude “damage to your product” and “damage to your work.”
In the above-mentioned incident, the rack system collapses and causes Bodily injury and Property damage. The rack system itself may be excluded from coverage but the resulting bodily injury and property damage may be covered.
There are endorsements available that can modify these exclusions and not all General Lability insurance policies are the same. Any endorsements to your current insurance policies must be prior to a claim. This is just one of many unique exposures.
If you are interested in additional information, please feel free to give me a call and /or visit our website at www.fairviewinsurance.com
