With winter comes snow and snow plowing. If you plow snow as part of your business or as a side business, you need to consider liability protection for completed operations in addition to auto insurance. Changes to Massachusetts Laws in 2010 increased the snow removal liability risk for property owners and snow plow contractors, which has made having proper protection increasingly important.
Auto policy coverage
An auto policy provides coverage during the plowing process. For example, if your truck accidentally hits a parked car and scrapes its side, your auto policy would pay for damage to the parked vehicle.
Completed operations liability and coverage
What about your liability after the snow plowing operation is done aka “completed operations"?
- What is the condition of the surface?
- Is there snow/ice remaining?
- What if someone slips and falls?
- Does your auto policy provide coverage? “No” because the vehicle was not involved.
To have “completed operations” liability coverage in the event of a slip/fall claim or other situation, it is critical for a snow plowing business to have a general liability policy.
Other issues to keep in mind.
- The value of a snow plow and hitching equipment is not covered by a personal or commercial auto policy unless it is listed as optional equipment. Provide your agent with a receipt or documentation so that the value of your plowing equipment can be added to your policy.
- If using your personal vehicle to plow for a fee, your personal auto policy needs to be classified for “Business Use”; otherwise, you may not have coverage for a plowing related claim.
- If you are required to list an “Additional Named Insured” on the policy, you will need a commercial auto policy not a personal auto policy.
Please give us a call or drop us an e-mail if you have questions about snow plow coverage. We want to help you get the coverage you need.