Liberty Mutual Insurance Co. is working with National Equipment Register to provide its inland marine contractor customers increased protection from equipment theft by offering an endorsement that waives their theft deductible, the insurer said Friday.
Liberty Mutual now offers an endorsement that waives the theft deductible up to $10,000 if customers register their equipment with NER’s HELPtech program, the insurer said in a statement.
Policyholders are required to register equipment with NER before it is stolen and to report the theft to law enforcement in order to qualify for the theft deductible waiver, and NER, a unit of Verisk Analytics Inc., gives Liberty Mutual policyholders a 20% discount on its registration fee, according to the statement.
Nearly 11,000 heavy equipment thefts were reported to law enforcement in 2012 but only 20% were recovered according to National Insurance Crime Bureau statistics, the insurer said in the statement.
“The impact of these crimes goes well beyond simply replacing contractors’ equipment,” Kathy Balzano, assistant director of commercial insurance inland marine underwriting strategy at Liberty Mutual, said in the statement. “These theft targets are also significant assets that, when stolen, can have great bearing on the success of our customers’ businesses and fulfillment of their job obligations. By offering the theft deductible waiver, we encourage them to further safeguard their equipment.”