Inland marine insurance covers business property that moves or sits away from a fixed address: contractor tools, mobile equipment, goods in transit, installation materials, and customer property you hold. Despite the name, it has nothing to do with boats. Georgia does not require inland marine by statute, and the state has no line-specific inland marine rule. Contractors and equipment-heavy Georgia businesses add it because a standard commercial property policy covers contents at one listed location, not gear that travels between job sites. A free coverage review can confirm the floater structure for your equipment.
What does inland marine insurance cover in Georgia?
Inland marine, sometimes called an equipment floater, follows property that moves. For a Georgia contractor or service business, it covers the tools and equipment that a fixed-location property policy leaves out. Four categories carry most of the exposure.
- Contractor equipment and tools. Heavy equipment, power tools, hand tools, and owned gear used at job sites. Coverage applies on the jobsite, in transit between sites, and stored at your shop. If an Alpharetta HVAC contractor loses 40,000 dollars of tools to an overnight trailer theft, the equipment floater responds, not the general liability policy.
- Installation floater. Materials and equipment being installed at a job site, covered from delivery through completion. A Savannah electrician installing switchgear in a new building has the panels damaged by a burst pipe before final signoff, and the installation floater covers them across that window. General contractors often require it of subcontractors on major installs.
- Mobile equipment and machinery. Bobcats, excavators, lifts, generators, and light towers that move under their own power or between locations. These higher-value items usually need to be scheduled at a stated amount, where each unit is listed by value instead of sharing a blanket limit. When a Macon grading contractor's skid steer tips on a slope, the floater pays the listed value for that machine.
- Goods in transit and bailee coverage. Property you haul (motor truck cargo) or hold for customers (bailee coverage). It pairs with commercial auto insurance when goods travel by company vehicle. A repair shop holding a customer's equipment overnight uses bailee coverage if that item burns in a shop fire.
What does inland marine insurance not cover?
Inland marine pays for sudden, accidental loss to covered property. It leaves out several things a Georgia business owner should know before a claim.
- Wear and tear and gradual deterioration. Equipment failure from normal use, age, or missed maintenance is a standard exclusion. A generator that dies from a worn bearing after years of service is a maintenance issue, not a covered loss.
- Employee theft, without an endorsement. Most floaters exclude theft by your own workers. If a warehouse worker in Atlanta walks off with scheduled equipment, commercial crime coverage or a specific endorsement handles that exposure, not the base floater.
- War, nuclear, and intentional acts. Standard exclusions across most property and casualty policies. Inland marine follows the same pattern.
- Items not scheduled or valued correctly. Higher-value gear usually has to be scheduled with specific values. Unscheduled property can hit a sub-limit or a co-insurance penalty. A tool bought after the policy issued and never added to the schedule may pay little or nothing.
Inland marine vs commercial property vs commercial auto: what pays?
Three policies overlap around equipment, and the wrong assumption leaves a gap. Say a Georgia courier is hauling a customer's freight, rear-ends a car on I-285, and the cargo is damaged in the crash. The table below shows which policy answers each part of that loss.
| Policy | What it covers in this crash | Where it applies |
|---|---|---|
| Commercial property | Nothing here. It covers building and contents at a fixed, listed address. | One scheduled location only |
| Commercial auto | Injuries and vehicle damage to the other driver, at Georgia's minimum 25/50/25 liability (O.C.G.A. 33-7-11). | On the road, the vehicle and liability |
| Inland marine | The customer's freight and any owned equipment damaged in the crash. | Property in transit or on the move |
The commercial auto policy does not pay for the cargo, and the property policy does not follow the truck. Inland marine is the piece that covers the moving equipment. Georgia uses modified comparative negligence, so if the courier is found 50 percent or more at fault, recovery against the other driver is barred (O.C.G.A. 51-12-33).
Who needs inland marine insurance in Georgia?
Any Georgia business with substantial equipment that moves or is held for others carries this exposure. That includes general contractors, electrical, HVAC, and plumbing contractors, landscape contractors, transportation and delivery companies, repair shops and warehouses holding customer property, jewelers who also schedule pieces under scheduled articles coverage, and photographers with camera gear. Many of these owners also carry a business owners policy for their building and liability. A Gwinnett County landscape crew running mowers, trailers, and a skid steer across a dozen sites a week is the typical fit: the gear is rarely at one address, so a fixed-location property policy does not follow it.
What does inland marine insurance cost in Georgia?
Pricing scales with equipment values, the type of equipment, theft and damage exposure, and claims history. Most Georgia small to mid-market contractors pay between 500 and 5,000 dollars a year for a contractor equipment floater. A solo electrician with a van of hand tools sits near the low end; a grading contractor with several scheduled machines sits near the top. A coverage review can confirm the right values and floater structure for your equipment inventory.
How does inland marine insurance work under Georgia law?
Georgia has no line-specific statute or Office of Commissioner of Insurance and Safety Fire rule that regulates inland marine separately. It is a generic national underwriting category for property that moves between locations, and it works the same in Georgia as anywhere else. Georgia law still shapes the coverage around it in a few ways worth knowing.
- Commercial auto minimums. When your goods travel by company vehicle, the paired auto policy carries Georgia's minimum liability of 25,000 dollars per person and 50,000 dollars per accident for bodily injury and 25,000 dollars for property damage (O.C.G.A. 33-7-11). Insurers must also offer uninsured and underinsured motorist coverage, which you can add on (O.C.G.A. 33-7-11).
- Workers' compensation. Georgia requires workers' compensation once a business has three or more employees (O.C.G.A. 34-9-2(a)(2)). A Columbus roofing company with a five-person crew must carry it. That covers the crew's injuries, while inland marine covers their tools; the two do not overlap.
- Flood is separate. Equipment stored in a Chatham County shop inside a FEMA Special Flood Hazard Area is not covered for flood by a standard floater. Flood coverage is a federally backed National Flood Insurance Program product, not state-mandated, but required on federally backed mortgages in those zones. Georgia also carries real inland and flash-flood exposure well away from the coast.
- Coastal wind. A coastal Georgia contractor whose shop building cannot find wind coverage in the standard market may use the Georgia Underwriting Association (O.C.G.A. Title 33, Chapter 33), the state's residual property market for wind and coastal risk. That backs the building; the mobile equipment stays on the inland marine floater.
What are your rights on an inland marine claim in Georgia?
An inland marine claim is a property and casualty claim, so Georgia's claim-handling rules apply. The Unfair Claims Settlement Practices Act (O.C.G.A. 33-6-30 to 37) and the rules under Ga. Comp. R. and Regs. 120-2-52 set the timelines below.
- Acknowledgment. Your carrier must acknowledge the claim within 15 calendar days and provide proof of loss forms in the same window.
- Decision. For a first-party property claim, the carrier must affirm or deny within 15 days of a completed proof of loss, or within 30 days of the claim being reported if proof of loss is not required. If it needs more time, it must tell you within 5 business days and give a reason.
- Written denial. A denial has to be in writing and name the specific policy provisions the carrier relies on.
- Bad-faith remedy. Under O.C.G.A. 33-4-6, if a carrier refuses to pay a covered claim, you can make a written demand. If it fails to pay within 60 days and a court later finds the refusal was in bad faith, the carrier owes a penalty of up to 50 percent of the loss or 5,000 dollars, whichever is greater, plus reasonable attorney's fees.
If a dispute stalls, you can file a free complaint with the Georgia Office of Commissioner of Insurance and Safety Fire, which can require corrective action against the carrier.
How do you file an inland marine claim in Georgia?
Report the loss to your carrier the same day the theft, damage, or loss is found. Floaters on tools and equipment in transit or at job sites often have tight reporting windows. Secure the remaining gear right away to prevent further loss. If the loss is theft, file a police report first; most stolen-tool claims need a police report number to proceed.
For the adjuster, document serial numbers, make, and model for every missing or damaged item (pull them from receipts, asset logs, or labels on surviving units), photograph the job site, vehicle, or storage location, note the equipment's last known location and use at the time of loss, and gather any delivery manifests or shipping records for gear lost in transit.
Two mistakes cause most denials. Filing a stolen-tool claim without knowing whether an employee was involved runs into the employee-theft exclusion. And letting the equipment schedule go stale means a newer tool may sit at a lower blanket sub-limit or fall outside coverage. When a significant item goes missing, is damaged in transit, or a job-site loss touches materials mid-installation, a licensed advisor can read your schedule against the claim and flag gaps before you submit. Start with our claims resources.
Which carriers write inland marine insurance in Georgia?
The carriers available through Olive Cover are licensed and regulated in Georgia. We shop these markets and present the options that match your situation, and a licensed advisor reviews the fit with you in a free coverage review. Several active inland marine writers have deep contractor appetite in Georgia:
- Hanover Commercial, mid-market commercial with main-street and contractor appetite.
- The Hartford Commercial, small to mid-market commercial coverage.
- Travelers Commercial, broad mid-market commercial appetite.
See the full panel of carriers available through us to compare appetite and fit.
Inland marine insurance terms to know
A few terms come up on every inland marine quote: stated amount, endorsement, exclusion, sub-limit, and co-insurance. Each links to a plain-language definition in the glossary.
Get your equipment reviewed before you need it
Standard commercial property insurance covers contents at a fixed location, not equipment that moves between job sites. A coverage review walks through your equipment inventory and surfaces the inland marine structure that fits your operation from the carriers available through us. Georgia inland marine pricing is competitive for contractor and service businesses, and getting the schedule right today is what prevents a denial later.
Related coverage: inland marine insurance overview, business owners policy, commercial auto insurance, workers' compensation, and the insurance FAQ and insights library.