Tipper and skip hire fleet insurance for skip loaders, hook lifts and grab lorries
Skip loaders, hook lift lorries, grab wagons and tippers on one schedule, rated for the waste they carry and the lifting gear they use. One short form puts you in touch with specialist brokers who arrange cover for skip hire and tipper operators across the UK.
- Skip loaders and hook lifts
- Waste carried for customers
- Skips left on drives and roads
Tipper and skip hire fleet insurance in brief
Tipper and skip hire fleet insurance is one motor policy for the skip loaders, hook lift lorries, grab wagons and tippers a waste or skip hire business runs, instead of insuring each lorry on its own. Most of these vehicles weigh more than 3.5 tonnes, so the policy sits within lorry fleet insurance, with extra questions about the lifting equipment and the loads.
What sets these fleets apart is that the vehicle is also a crane or a tipping machine, and the load usually belongs to someone else until it reaches the transfer station. Insurers ask how each body works and what goes into the skips.
The vehicles
Skip loaders, hook lifts and grabs: which bodies go on the schedule?
A skip hire yard rarely runs one type of lorry. Each body type is listed separately, because the lifting gear and the equipment value change the risk.
Lifting gear
When the lorry is also a crane: chains, hook arms and grabs
Skip and grab lorries spend part of every job lifting. Damage done while the chains or arm are working is not always treated like damage done on the move.
Lifting and setting down
The moment a skip is swung onto a drive or a container is winched up the chassis.
- A skip dropped onto a car or a wall
- A grab arm striking overhead cables or a building
- Whether the motor policy includes lifting as a working risk
The tipping body
Raised bodies and hydraulic rams that empty the load at the tip or transfer station.
- A body raised into a bridge or a barrier
- A lorry tipping over on soft or uneven ground
- Damage to the body and rams themselves
Fitted equipment value
Hook arms, grab cranes and skip loader frames add a great deal to the vehicle value.
- Total value of chassis and body declared
- Older chassis carrying newer equipment
- Inspections and maintenance records kept
What goes in the skip
Why skip hire is hire and reward work
A skip business is paid to carry other people's waste. That puts most of its journeys in a different class of use from a builder moving its own rubble.
- Customers' waste: Collecting household, trade and building waste and taking it away for a fee is carrying goods for payment, which is hire and reward use.
- Your own materials: Moving the business's own recycled aggregate, soil or empty skips between yards is usually own goods use.
- Muck-away and aggregates: Tipper work moving spoil or stone for other firms is also hire and reward and is best described in full.
- Restricted loads: Some waste types, such as asbestos or clinical waste, are often excluded or need agreeing with the insurer first.
Contractors running a tipper to clear spoil from their own digging work are in a different position, which is covered on groundworks fleet insurance.
Skips on drives and roads
Who is responsible for a skip once the lorry has gone?
A skip on a public road usually needs a permit from the local council, along with lights and markings. The skip stays the operator's responsibility while it sits there, often for days, so insurers ask how skips are placed and checked.
| Where the skip is left | What can go wrong | Worth checking |
|---|---|---|
| Skip on a customer's private drive | Damage to the drive surface or the skip being moved by others | Whether the motor or liability cover responds after the lorry has left |
| Skip placed on the road | A vehicle or cyclist hitting an unlit or poorly marked skip | Lights, markings and the council permit for that location |
| Container left on a building site | Theft or fire inside the container | Whether empty and full containers are insured as equipment |
Claims from a skip sitting on a road or pavement are usually a liability matter rather than a motor claim. MyMoneyComparison.com explains public liability insurance for businesses.
Before the quote
What do insurers ask a skip hire or tipper operator?
Brokers who place waste and skip fleets tend to start with the bodies and the loads before they look at the drivers. Gathering these first makes the form quicker.
- Body typesSkip loaders, hook lifts, grabs and tippers, each with its weight and value.
- Waste carriedHousehold, trade, building or green waste, and any types the business refuses.
- Skips and containersRoughly how many are out on hire and where they tend to be left.
- Drivers and operatorsWho drives and who works the lifting gear, with licence and training records.
- Yard and overnight parkingFencing, lighting, cameras and fire risk from stored waste.
- Past claimsLifting incidents, tipping incidents and road claims in recent years.
How it works
One quote form, specialist fleet brokers
Insure Fleet is an information site, not an insurer or a broker. We link you to MyMoneyComparison.com, a comparison service that gives businesses a gateway to brokers who arrange fleet insurance every day.
Start your quote
Get my fleet quote takes you to our partner, MyMoneyComparison.com.
Describe the skip and tipper fleet
The form asks about the vehicles, the work they do and who drives, so you can be matched with a specialist fleet broker.
Compare and decide
A broker contacts you with options, subject to insurers' acceptance criteria. There is no obligation to buy.
Before you buy
Questions for the broker about a skip and tipper fleet
The gaps in waste fleet cover usually sit between the lorry, the lifting gear and the skip left behind. These points help find them before a claim does.
- Is lifting covered as part of the motor policy?Some insurers include it; others need a separate lifting or working risk section.
- Are the skips themselves insured?Skips and containers out on hire may need cover as equipment.
- Is tipping over on site included?Overturning while tipping on soft ground is worth asking about.
- Which waste types are excluded?Hazardous loads often need agreeing first.
- Who can operate the lifting gear?Insurers may ask for training records for each operator.
FAQs
Tipper and skip hire fleet insurance questions
What is tipper and skip hire fleet insurance?
Tipper and skip hire fleet insurance is one motor policy covering the skip loaders, hook lift lorries, grab wagons and tippers a waste business runs. It sets out each vehicle, its body type, its class of use and who may drive it, with one renewal date for the whole yard.
Does the policy cover damage caused while lifting a skip?
Not always. Some motor policies include damage caused by the lifting gear while the lorry is stationary, while others treat it as a working risk under a separate section.
Is carrying customers' waste hire and reward?
Usually, yes. Being paid to take away other people's waste is carrying goods for payment, so the vehicles normally need hire and reward use. A firm moving only its own spoil or materials is in a different class.
What happens if someone hits a skip left on the road?
That kind of claim usually falls to liability cover rather than the motor policy, since the lorry is no longer there. Insurers may ask how lights, markings and council permits are checked.
Can a single tipper or grab lorry be insured elsewhere?
Yes. Operators with one heavy vehicle can find information on single lorry cover at hgv.insure, which deals with individual lorries and body types. A fleet policy usually starts to make sense once there are two or three vehicles.
Can tipper vans and pickups go on the same policy as the lorries?
Often, yes. Smaller tippers, vans and yard pickups can sit on one schedule with the heavy vehicles as a mixed fleet covering vans and lorries together, each with the right class of use.
Does Insure Fleet sell insurance?
No. Insure Fleet is an information site and an affiliate of MyMoneyComparison.com, a comparison service that gives businesses a gateway to specialist brokers. When you start a quote you continue to MyMoneyComparison.com, and we may be paid a small commission if you are matched with and speak to a broker.
Ready to insure the skip loaders and tippers?
One form for the whole yard, specialist brokers, no obligation.