Lending equipment between properties is how rural neighborhoods work. It is also a liability that follows the owner rather than the borrower more often than people assume.
Lending a trailer or a machine does not lend away the liability attached to owning it.
Three things about equipment that leaves your property.
If equipment you own causes injury or damage while somebody else is using it, you can be drawn into the claim as the owner, particularly where the item was poorly maintained or the borrower was not shown how to use it. Handing over the keys does not hand over the responsibility.
Liability while a trailer is towed generally attaches to the towing vehicle’s policy, and the owner can still be named in a claim. Two policies may be involved and neither party usually realizes it until afterwards.
Lending to a neighbor is personal. Hiring equipment out for money is a business activity, and personal policies exclude business pursuits. Even informal payment can move an arrangement across that line.
Equipment and who uses it.
Trailers, machinery and tools are the usual items.
It moves the arrangement toward a business pursuit.
They have to qualify and they are usually at a default.
Tell us what equipment gets lent out and whether anyone ever pays for it.
We cover the things that leave your property with somebody else.
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