Unregistered Plant and Machinery Isn't Covered by a Commercial Motor Policy
An excavator or bobcat that never touches a public road needs its own plant and machinery cover, not a commercial motor policy. Why the two don't overlap.
By Jack O'Hagan, Co-Founder & Insurance Broker
Published 11 August 2026 · 4 min read
In this guide
An excavator, bobcat or site crane that never drives on a public road isn’t covered by a commercial motor policy, registered or not. Plant and machinery insurance is the cover built for this equipment instead. It’s written differently to a standard motor policy from the ground up.1
Bespoke wording
most underwriters write plant and machinery cover on its own terms, not as a motor extension
Registered + unregistered
one plant and machinery policy can generally cover both together
1.5% to 4%
typical premium as a percentage of sum insured
Is unregistered plant and machinery covered under a commercial motor policy?
No. This catches businesses out more often than it should. Commercial motor insurance is built around vehicles primarily used on public roads. Equipment that mainly operates off-road, an excavator moving around a site, a bobcat working a depot, a crane that never leaves a project, sits outside that definition entirely. It doesn’t become covered by being added to a motor fleet schedule.
A commercial motor policy is written around vehicles on public roads. Plant that stays off the road was never the risk that policy was built for.
Why is unregistered plant and machinery harder to insure with mainstream insurers?
Underwriters generally treat unregistered plant as its own distinct risk category. Appetite narrows further depending on the specific equipment type and how it’s actually used on site. Most underwriters write bespoke plant and machinery wording for this equipment rather than extending a standard commercial motor policy to cover it, which is a different approach to how a lot of businesses first assume this gets handled.
This is a common assumption worth correcting directly. A business with a mixed fleet, a few registered trucks alongside an unregistered excavator or skid steer, often expects the whole fleet to sit under one commercial motor schedule. In practice the registered vehicles and the unregistered plant are two different risks to an underwriter, priced and worded separately even when they’re owned by the same business and used on the same jobs. Treating them as one policy question rather than two is where businesses most often end up with cover that doesn’t actually respond the way they expected.
What is road risk cover and why does it matter here?
Road risk is an optional extension available under a plant and machinery policy, not something a commercial motor policy provides. It can respond to injury or property damage if unregistered equipment briefly crosses a public road or public area, moving between a depot and a work site being the most common example. This is worth confirming specifically. Equipment that’s genuinely never near a public road has different requirements to equipment that occasionally has to cross one. Exact terms vary by insurer.2
An excavator moved between two adjoining sites by crossing a short stretch of public road is a common example. The equipment itself is unregistered and spends the rest of its working life entirely off-road. That one crossing is enough to matter if something goes wrong during it. Road risk cover is what’s designed to respond to exactly that scenario. It needs to be arranged deliberately rather than assumed to be automatically included.
Registered or unregistered
Whether each piece of equipment is registered for general road use changes what policy actually applies.
How the equipment is actually used
Site-based, depot-based or occasionally crossing a public road are three different risk pictures for the same machine.
Equipment type and age
Insurer appetite and pricing both vary by the specific type of plant, not just its value.
Total sum insured across the fleet
A single policy covering the whole fleet is generally simpler than splitting cover across multiple policies.
Key Takeaways
- Unregistered plant and machinery generally isn't covered by a commercial motor policy at all.
- Most underwriters write bespoke plant and machinery wording for this equipment rather than extending a motor policy to cover it.
- Registered and unregistered equipment can generally sit together under one plant and machinery policy.
- Road risk is a specific extension worth confirming if any equipment ever crosses a public road, even briefly.
- Appetite and pricing vary by equipment type and how it's actually used, not just its value.
If your business runs plant or machinery that doesn’t fit neatly under a standard motor policy, Cipher can review your fleet and confirm what’s actually covered. See our full Manufacturing & Import/Export page for how this fits alongside the other cover manufacturers and importers typically need, or get in touch directly.
The information in this article is general in nature and does not constitute legal, financial or insurance advice. Please speak with a qualified adviser about your specific circumstances.
Footnotes
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Types of business insurance, business.gov.au ↩
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Insurance explained, Insurance Council of Australia ↩
Not sure how this applies to your situation?
Frequently asked questions
Is unregistered plant and machinery covered under a commercial motor policy?
No. Commercial motor insurance is built around vehicles that are primarily used on public roads. Equipment that mainly operates off-road, such as an excavator, bobcat or unregistered mobile crane, sits outside that definition and generally isn't covered under a standard commercial motor policy at all, registered or not.
What counts as unregistered plant and machinery?
Mobile equipment that isn't registered for general road use, such as excavators, bulldozers, graders, compressors and site cranes that move around a project or depot but don't drive on public roads as their primary function. Some of this equipment can be conditionally registered or briefly cross a public road between sites, which is a different question to being registered for general road use.
Why is unregistered plant and machinery harder to insure with mainstream insurers?
Underwriters generally treat unregistered plant as its own distinct risk rather than folding it into a standard motor or business pack policy. Appetite narrows further depending on the equipment type and how it's used. Most underwriters write bespoke plant and machinery wording for this equipment rather than extending a simple commercial motor policy to cover it.
What is road risk cover for unregistered plant?
Road risk is an optional extension available under a plant and machinery policy, not a commercial motor policy, that can respond to injury or property damage if unregistered equipment briefly crosses a public road or public area, such as moving between a depot and a work site. It's worth confirming specifically if any equipment in the fleet ever touches a public road, even briefly.
Does plant and machinery insurance also cover registered equipment?
Yes. A plant and machinery policy can generally cover both registered and unregistered mobile equipment together under one policy, which is often simpler than trying to split a fleet across a motor policy and a separate plant policy.
What information do insurers need to quote plant and machinery cover?
Insurers typically ask for the type and age of each piece of equipment, whether it's registered or unregistered, how and where it's used, the total sum insured across the fleet and claims history. Presenting this clearly makes a real difference to both price and the range of insurers willing to quote.
Can I get cover if unregistered plant has been declined before?
A previous decline doesn't rule out cover elsewhere. Unregistered plant is exactly the kind of risk where specialist market access matters, since appetite varies significantly between insurers and a broker with the right panel can often place equipment a single insurer has turned down.
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Where this guide fits
Business Insurance
This guide sits alongside our Business Insurance cover pages.
Browse Business InsuranceWritten by
Jack O'Hagan
Co-Founder & Insurance Broker
Jack spent 6+ years across law, finance and insurance, seeing the impact insurance can have on the growth of a business. With a strong focus on advocacy, he firmly believes insurance broking does not stop after the policy has been placed. It continues when a claim is lodged. He co-founded Cipher Insurance to help Australian businesses get the right broker experience.