The Chubb Group of insurance companies is making registering construction equipment in the National Equipment Register‘s database easier for its policyholders. Law enforcement agencies use the database, which is available to them 24 hours a day, to determine whether suspicious machines have been stolen.
Chubb will pay the cost of registering the first 10 pieces of equipment with NER and will cover 20 percent of the cost for additional machines. If stolen equipment registered with NER is not recovered within 30 days of being reported stolen, Chubb will waive insurance deductibles of up to $10,000.
To register with NER, you must provide descriptions of your machines and their serial numbers. You’ll receive decals for your machines that inform potential thieves the equipment is registered in a national database used extensively by law enforcement officers.
The value of stolen equipment has risen 20 percent each year since 1996, and only 10 to 15 percent of stolen equipment is recovered, according to Insurance Services Office, a company that supplies statistical and underwriting claims information to the insurance industry.
“Combating commercial equipment theft is one of our toughest challenges,” said Pat Stoik, vice president of Chubb and Son. “We are giving our policyholders incentives to take an active role in combating equipment theft and reduce their risk.”
