The Breakthrough Farm Machinery Valuation Tool Brokers Need

Farmers rely heavily on their machinery no matter the type of operation they are farming. If that operation is coupled with a commercial business there is likely even more machinery added to the mix. Staying on top of machinery values can be a lot of work for both an insurance broker and farmer given all the various ways machinery can be valued. There are a lot of considerations that go into valuing machinery, like market demands/trends, age and condition, functionality, depreciation/appreciation and so forth.  

The value of a piece of machinery is in constant fluctuation with changing inflation rates and the U.S. dollar or even how that machinery is being used. Because of this constant flux, it becomes even more difficult to know if you have an accurate value to insure it adequately in the market.  

First Acre Insurance™ created a machinery valuation tool that is real time. One of the problems we’re hearing is that there really is no great way to value machinery aside from doing some homework, reviewing serial numbers with dealers and making an educated guess. We developed a data driven online tool where the broker can sit down with the farmer, put in their specific machinery and it will tell them what the auction value is, what the retail value is and what the market value is. They will know immediately if they’re insuring it to value or not. And then as the insurance provider, we are insuring that machinery to Agreed Value with no co-insurance. Yes, you read that correctly; Agreed Value and no co-insurance. Did we mention we also have pre-filled subscription lines so when the value gets higher, the broker probably won’t need to go look to fill the remainder elsewhere. (Check out our last blog on Pre-Filled Subscription lines.) 

First Acre is always thinking about our brokers and their farmers. While the real time valuation of machinery is incredibly useful and necessary for adequate insurance coverage, it is valuable to farmers in many additional ways. This knowledge can help with business planning, giving our brokers more value to add to their client relationship. Knowing the real time value can help a farmer make important decisions around asset management, in terms of keeping, selling, repairing or acquiring pieces of machinery. It can also be helpful to really understand these values when seeking or securing financial loans. 

In addition to the First Acre platform and the functionality of Real Time Machinery Valuation it is worth understanding even more about First Acre when it comes to All-in-One coverage. This provides coverage for agricultural, personal and commercial together in one single policy. Coverage has been developed from the ground up with farmers and brokers to deliver insurance that works for the 21^st century farmer.  

In short… 

With the high cost and constant flux of farm machinery coupled with the difficulties in attaining a realistic value, having a tool that can do Real Time Machinery Valuations can be more beneficial than one might think. A system that looks at aspects like market trends, condition, type of use and more is worth its weight in gold when it comes to insuring machinery for what it really is worth. Nobody wants to be in a situation where their machinery is improperly valued and caught off guard should something unfortunate happen.