The National Equipment Register (NER) hopes waived insurance policy theft deductibles through equipment registration with the company's national database will eventually become an industry standard.

Lexington Insurance Company, a member of the American International Group (AIG), is the latest insurance company to partner with NER in waiving its contractors' equipment policyholders' policy deductibles of up to USD10,000 if the equipment is registered on NER's HELPtech database before the theft.

NER marketing and sales director Stacy Kaufman says other insurance companies are "working towards" offering the waived deductible.

"There are currently five insurance companies offering the waived deductible. Once the largest companies offer this program as a standard benefit, smaller companies will follow.

"We hope that eventually registration with NER and waived deductibles will be standard in the industry."

Steve Silverman, Lexington's product line manager for inland marine, is enthusiastic about the program.

"[We] are excited to be teaming up with the NER team, law enforcement agencies throughout the country and the construction industry to help reduce the financial consequences of construction equipment theft."

Lexington joins four other insurance companies, CAN, Hanover, CHUBB and Fireman's Fund, in teaming up with NER to waive excesses on claims.

Kaufman explains that NER is primarily supported by the insurance industry.
"We have contracts with 364 insurance companies, which ... agree to compensate us if we recover a piece of equipment for them. We typically recover the equipment after the claim has been recovered."

Established in 2001, NER manages a national database of heavy equipment thefts and ownership records to assist equipment owners, the insurance industry and law enforcement to identify and recover stolen equipment.

Through HELPtech (Heavy Equipment Loss Prevention Technology), owners pay to register an item or a fleet with NER. Equipment owners are sent a 4" by 5" (10.2cm by 12.7cm) decal that marks the item as registered on a "national database accessible to law enforcement" and would-be purchasers of the equipment.

To date, NER has worked with law enforcement to recover over USD15 million of stolen equipment. In its 2006 Theft Report endorsed by the FBI-LEEDA, NER claims eight out of the "top 10" US construction equipment insurance companies are its clients. Its database consists of 14.9 million ownership records and nearly 90,000 theft reports.

Based on 4,858 theft reports submitted to NER in 2006, 3% of stolen equipment was lifting equipment.

FBI-LEEDA, the FBI-Law Enforcement Executive Development Association, is a non-profit association aiming to advance the science and art of police management and administration worldwide. It originated at the FBI Academy, in Quantico, Virginia.