Guides
ATM route business insurance: questions to ask a broker
ATM route business insurance as a question set: the four states route cash passes through, the covers that must interlock, and the questions to ask a broker.
What to take away
- No premium figure appears here. ATM route business insurance pricing depends on what you carry, where, how, and your own history, and a quoted number would be about somebody else.
- Cash moves through four states on a route, and cover for one state does not follow it into the next.
- The policy and the placement agreement have to agree about who bears a loss. When they disagree, you find out during a claim.
- Insurers price what you tell them. Describing the operation loosely to get a cheaper quote is how a claim gets declined.
- The questions below are what to put to a broker. Their answers, in writing, are the actual coverage.
Insurance for an ATM route is not one product. It is a set of covers that have to interlock, and the gaps between them are where the loss lands. This page is a question set, not a price list.
The four states cash passes through
| State | Where the money is | The question to ask |
|---|---|---|
| At your premises or in the safe | Before and after a run | Is money held here covered, up to what, and under what security conditions |
| In transit | In the vehicle, on the person | Is it covered while carried, by whom, in what vehicle, at what hours |
| Inside the machine | Loaded, waiting to be dispensed | Is money inside a machine at a third party site covered, and against what causes |
| In settlement | Dispensed but not yet reimbursed | Is this an insurance question at all, or a credit and contract question |
The last row is the one people misread. Money in settlement is usually not an insured risk; it is exposure to a counterparty and a timetable. Ask anyway, and if the answer is that it is not covered, treat it as a reason to understand your processor's terms rather than as a hole to fill with a policy.
Four states of route cash
State
- At premises or safe
- Before and after run
- In transit
- Vehicle, on person
- Inside the machine
- Loaded, waiting
- In settlement
- Dispensed, not reimbursed
Where the money is
- At premises or safe
- Covered, up to what
- In transit
- Covered while carried
- Inside the machine
- Covered at third party
- In settlement
- Insurance or credit question
Question to ask
- At premises or safe
- In transit
- Inside the machine
- In settlement
Cover categories to work through with a broker
Money and securities, and cash-in-transit. The core cover, and the one where conditions bite: how much may be carried, by how many people, in what kind of vehicle, and at what times. Conditions that your actual route breaks are worse than no cover, because you will believe you are insured.
Cover categories to review
- Money and cash-in-transitamounts, people, vehicle, hours
- Machinesdamage, vandalism, attack, water, off-site
- Liabilityinjury at machine, installation claims, venue overlap
- Vehiclecover reflects genuine route use
- Business interruptionthin comfort for a route
The machines themselves, under inland marine or bailee or customer property cover. Physical damage, vandalism, attack, vehicle impact, water. Ask whether cover follows the machine to a site you do not control, and what the venue's own policy does or does not do.
Liability, under a commercial general liability policy. Someone hurt at or by the machine, or a claim arising from the installation. Ask how this interacts with the venue's liability cover, because both parties often assume the other one has it.
Vehicle, under a commercial auto policy. Cover has to reflect what the vehicle is genuinely used for. A personal policy on a car that carries route cash is a claim waiting to be refused.
Business interruption and the rest. Usually thin comfort for a route, because the loss is missed withdrawals rather than a closed premises. Ask what it would actually pay in your circumstances before buying it.
The questions to put to a broker
Put these in writing and keep the answers. Ask for the covers by their policy names too: money and securities, often written as an inland marine money form; cash-in-transit; bailee or customer property for cash and machines at sites you do not control; commercial general liability; commercial auto; and errors and omissions if venues rely on your advice.
- Named insured.Is the policy issued to the exact legal entity that runs the route, and does it list every name we trade under?
- Covers by name.Which of these are on the policy and which are not: money and securities, cash-in-transit, bailee or customer property, commercial general liability, commercial auto, errors and omissions, workers' compensation?
- Limits and sublimits.What is the per-occurrence limit, the aggregate, and the separate sublimit for cash in transit, cash in a machine, and cash at premises, and what happens on a run that carries more than the transit sublimit?
- Claims-made or occurrence.Which covers are written claims-made, what is the retroactive date, and what extended reporting period do I get if I stop paying?
- Cash-in-transit conditions.What are the maximum carry, the minimum number of people, the vehicle requirements and the permitted hours, and does the policy exclude single-custodian runs or after-hours loading?
- Exclusions.Does it exclude unattended cash outside the machine, unattended machines, or a loss the placement agreement puts on the venue?
- The venue.Will you issue a certificate of insurance naming the venue as additional insured, and add a waiver of subrogation where the placement agreement requires one?
- Machines at sites I do not control.Does cover follow the machine, and does it respond to vandalism, attack, vehicle impact and water on premises someone else owns?
- The interlock.Read the placement agreement and tell me where it disagrees with the policy on who bears a loss, on who insures the cash inside the machine, and on who does what after an incident.
- Your credentials.Are you and the carrier licensed in my state by the Department of Insurance, and which carriers or managing general agents will you approach for ATM and cash-in-transit risk?
- Rating factors.Which of my practices, from timing and staffing to cash levels, vehicle and records, change the premium or the terms?
- Reporting changes.What must be reported mid-term, such as more machines, longer runs, later hours or higher cash, and what happens to a claim if it is not reported?
What the insurer will want to know, and why you answer honestly
What the insurer will ask
- How much cash you carry and how often
- Which hours you run
- Whether anyone works alone
- What the vehicle is
- What the machines are and where they sit
- What security exists at each site
- Whether you have had a loss before
Every one of those is a rating factor, and every one is also a condition. Understate the cash or the hours and you have bought a policy for a business you do not run.
Describe the operation as you would to your bank. That is the accuracy standard behind the risk-based review in the FinCEN statement on independent ATM operator banking.
One written description of the model should serve your broker, your bank, and the adviser reading FinCEN's guidance on the money services business definition and certain ATM owner-operators. Three different descriptions is how one turns out to be wrong.
Making the policy and the agreement agree
Read the placement agreement and the policy side by side. Three questions decide whether they interlock.
Do policy and agreement agree?
Who bears loss if machine attacked at venue?
agreement and policy match
fix agreement or fix policy
- Who bears the loss if the machine is attacked or damaged at the venue: you, the host, or an insurer, and does the agreement say the same thing the policy does.
- Who is responsible for the cash inside the machine at a site you do not control.
- What each party must do after an incident, and in what order, so that a claim is not prejudiced by how the first hour was handled.
Where the two documents disagree, fix the agreement or fix the policy. Do not decide to remember the difference. The liability terms this touches belong in the written plan for the route, where they can be read alongside the cash arrangements they depend on.
Two mechanics settle most of these arguments before a loss: a certificate of insurance naming the venue as an additional insured, and a waiver of subrogation so the venue's carrier does not come back at you after it pays its own claim. Both have to be requested and confirmed by the carrier. Neither is automatic.
What drives your cost, in general terms
Insurers price exposure and control. Exposure is how much cash, how often, how far, and at what hours. Control is what you do to reduce the chance and the size of a loss: varied timing, two people where warranted, tamper-evident procedure, machines chosen and sited sensibly, and records that show the process is real rather than described.
Exposure versus control
Exposure
- Cash amount
- How much you carry
- Frequency
- How often you run
- Distance
- How far you travel
- Hours
- When you run
- Records
- Loss history
Control
- Cash amount
- Varied timing
- Frequency
- Two people where warranted
- Distance
- Tamper-evident procedure
- Hours
- Sensible machine siting
- Records
- Process shown as real
Improving control is your only lever, so ask your broker specifically which of your practices affect the rating, then improve those rather than guessing.
Physical siting is part of it, and accessibility constrains the position independently: the 2010 ADA Standards for Accessible Design include provisions addressing automatic teller machines. Check the 2010 ADA Standards with advice before fixing a position.
After a loss
Have the order of calls decided in advance: emergency services if anyone is at risk, then your processor, your sponsoring bank, your insurer, the venue, and whoever else your compliance register names. Preserve everything, including the machine's own records, and write down what happened while it is fresh.
Then review the cover rather than only the incident. A claim is the clearest information you will ever get about whether the policy matched the operation. What that means for your obligations more broadly is mapped in the licensing and compliance overview.
Common questions
How much does route insurance cost?
Nobody can tell you without knowing your cash, your hours, your vehicle, your sites and your history. Anyone quoting a figure for the trade in general is describing an average that will not include you.
Does the venue's insurance cover my machine?
Usually not, and assuming it does is a common and expensive mistake. Ask the venue for a straight answer and put whatever is true into the agreement.
Do I need cover before the first machine is installed?
Discuss the start date with your broker, and bear in mind cash may be exposed from the moment you collect it rather than from the moment the machine is live.
Does growing the route change the policy?
Yes, and this is the change operators most often forget to report. More machines means more cash, longer runs and later hours. Tell the broker as it happens, using the growth prompts in the expansion guide and reporting each new host site as you sign it.
