Inland Marine, Crime, and Specialty Property Coverages
Inland marine
Inland marine covers property in transit or property that is mobile and not fixed at one location. It descends from ocean marine and is usually written as a floater with no coinsurance, following the property wherever it goes. Common forms: personal articles floater (scheduled jewelry, furs, fine arts, silverware), commercial articles, motor truck cargo, bailee's customer coverage, builders risk, installation floaters, accounts receivable, valuable papers, and signs.
Crime
Crime uses a separate logic. Employee dishonesty is a fidelity coverage with a per-employee limit, requiring proof of dishonest acts committed with intent to gain. Other insuring agreements include forgery or alteration, computer fraud, theft/disappearance/destruction, robbery and safe burglary, and kidnap/ransom. Forms are written on a discovery basis (losses discovered during the policy period) or loss sustained basis (usually with an extended discovery period). Money and securities, and property inside versus outside the premises, are defined and limited separately.
Specialty lines
Boiler and machinery (equipment breakdown) covers mechanical and electrical failure and the resulting business income loss. Surety bonds are three-party guarantees, not insurance - the surety expects reimbursement. Title insurance covers title defects discovered after purchase.
Traps
Inland marine is not watercraft insurance. Crime policies exclude indirect loss and often require inventory records. Employee dishonesty does not cover an employee's theft of customer property unless endorsed.
Rule of thumb: if the property moves, is scheduled, or belongs to someone else, think inland marine; if the loss involves dishonesty, think crime.