The CCC Exclusion: Why Your Standard Liability Policy May Not Cover The Very Thing You Do

We will discuss why CCC coverage is important in both farm insurance policies and business insurance policies.

If your business involves working on or providing safekeeping for a customer’s property, you face one of the biggest blind spots in commercial insurance: the Care, Custody, and Control (CCC) Exclusion.

This exclusion is a standard clause in Commercial General Liability (CGL) policies and essentially denies coverage for damage to a client’s personal property that is temporarily in your possession for your professional work.

The result is a devastating coverage gap that affects a huge range of service-based businesses, especially in the specialized world of agriculture and transportation.

What Your Standard CGL Policy Covers (and What it Excludes)

To understand why you need specialized coverage, you must know what your General Liability policy is actually designed for:

The CCC exclusion is tripped when you have:

• Care: You are temporarily responsible for overseeing the property.
• Custody: You are responsible for safeguarding the property.
• Control: You have the power or authority to manage the property.

If you damage something you don’t own while any one of these conditions is met, your standard liability policy is likely silent.

CCC in Agriculture: The Livestock Gap

In the agricultural world, the most critical application of CCC insurance is protecting non-owned animals. If you are a specialized operation, you likely need a separate policy or endorsement:

CCC in Other Service Industries

The need for CCC coverage extends far beyond the farm. It is essential for any business that temporarily handles a customer’s property, including:

✅ Action Step: Do Not Assume Coverage

The CCC exclusion is a trapdoor that can leave your business fully responsible for the cost of repairing or replacing a customer’s valuable property.

If your business routinely relies on handling a customer’s personal property—whether it’s a herd of cattle, a client’s vehicle, or their dog—you need to look past your standard CGL policy.

We specialize in tailoring commercial and agricultural policies to include the specific CCC endorsements you need.

Ready to close this critical gap? Request a consultation with a Hitchings Insurance expert today.