Insurance for tools?

[Travis]

Today a guy at work told me about his friend getting all of his tools stolen out of his garage. The police did nothing because there were no serial numbers or personalized markings on anything and his homeowner’s policy wouldn’t cover it because he had no proof of what he owned. It made me think about the tools I own and how much it would cost to replace them all. I’m going to contact my insurance company and see what I can do to have them covered. I don’t have receipts or anything for the majority of the tools I’ve accumulated over the years. Maybe I can get an agreed value policy with pictures and itemized lists. Either way, I’m going to take a picture of each drawer in each tool box. At the minimum, it will help me remember what I owned to tell the insurance company if they are stolen.

Does anyone have insurance specifically for your tools? Or know for a fact that you are covered under your home policy?

 

[Frank The Tank]

Great idea with the pictures. I think I'm going to do that too.

 

[royfisk]

I tried to insure mine a couple years ago and the only one that would was lords of england. At the time I had $50,000 worth of tools. I have been ripped off 2 times in my life and lost 2 complete sets of tools probably around 25-30,000. Anyhow lords told me 750 a year. I thought it to expensive and didnt buy, but man it dont take long to spend big money on quality tools, especially when the tool trucks make it so convienent.

 

[curt698]

Travis,

I'm an insurance agent. Are your tools for personal use or do you make money with them. Are they at home (personal out building) or at a shop?

If your tools are for personal use only there are two things to consider. 1) How much personal property limit do you have on your home-owners policy. That limit is shared for everything in your home plus most everything with out a plate in your garage. 2) Getting the most from the adjuster. I list on a legal pad is not going to get you a very good settlement. The best option is to take a video camera in your garage and slow film opening draws in all your boxes ect. Narrate as you go describing what you are filming mentioning brands of tools and approximate price new. On your most expensive stuff even film serial number if you can.

For a business to get proper coverage is a little trickier. There are two ways to cover tools blanket and scheduled. Scheduled is about half the cost of scheduling. The schedule you provide your agent a list of tools including current value (coverage is NOT replacement cost so don't list cost new you won't get that in a claim), serial number, model and year. Blanket coverage is for small tools like open ends ect. you just pick a number like 10K that you think would cover the small stuff.

IF YOU USE YOUR TOOLS TO MAKE MONEY DON'T COUNT ON HOME-OWNERS!!!!

 

[royfisk]

Thats what I am talking about right there. Ok starter at home or business covers shop owners and people at home. It gets tricky when you work at someone elses shop and MOST MECHANICS supply there own tools, and have a second set at home. The small stuff you mentioned above is where the money is really at. Todays tool pricing a complete set of sockets from 1/4 inch through 3/4 inch drive with all drive units and extentions alone from any one of the 4 most desired tool companies, ( snap-on, mac,matco, or cornwall ) will easily top 10,000. Now add wrenches, pliers, screwdrivers etc. A fully equiped professional mechanic can easily have 100,000 dollars in tools that DONT HAVE SERIAL NUMBERS. A good top of the line box alone will be 10,000 plus. Try convincing a insurance company this. tHEN THERE ARE THE SPECIALTY TOOLS THAT WE MAKE AS IN ANOTHER FORUM. It may cost us some money to build this tool as well as time spent designing it and we could even though its homemade have alot of money in it. Try getting it insured. When I got my quote I itemised my box, complete with photos, Which I had 50 photos of various drawers, and equipment. ( I tried to upload a sample photo of what was submitted, but cant figure it out on this site.) The insurance companies wouldnt even try to pick it up. Lords offered me the previously stated policy for flat rate $50,000 replacment value. Which still wouldnt have replaced everything but it was the best I could find. Today about half of those tools are @ my millwright job and the other half are @ home for my motorcycle activities, both comercial and private. I never have bought insurance either place. Another issue is people stealing your tools. Most insurance companies and agents dont realise that a standard 3/8 drive snap-on ratchet is about 40 bucks. GOOD QUALITY TOOLS ARE EXPENSIVE. probably the most expensive non home related item in a professional mechanics life includeing there automobile is there tools.

 

[curt698]

Roy,

You are right that your personal tools used at work are really hard to cover. I also understand your statement about hand tools, that is were the video comes in handy. BTW I think the company you are referring to is Lloyd's of London. I'll PM my number, call me monday and I'll see if I can offer some hints for you.

 

[Travis]

I'll PM my number, call me monday and I'll see if I can offer some hints for you.

By hints do you mean sell him a policy?

And thanks for the information guys. I still haven't taken pictures of my drawers yet but it sounds like video might be the way to go anyway. My tools are just for personal use at home in a my garage and aren't worth tens of thousands of dollars or anything. I should probably contact my insurance company for my home policy. Another thing for the to-do list.

 

[MrBillohnooo]

I know this is a very old thread, but as a truck and trailer mechanic, I have been wondering where to get insurance on my tools that I keep at work. (I could own a Porsche or really tricked out new Vette to match my investment)
Any more advice on companies that will insure tools?

 

[oldbiker]

hi guys,,, i,m in australia,,,,, for years i was overcharged by the commonwealth bank for insurance ,,,, way over charged and limited by their stupidity,, but by accident when reading my mates policy he was insured for every thing and the kitchen sink!!! so i rushed home and rang shannons insurance ,, spoke to a guy called harley .......,,, and now my bikes are fully insured for agreed valve ,,my car is agreed valve,,, my garage is $10,000 for tools and extra contents ,spare parts for my hobbies etc ,,,and my home and contents are fully insured and they are reasonably priced and direct debit ... so i don,t even miss it going.. all well and ends well .. it doesn,t pay tooooooo be uninsured these days.. ,,, if somebody steals your pride and joy and your tool box etc.. and steals the microwave on the way out ,,,have you got $15,000 to rush out and replace next week and not cry as well insure ensure ...it pays sorry to rant regards oldbiker

 

[DIRTY DOG]

here in the good old U.S.A it's hard to get insurance on tools I was told a few years a go it would cost me $30.00 per $10,000.00 of tools per month thats a lot of $$$$. as i have 60,000 + in tools. I work for a G.M. dealer and they say they don't cover them. my att.said if they get stolen the dealer would have to cover them as they don't supply them for us.Hope I don't have to find out.

 

[FLEA]

hi guys,,, i,m in australia,,,,, for years i was overcharged by the commonwealth bank for insurance ,,,, way over charged and limited by their stupidity,, but by accident when reading my mates policy he was insured for every thing and the kitchen sink!!! so i rushed home and rang shannons insurance ,, spoke to a guy called harley .......,,, and now my bikes are fully insured for agreed valve ,,my car is agreed valve,,, my garage is $10,000 for tools and extra contents ,spare parts for my hobbies etc ,,,and my home and contents are fully insured and they are reasonably priced and direct debit ... so i don,t even miss it going.. all well and ends well .. it doesn,t pay tooooooo be uninsured these days.. ,,, if somebody steals your pride and joy and your tool box etc.. and steals the microwave on the way out ,,,have you got $15,000 to rush out and replace next week and not cry as well insure ensure ...it pays sorry to rant regards oldbiker

good to know,every home and contents policy iv had always had the disclaimer tools are not covered and with all the increases over the years (due to fire flood cyclone etc excuses) and iv looked and changed a lot, might give them a ring next time but as always price counts

 

[jd750ace]

Mine are covered with Farmers under my home policy. It was a question early on. I'm a life long wrench and I have over 30K worth of hand tools and air tools for my trade. I even have renter's insurance up here to cover the metric stuff I keep at the apartment to mess with my truck and bike. I've got over 2500 bucks worth in a little plastic box! On your work place, the only incidents I know of involving a hangar went 50/50 up front, one covered, one did not, but the one not covering got sued and paid for tools plus court costs. Do the video thing, and not just for your tools. Do your whole dang house from top to bottom. Guns, clothes, furniture, dishes, jewelry, electronics, bikes, lawn equipment, everything. Send it to a trusted relative or two is even better, on a CD and have them keep it in a safe or safe deposit box. Fire, flood, theft, or tornado, you can prove what you had. When I look at it up front, I think I'm a bit over-insured, but the more I think about it, it's probably about right.

 

[oldbiker]

Mine are covered with Farmers under my home policy. It was a question early on. I'm a life long wrench and I have over 30K worth of hand tools and air tools for my trade. I even have renter's insurance up here to cover the metric stuff I keep at the apartment to mess with my truck and bike. I've got over 2500 bucks worth in a little plastic box! On your work place, the only incidents I know of involving a hangar went 50/50 up front, one covered, one did not, but the one not covering got sued and paid for tools plus court costs. Do the video thing, and not just for your tools. Do your whole dang house from top to bottom. Guns, clothes, furniture, dishes, jewelry, electronics, bikes, lawn equipment, everything. Send it to a trusted relative or two is even better, on a CD and have them keep it in a safe or safe deposit box. Fire, flood, theft, or tornado, you can prove what you had. When I look at it up front, I think I'm a bit over-insured, but the more I think about it, it's probably about right.

............... hi guys as you know i,m in australia,,,, i,ve got SHANNONS content insurrance,,, for my garage and home ,,in the garage my car and my bikes are insured by shannons they understand older bikes and cars and all my tools are insured as well to the value of $10,000for tools regards oldbiker

 

[Vistr]

I'm new to xs650 and just purchased a 79 xs 650 special so my apologies to the late post. There is a product called data dot technology. It's a way of marking your tools, your bikes, just about anything you own with micro dots that have unique numbers on the dots registered to you. You can only see the dots with a black light and the data base with your registered number/dots are available to insurance and police officials. If your things are stolen and recovered at least they can be identified as yours and you can get them back. Go to digitalkeepsafe.com to find out about this. There is also a home inventory program where you can list your items by description add a photo of the item(s) and save it all on your PC or flash drive. If items are stolen you can print a list for you insurance claim..

 

[oldbiker]

Today a guy at work told me about his friend getting all of his tools stolen out of his garage. The police did nothing because there were no serial numbers or personalized markings on anything and his homeowner’s policy wouldn’t cover it because he had no proof of what he owned. It made me think about the tools I own and how much it would cost to replace them all. I’m going to contact my insurance company and see what I can do to have them covered. I don’t have receipts or anything for the majority of the tools I’ve accumulated over the years. Maybe I can get an agreed value policy with pictures and itemized lists. Either way, I’m going to take a picture of each drawer in each tool box. At the minimum, it will help me remember what I owned to tell the insurance company if they are stolen.

Does anyone have insurance specifically for your tools? Or know for a fact that you are covered under your home policy?

................ hi i,m in australia,,,where i,ve got contents and tools covered by shannons insurance... they also cover both my bikes and my car they take a payment out each month i don,t even notice it regards oldbiker

 

[crescendo]

A worker without his tools is like the bike without fuel. So the idea of insuring tools is awesome. It will provide more safety to the work.

 

[HooliganCycles]

I know this thread is super old, but for what its worth I am a motorcycle mechanic by trade and when I started at the shop I am at now the their insurance agent just asked me how much I valued my tools at for replacement in case of theft or damage.fire flood etc. Same with my renters insurance for my tools at home, they asked me a dollar amount, I told them and they said ok great. For what its worth my insurance is through state farm and they have been great for the last 15 years I have had them.

 

[Brassneck]

I too have State Farm, and the value you give them is not the value they will replace at, nor necessarily replace at all. Ask me hown I know...lol

 

[pamcopete]

Make sure your insurance policy doesn't have an escape or exclusion in favor of the insurance company.

A friend of mine came home and found his home burned to the ground. He called his insurance agent and the agent asked him to check the burned down house to see if his stereo equipment was still there. He reported back that it was. Next, the agent asked him to check if his new expensive set of golf clubs was still in the closet. My friend reported back that the clubs were there.

Then the insurance agent said he was sorry but the damage was not covered because my friends policy was for fire and theft. He was told he should have bought a policy for fire or theft.

 

[chizler62]

DON'T GET ANY SORT OF INSURANCE. You'll just get SCREWED. If you do everything right they'll make it so aggravating you'd rather jump off a cliff than try and get your check.
Seriously, It's a complete scam. I'm amazed how the insurance business is legal. Your $3500 Miller Dynasty suddenly becomes a $300 Harbor Freight tig welder.