# Personal tool insurance



## btharmy (Jan 17, 2009)

Your car insurance should cover it up to a certain amount. As a contractor, I have what is called an "inland marine" policy. It covers the tools and equipment in my truck and I believe on the job site in a locked gang box (I need to check on that actually). It is $100/yr for $10,000 coverage.


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## Vintage Sounds (Oct 23, 2009)

According to my insurance company I will need a commercial auto policy in order to cover my tools being stolen out of my car. I'm supposed to get a call about it tomorrow. I'm expecting to see a rate hike.


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## Vintage Sounds (Oct 23, 2009)

btharmy said:


> Your car insurance should cover it up to a certain amount. As a contractor, I have what is called an "inland marine" policy. It covers the tools and equipment in my truck and I believe on the job site in a locked gang box (I need to check on that actually). It is $100/yr for $10,000 coverage.


That's pennies for a whole year's coverage. Hopefully I can get something like that.


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## btharmy (Jan 17, 2009)

Vintage Sounds said:


> According to my insurance company I will need a commercial auto policy in order to cover my tools being stolen out of my car. I'm supposed to get a call about it tomorrow. I'm expecting to see a rate hike.


Do you own your own company?


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## wildleg (Apr 12, 2009)

geez, you are so lucky. Here in states, all the crackheads seem to know that they can sell valuable tools for 5 or 10 bucks to get their next high. and jerkwads who should know better can't resist the price and buyem.

On a summer day 20 years ago I drove my jeep with the top off to a nice part of Capitol Hill in Washington DC, the "capital of the free world", and it just so happened I had my bowling bag (2 balls and shoes) in the back from the night before. I was parked on a main street in the middle of the day. I looked at it, and thought, "Nah". I was gone 15 or 20 mins tops. Sure enough, some crackhead ran off with 32 lbs of bowling balls. I would've loved to see that on a spy cam. Kinda funny, kinda sad.


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## Black Dog (Oct 16, 2011)

Vintage Sounds said:


> According to my insurance company I will need a commercial auto policy in order to cover my tools being stolen out of my car. I'm supposed to get a call about it tomorrow. I'm expecting to see a rate hike.


Make sure you take pictures of them all as well, so you can prove you have all that stuff.

Thankfully you did not lose all that stuff, it takes a long while to find all those tools, since you cannot buy them all in one place.


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## Switched (Dec 23, 2012)

Here in the states if you are an employee your renters or homeowners insurance would cover it.

Otherwise you would want an inland marine, as already mentioned.....Which I wish I would have had about a month ago. One of my vans was stolen, $30k in tools and materials gone and I am out of pocket!:laughing:


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## Vintage Sounds (Oct 23, 2009)

btharmy said:


> Do you own your own company?


No, which is why I was surprised to be told I need commercial insurance. I own the tools and I transport them for my own purposes, not "on behalf of my employer". When I got my auto policy I specifically informed the agent that I carried my work tools in my trunk, and there was no objection raised at the time. 



wildleg said:


> geez, you are so lucky. Here in states, all the crackheads seem to know that they can sell valuable tools for 5 or 10 bucks to get their next high. and jerkwads who should know better can't resist the price and buyem.


Honestly, I'm extremely surprised nothing was taken especially after reading some crackhead stories on here. I temporarily live in a downtown-ish area of Calgary, full of trendy shops, restaurants, bars cafes etc but also crackheads. My building doesn't have amazing parking either, in an alleyway without a lot of lighting or cameras. When the construction on my house is finished in a few months I'll have my own garage to park inside. I can't wait to get out of this area.


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## KDC (Oct 19, 2012)

Even here in Manitoba if it's not part of the car, then it's not covered by out car insurance, would have to make a claim via homeowners/renters insurance. 

Sucks that it happened. Time for you to check Kijiji.


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## kenstarr (Sep 10, 2013)

Happened to me in October. Lost my tool belt and hand tools contained therein. They also stole my halloween orange cfl's and T12 black lights, all of which were turned off at the time. Great news is the MF'r was caught a couple weeks back and has pleaded guilty 
-Ken


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## Jhellwig (Jun 18, 2014)

I think Lords of London will insure your personal tool.


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## glen1971 (Oct 10, 2012)

That sucks! I'm glad you didn't lose any of your tools....What the insurance folks told me was.. The company's insurance would cover their tools.. Anything that you would remove from the vehicle if it were to be sold would be covered by my house insurance. A tool rider was a good idea as I had more than the average amount of tools. 

I used to carry a tool rider on my stuff when I worked out of town, in case someone stole my tools from a job box. Or if it got lost on a flight.. I explained that if I needed to make a claim, I needed the cash first to pay for the tool replacement, as I need my tools to earn my money to pay for the deductible. Then I would submit my receipts. I was assured this would be the way it would go.

Well one Christmas Eve I came home from visiting with family at my sister's house to find out some a$$hat broke into my house. They stole my change sorter, company laptop, and my work truck! The keys were hanging on a rack beside the back door.. When I came home there was still some snow on the stairs, so I must not have missed them by much..

Fortunately I had recently backed up my laptop, so most of my info there wasn't a total loss.. I called my employer right after it happened at midnight so that they could make use of their GPS. Turns out the GPS in my truck stopped working in late November and they didn't get around to telling me, or my immediate boss. That led to quite a few changes with how they monitor and use the GPS system in the trucks..

I called my insurance after hours number next to start the claim for the house, and to get my tool rider claim started.. They were quite accommodating and told me I just needed to supply my receipts and they'd reimburse me... I talked to my agent the next day and she told me that was the way it worked. I asked what about our discussions earlier about the cash first and she said she was mistaken... Great..

When I went out to start buying my tools, I had a list of my tools, but naturally it was on my laptop.. So I sat down and tried to formulate a list.. The big things are easy to remember, but some of the small tools were the pain to remember.. I would go through catalogs and walk down the aisles in HD, Acklands trying to remember. I got most of them over about a month, and submitting my receipts wasn't as painful as I thought, as I had a cheque in about a week to a week and a half.. Hind sight being 20/20 pictures would have helped alot. A detailed list in hand would have been a huge help.. Reality though, I don't have a list anymore, and I don't think I have pictures of what's on my truck now.. That might be a project for the near future..


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## wildleg (Apr 12, 2009)

Switched said:


> Here in the states if you are an employee your renters or homeowners insurance would cover it.
> 
> Otherwise you would want an inland marine, as already mentioned.....Which I wish I would have had about a month ago. One of my vans was stolen, $30k in tools and materials gone and I am out of pocket!:laughing:


I found out (the lucky way) that (at least in my area) the homeowner's insurance only covers a small amount, and also only if you are on the property (when I was a kid my van got cleaned out, but I was parked on Dad's driveway and it was covered up to 5 or 10 g's, but the agent said if I had been parked on the street it would have been a big zero). that was 40 years ago, don't know if it still works like that or not.


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## Glock23gp (Mar 10, 2014)

I just called my in company yesterday about starting my own buisness. He said:

1. To turn my truck from a personal policy to buisness policy would be $11 more per 6 months.

2. This policy does not cover anything not physically attached and to add a 'contractors' policy to include tools and material would also be very inexpensive


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## btharmy (Jan 17, 2009)

Glock23gp said:


> I just called my in company yesterday about starting my own buisness. He said: 1. To turn my truck from a personal policy to buisness policy would be $11 more per 6 months. 2. This policy does not cover anything not physically attached and to add a 'contractors' policy to include tools and material would also be very inexpensive


As far as the tools, ask about inland marine policy. It's VERY reasonable. See my post#2 above.


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## Vintage Sounds (Oct 23, 2009)

I just talked to my insurance guy. He told me to convert my personal auto policy to a commercial auto policy it would be another $700 a year. If my tools are worth around $1500, deductible is $1000 and I still have to pay $700 more for this policy, it's actually cheaper to just pay out of pocket in the event my tools are stolen. He also said his company didn't provide insurance for just the tools. Time to look elsewhere I guess.


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## btharmy (Jan 17, 2009)

$$$ ouch $$$


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## Glock23gp (Mar 10, 2014)

I see you live in Canada. I insure through State Farm here in Oregon..I think I would be insurance shopping at that quoted rate..that's rediculous!!!


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