The tools were taken off the truck overnight. Whether the claim is paid depends on what you bought and how the truck was locked.
It is easy to assume one policy covers your gear wherever it happens to be. It does not. Tools on a site, tools in a van, materials waiting to be installed and a machine you rented for two weeks are four different covers, and a business can hold three of them and be missing the one that matters.
Start a quote file Read the short answer firstA shop policy is written for the shop.
The van is insured. The contents are not.
How it was secured is part of the cover.
Are my tools covered if they are stolen from my truck or off a job site?
Usually only through a contractor’s equipment floater, and even then only within the conditions written into it. On a package policy the floater is sometimes sold as the tools and equipment section. A commercial property policy insures property at the location on the declarations page. Some carry a small extension for property away from the premises, but it is not written for a van full of tools. An automobile policy insures the vehicle, not the tools inside it. The cover that follows your equipment around, from the yard to the van to the site and back, is a separate item that has to be bought on purpose. The form has a name of its own. The Insurance Institute of Canada’s definition, published in IBC’s glossary, calls a commercial property floater “A property insurance form that covers commercial property items of a portable nature”. Portable is the word that decides it, and it is exactly what a shop policy is not written around. Read the commercial property floater entry in IBC’s glossary (opens in a new tab).
It is an easy gap to carry, and it stays hidden because nothing about a general liability certificate mentions it. Liability answers what you do to other people. It does not cover your own tools. A contractor can be perfectly compliant with every certificate a general asks for and still have nothing at all on the gear in the back of the van.
Expect a claim, not a return. Serial numbers and photographs help the police and help the claim, but do not count on the machine coming back. That is worth knowing before you decide whether the cover is worth the premium, because the real question is whether what the policy pays will let you replace it and keep the job moving, and that depends on how the policy values the gear.
Which one answers depends on what the item is doing at the time.
Contractor’s equipment floater
Your own tools and machines, wherever they are, within the policy’s conditions. Larger items are usually scheduled by serial number, and small tools are covered as a blanket amount with a per-item cap. Read the per-item cap. A blanket figure that looks generous can still settle a stolen laser level or a specialist torque tool at a fraction of what it cost.
Installation floater
Materials you have bought and are going to install, while they are in transit, in storage and on site before the job is accepted. These are not your tools and they are not the building owner’s property yet, which is exactly why they fall between two policies. On fit-out and mechanical work this can be the biggest single exposure on the job.
Builders risk on the project
Covers the work under construction. It usually does not cover the contractor’s own tools and equipment, and it frequently excludes them by name. Being on a project with a builders risk policy in place is not a reason to drop your own floater.
Rented and borrowed equipment
A rental agreement can make you responsible for the machine, for its full replacement value and for the rental company’s lost income while it is off the fleet. A floater usually covers only equipment you own, unless it has been extended to equipment in your care. Send the rental agreement rather than guessing, because the wording differs between rental companies.
In each of these, the theft is not the problem.
The condition nobody read
Equipment floaters commonly carry conditions about how items are secured overnight, where a vehicle is parked, and whether an alarm or immobilizer is fitted and switched on. These are not suggestions. A theft from a van left on the street when the policy required a locked compound can be declined on a policy that was otherwise perfectly good. Many wordings also require visible signs of forced entry before they pay for theft from a vehicle.
The list that was never updated
Scheduled equipment is covered as scheduled. A machine bought in March and never added is not on the schedule in November. Most policies carry a newly acquired equipment extension that covers new purchases for a limited period, which exists precisely so you can add them, not so you can skip adding them. Put a reminder on the calendar, or the extension runs out without anyone noticing.
The employee, not the stranger
Property taken by your own staff is generally excluded from an equipment floater, because dishonesty by employees is a different risk and sits under crime or fidelity cover. It is a bad moment to discover it, after you have worked out who did it. If your tools move through a lot of hands, the crime section is the one to ask about.
The ones that come up the morning the van is empty.
Does my commercial auto policy cover the tools in the van?
No. Automobile insurance covers the vehicle and your liability for using it. The contents are property, and property in a vehicle is covered by an equipment floater, not by the auto policy. The two get confused because both involve the same van, which is how this gap survives for years.
Is it worth insuring hand tools, or only the big machines?
Work out what a full van would cost to replace in one go, at today’s prices, and then ask whether you could buy that lot again next week and still keep the crew working. Add it up properly, because it accumulated a few hundred dollars at a time over several years and nobody totalled it. Then check whether your policy pays replacement cost or actual cash value, because that decides how much of that number you would actually get.
The general contractor’s builders risk is in place. Am I covered?
For the work, probably. For your own tools and equipment, usually not, and often expressly not. Builders risk covers the project. Your gear is yours, it leaves the site every night, and it needs its own cover. This is the same distinction that trips trades up on wrap-up liability.
What does the insurer want to see after a theft?
A police file number, a list with makes, models and serial numbers, purchase records or photographs, and an account of how the items were secured. The list is the part that goes missing, and it is the part that decides how quickly a claim settles. Photograph the van interior and the schedule once a year and keep it off the truck.
Will fitting trackers and immobilizers reduce the premium?
Sometimes, and that is the insurer’s call. What it can change is whether an insurer is willing to write the fleet at all after a claims history. Security measures can also be imposed as conditions after a claim, so fitting them first keeps the choice yours. Tell your broker what is already fitted, whether or not the application asks.
Not the question you had? Send your equipment list and your current policy through the quote file and you will get a written answer.
Find out what is actually on your policy before the van is empty.
Send the policy and a rough equipment list. You will get a written note on what the policy shows, the per-item cap, how it values the gear, and what the conditions require of you. This page is general information, and your policy wording decides any claim.