Tool Insurance

[KM223]

Who has it? Is it a thing? At what point or dollar amount do you come to the realization that it may be a good idea? Do you itemize each piece and get an insurance company specializing in that sort of thing or do you just go under your homeowners insurance? Also for those that may already have this type of insurance what is the average yearly premium?

This would be for the tools and equipment in my home workshop and garage.

 

[FigureItOut]

I have $20,000 in coverage under my commercial policy with a very low deductible. The difference in premium between replacement cost and market value wasn't a whole lot, so I went with replacement cost. If I recall correctly, it's about $100 a year.
When this question's been asked before, I believe most who've answered who didn't have a commercial policy, have stated they added it to their homeowner's policy. I've been told it's important that you don't have any appearance of using them professionally, such as fixing cars on the side, restoring antiques to sell etc.
I don't personally have my stuff inventoried and documented, but I certainly ought to. My agent assured me I'd be able to recover any losses without detailed documentation, but common sense tells me things would be easier on me and a payout would be closer to what I'd need, if I did have everything documented. I could compile a good portion of receipts just through Amazon, but yes, you want to have good records stored somewhere safe.


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[theoldwizard1]

For homeowners, a good inventory including purchase location and price are really a MUST ! Receipt would be good, but pictures are adequate.

I still don't understand, but "replacement cost" does not necessarily mean you can go out and buy the exact same tool and the insurance company will cover the full cost. Maybe with a lot of haggling, but not straight up !

Never understood this.

 

[FigureItOut]

I still don't understand, but "replacement cost" does not necessarily mean you can go out and buy the exact same tool and the insurance company will cover the full cost. Maybe with a lot of haggling, but not straight up !

Never understood this.

What exactly does it mean then? I sure understood it to mean it'd cover the cost to get a new one. Do they try to cover just the price of what they consider "adequate"?



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[RPH]

A few years ago I lost a shed to fire. We had replacement cost on the items distroyed.
Replacement cost came down to them supplying what was gone from their own vendors, same units as lost and me buying what they didn't. I then had to supply the new purchase receipts for reimbursement.

 

[rsanter]

I have pictures of every drawer with an excell spread sheet of what is in there.
When I had a claim insurance questioned me as to why I would have gone through the trouble to take those pictures and make the lists.
I told them that my agent said the ' burden of proof is on me" when I asked him what that means. He told me take lots of pictures and make good lists. Here they are.
End of argument

Bob

 

[franzdom]

Insurance is for poor people.

 

[rmack898]

I had to get a separate policy through Lloyds of London to cover my tools and machinery. It costs me about $150 a year for replacement cost coverage. Once you get beyond the basic Harry homeowner tool box, homeowners insurance is a joke. Video inventory is a must.

 

[unslow1]

A few years ago I lost a shed to fire. We had replacement cost on the items distroyed.
Replacement cost came down to them supplying what was gone from their own vendors, same units as lost and me buying what they didn't. I then had to supply the new purchase receipts for reimbursement.

That's exactly how mine went when replacing after a break-in.

 

[velillen01]

You can insure anything. Stuff like tools are pretty easy overall to get insured. Just have to talk to an agent and have it added to your policy or get a separate one.

And take pictures. Not just of your tools but the TV, stereo, ect. Ill go around once a year and take a picture of item then a close up picture of the serial number (or model number if no serial number). Really doesn't take long to do to update from year to year. I don't both organizing the pictures or anything but rather upload them in a encrypted file to my cloud account.

 

[maxpower_hd]

My insurance guy told me about $100-$150 a year for replacement value as well. Although he did recommend an inventory and an email to them with an updated list when I buy new items.

I haven't gotten it yet but I plan to once I finish outfitting my trailer.

 

[QwikKotaTx]

Insurance is for poor people.

It depends on what kind of insurance it is and the cost including deductibles. For my guns I literally only pay about 0.6% of their value per year to cover fire, flood, theft etc. I have a few that are irreplaceable. At least I would get the amount I paid or the value back. I don't even think there is a deductible and it covers my guns even in the truck when I go to the range etc. I would be stupid not to have it.

 

[Fixed]

How does proving ownership work when you're buying stuff used & don't have reciepts?

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[TigerDude]

Take a video with your phone. Easy.

 

[cpttuna]

When I entered the US Army as an officer, I got a renters policy from USAA to cover my uniforms and other stuff I kept in the BOQ in case of fire etc. To make a long story short, my truck with about $1200 worth of tools in the back was stolen. I was talking to my ins agent on the phone about what all was in the truck. When I mentioned the tools, he said, "No problem," You have a renters policy which covers the tool loss. I was really lucky since I bought the policy for a different reason.

 

[K-Dog]

My shop has a policy to cover my box and all its contents.

 

[nickelmore]

I have a "hobby shop" not attached to my house. It is a commercial building about 5 miles away form my house. I asked about "renters" insurance on my tools and the only requirement is that "I" do not make money/ trade/barter or work on anything other than my stuff.

When I asked about my buddies that also "share" the place. My agent told me he did not care about them but they should get there own policy.

I think I have like 50K worth of coverage for like $30.00 per month. This cover ANYTHING in the shop. I thought it was strange and called back and talked to my regular agent and confirmed that it was better for me to have renters insurance on a separate address than it was to have riders on my homeowners.

This summer is a shop rebuild/move/liquidate. A full video inventory stored online will be in order.

 

[Empty Pockets]

I have quite an accumulation of tools, over the years.

My insurance agent advised me that they were covered under my homeowner's policy. I have been building a spreadsheet to inventory them, and to have replacement cost available.

Since I have been taking the inventory, as well as the pictures, I have since had to increase my coverage for "Contents". It's not very expensive, about $120/year.

The inventory and pictures are stored in 3 places.
1.) On my laptop
2.) On a flash drive sent to my sister in the midwest
3.) On a flash drive sent to my daughter in New England

 

[ibedayank]

Take a video with your phone. Easy.

being some still have phones that plug into the wall and do not have a camera that would be a neat trick

 

[ADSR]

I have pictures of every drawer with an excell spread sheet of what is in there.
When I had a claim insurance questioned me as to why I would have gone through the trouble to take those pictures and make the lists.
I told them that my agent said the ' burden of proof is on me" when I asked him what that means. He told me take lots of pictures and make good lists. Here they are.
End of argument

Bob

This right here is the right way to do it.

 

[theoldwizard1]

A few years ago I lost a shed to fire. We had replacement cost on the items distroyed.
Replacement cost came down to them supplying what was gone from their own vendors, same units as lost and me buying what they didn't. I then had to supply the new purchase receipts for reimbursement.

Your lucky ! A few years back a former member (fflintstone) had a fire in his shop. Lots of tools. Lots of equipment, Lots of car parts.

He got zero for the parts (most were used and none had receipts).

I don't remember the details, but he had a hard time collecting from the insurance company. Again, no inventory, no receipts. How do you prove that lump of molten metal was a Quincy 7.5 hp 2 stage compressor and not a HF 5hp single stage ? Same with welders, etc.

In the end, he was out of pocket A LARGE SOME OF MONEY even after MONTHS of arguing with the adjusters.

 

[plewlandsbob]

Does anyone in , Great Britain, have tool insurance? Looking to get insurance for my tools.

 

[themiller]

I have quite an accumulation of tools, over the years... It's not very expensive, about $120/month.

$1440/yr extra - dang. What kinda tools you got hiding there I think adding 20k of coverage cost me ~$10/yr!

 

[Motor-Mechanic]

Does anyone in , Great Britain, have tool insurance? Looking to get insurance for my tools.

Only thing I've been able to find is tradesmans insurance, and that only covered a max of 5k. Useless for a vehicle tech.

I'd be interested to know if any of the other UK guys know of any decent tool insurance.

 

[Empty Pockets]

$1440/yr extra - dang. What kinda tools you got hiding there I think adding 20k of coverage cost me ~$10/yr!

That was a typo, I should have typed $120/ year

 

[Handyfarmer]

a reasonably out fitted tool box can easily have $10,000 in tools in it or them, and if you have "extras" it really does not take that long to get $50,000 *******, (at least in replacement costs),

and if one works up to machine tools and there tooling, (the tooling can easly cost more than the tools),

get some air tools and a quality compressor, good compressor $1000 up and may as well figure at least a $100 per air tool,

Start to add specialty tools ( tool to set the crank sensor on my old Buick retail was over $600, for a piece of plastic), not that I payed that much for it, they lowere it, to $524 wow,
http://www.americastoolwarehouse.co...ZdHPENlsplJviHimVOzW5PRyCx1lvKJFkLhoCQ9rw_wcB

add some jacks or a lift, and you have some big bucks invested,

 

[Jake C]

I checked and my Insurance company was goon to be able to give me 60k worth of coverage for $12 a month. But it was going to have to go under renters insurance and all my tools are at my work place. And I work there, don't rent

 

[gbrett]

I have a farm ranch policy instead of a home owners. I was able to give a stated value I think 50k for fire and theft coverage cost less than 100 per year. On a farm ranch policy tools was a standard line item they asked me about.