Tools & equipment · For contractors
Your gear moves job to job. Your coverage moves with it.
Tools and equipment insurance covers the tools, machinery and gear you own when they’re stolen or damaged, on the truck, at the shop or on the site. Many policies pay for theft only if the truck or shop was locked and broken into.
Light RFP Risk Management Services LLC · NY DFS License # PC-1978982
What tools & equipment insurance covers.
Typically covered
- Theft from the truck, the shop or the site, subject to the policy’s security conditions
- Damage in transit between jobs, or while the gear is on site
- Fire, vandalism and weather
- Larger machines, like a lift or a generator, listed one by one with their values
- Hand tools under one blanket limit, often with a cap per item
- Equipment you rent or borrow, when the policy includes rented equipment
Where another policy answers
- The truck itself: Commercial auto, if you carry collision and comprehensive
- Materials going into the building: Builder’s risk, when the project carries it
- Damage your equipment does to someone else’s property: General liability
Usually not covered
- Wear, tear and mechanical breakdown
- Unexplained disappearance: gear that is gone with no sign of theft
- Items over the policy’s per-item limit, unless they’re listed one by one
Who on the block needs it.
Trades with tools on the truck
The owner’s and the GC’s policies rarely cover a contractor’s own tools, so a stolen set comes out of your pocket unless you insure it.
Contractors with heavy equipment
Excavators, lifts, generators and other machines are usually listed on the policy one by one, each with its value, and rented equipment can be added.
How the RFP asks for it
RFPs rarely set a limit for your own tools, but contracts often make you responsible for your own equipment on site and may ask for a waiver of subrogation on the policy that insures it.
- Waiver of subrogation
- Your insurer gives up the right to recover what it paid from the owner or GC.
Managing the job rather than doing it? Contractors insure their own tools. Insure your buildings with property insurance, and put the work out to bid free.
How we quote it.
Light RFP’s brokerage quotes tools & equipment insurance alongside the rest of your program: you fill in the application, and our team takes it to market.
Tell us about the business
Your machines and what each is worth, your hand tools, and where the gear is kept overnight.
We take it to market
A Light RFP broker reads your application, contacts you about anything missing, and takes it to the insurers that write tools & equipment insurance for businesses like yours.
Compare the quotes
Limits, deductibles and exclusions side by side, matched to what your contracts and RFPs require. Applying commits you to nothing; you choose whether to buy.
We place it
Our brokerage puts the policy you choose in force and issues the certificates your projects ask for.
Our application
4 sheets. Plan on 15 to 20 minutes for one machine and your hand tools, with your equipment list to hand.
- One machine and your hand tools
- about 53 answers, 44 required
- Several machines, a yard and a loss
- about 96 answers, 82 required
Follow-up questions appear only when an answer calls for them.
What it asks
Open a sheet for a few of its questions.
TE-01Business
- What does the business do, and what equipment does the work use?
- How many years have you worked in this trade?
TE-02Equipment
- Which machines should be listed one by one, and what is each one worth?
- What would it cost to replace all your hand tools?
- Do you rent equipment, and what do you spend on it in a year?
TE-03Storage, theft and transit
- Where is the gear kept overnight, and how is it locked?
- Are tools left in the trucks overnight, in a locked box out of sight?
TE-04Coverage and history
- How should a loss be valued: what it costs new, or what it was worth?
- Has any of your equipment been stolen, lost or damaged in the last five years?
Have these ready
- Your equipment listEach machine or larger item: what it is, the year, make and model, and the serial number if you have it. The form lists ten items. With more, send the full list to insurance@lightrfp.com (a spreadsheet is fine).
- What it is worthWhat a similar machine would cost to buy today, and what all your hand tools would cost to replace.
- Rented and financed gearWhat you spend renting equipment in a year, and the lender, lessor or rental company for anything you don’t own outright.
- Where it is keptYour shop or yard’s address, how it is locked and watched, and how gear is secured on site and in the trucks.
- Your current policyThe declarations page shows your limit, your deductible and how losses are valued today.
- Loss runs, if you have themFive years of losses from your insurer, plus any theft you didn’t claim for. You can send them after by replying to your confirmation email.
Tools & equipment questions.
Are tools stolen from my truck covered?
Usually, under this policy rather than the auto policy. Many policies only pay if the truck was locked and broken into, so read the theft conditions before you need them.
Are my employees’ own tools covered?
Only if the policy adds employees’ tools, usually to a small limit per person. If your crew brings its own, ask for it by name.
Is tools & equipment insurance the same as inland marine?
Mostly, yes. Tools and equipment cover is usually written as inland marine, the family of policies for property that moves. You may also see it called contractor’s equipment.
Should I list each item or use a blanket limit?
Usually both. Expensive machines go on a schedule, each with its value; hand tools sit under one blanket limit. We set it up around what you actually carry.
What affects the price?
The total value you insure, the deductible you choose, where the gear is kept overnight and your claims history.
Get a tools & equipment quote.
Getting a quote is free. Light RFP earns a commission from the carrier on all policies.
Light RFP Risk Management Services LLC · NY DFS License # PC-1978982