Before purchasing tool insurance it’s important to understand how it works.
You can only insure tools and equipment that you can provide proof of ownership for.
You won’t need to provide evidence at the time of purchasing or renewing a policy, but you will have to provide it when making a claim.
What is proof of ownership?
Ideally it will be the invoice for the item, however the insurers will accept alternative forms of evidence on a case-by-case basis.
If you have $10,000 worth of tools and insure them for $10,000, you’ll still only be able to claim for items that you can provide proof of ownership for.
In the example above, if you only have invoices for $5,000 worth of tools, you will only be able to claim for that $5,000, even if you had insured them for $10,000.
This is why it’s important to only insure tools that you have proof of ownership for. Otherwise you’re wasting your money.
Lost the invoices?
In a perfect world you’d have all of the invoices for your tools and equipment.
After all, if you’re self-employed, you’d be claiming these items on your tax and would need to keep the invoices regardless.
But it’s not always a perfect world…
If you have accounts with tool stores you may find that they can pull a list of invoices for you. We’ve had clients who’ve been able to do this via shops such as Total Tools and other major retailers.
You will generally need to have an account with the store for this to work however.
Alternative forms of proof
The insurers may accept alternative forms of evidence if you’re unable to obtain the invoice.
Please note that the below list isn’t confirmation of what they will accept, but rather a list of what they might accept on a case-by-case basis:
- Hard copy manuals
- Original packaging
- Photos that help to prove the item was yours
Generally these alternative forms of evidence would be accepted as a small part of the claim, with proper invoices for the rest of the stolen items.
If you have any questions about insuring your tools, please contact our team on 1800 808 800.
