Question for any insurance people

[gregorius]

Unless it is in or on their property.

I think you are referring to the property being in the care, custody and control of a business, such as a car in a body shop that has a fire. So I get what you are saying, but I don't think it would apply here. He has to furnish the tools, so even if they are in his work truck, he is probably responsible for insuring the tools. If he was required to leave his tools in their custody when he was not at work, then that provision could possibly apply.

 

[Mgarza_a]

That's very unusual. However, I've been out of the business for a few years. Things change. Have they ever paid a claim for theft of tools under the auto policy?

We have two claims in the last year. One was paid for as they broke into the tool box in "our" truck and removed the techs tools. The second claim was not paid because the toolbox was left unlocked. The way I understand, it is not actually covered under our auto or liability but the Umbrella policy. Sorry my mistake. However my commercial policy for the gutter business does have the tools covered under auto.

 

[inactive]

We have two claims in the last year. One was paid for as they broke into the tool box in "our" truck and removed the techs tools. The second claim was not paid because the toolbox was left unlocked. The way I understand, it is not actually covered under our auto or liability but the Umbrella policy.

That is what I was alluding to in my original comment. If the company has a liability policy for the business (be it a commercial, umbrella, etc.) and your tools (not the companies) were stolen out of their truck, I can see how coverage could be found for the tools. As their requirement for you to store your tools in there con-notates some liability to them for having this requirement. It's unusual (as ronny said) as it's most certainly not something the policy is designed to cover, but as mentioned it's a grey area; in grey areas the err is to the side of finding coverage.

For the record, ronny was an agent (I think, from what I read here). He is certainly more experienced on the whole than I, but being an adjuster I like to think I have seen a different side of how the claims are paid than most agents do.

 

[ronny]

Cards, them's fightin' words. lol. In another thread, I said I could never be an adjuster. That's too much like hard work. On the other hand, I could never be an agent, either. I was in underwriting for The Hartford.

 

[inactive]

Ahh gotcha. Underwriting eh? The people agents lie to, to sell customers cheaper policies that don't really cover what they want to insure

 

[ronny]

Chuckle! Well, I have been lied to before.

 

[dieseltech09]

Ronny, what kind of Policy should I be looking for? Right now all my insurance is through StateFarm. I don't know if the people that work for my agent just dont know and thats why they are telling me they dont have any policy that would work? I haven't had a chance to talk to them today. I just worked 80 hours in 4 and a half days so Im pretty spent and probably be tomorrow before I call get ahlod of them again.

 

[ronny]

Well, I'm kind of dated, but tools are usually covered on some form of Inland Marine coverage; a Tool Floater. Don't be put off by "Inland Marine". That's just an old term meant to describe coverage on items that are generally considered "portable".

Finding a company that will write a Tool Floater as a stand-alone policy is another question. Floaters are most often attached to the Commercial policy of a commercial client.

It is unlikely that your insurance company, assuming it is a Personal Lines company, will even have a product designed to cover commercial tools of your trade, at least, not covering them away from your premises. They're probably telling you right. An Independent Insurance Agency, which represents multiple companies would have a better chance of finding one that would offer a Tool Floater. Of course, they might expect you to move your Homeowners and Auto to them, and they might be a lot higher than your present coverage.

I didn't say it would be easy. Your best option, as others have said, is through your employer, as part of their own coverage. This is commonly done.

Another option, which will take some research on your part, is to find out if there is any "association" type coverages out there. For instance, do you belong to the Diesel Mechanics of America (I made that up)? They, or some other such entity, will often offer members coverage through an agreement with an insurance company. Just after typing this last sentence, I googled "mechanics tools insurance". Bunch of possibilities, although I didn't check any of them out.

You might check with the people you buy your tools from. I wouldn't be surprised if Mac didn't have some sort of "association" coverage.

Finding good insurance is not fun.

 

[Lightsluvr]

The company I manage for uses an independent agent, however all tools are covered under our general liability & auto combo. I also run a seamless gutter business and all the tools are covered under the combo of general liablilty and auto.

I hate to break the news to you, but general liability coverage only pays bodily injury or property damage to others for which the insured (the policyholder) is legally liable. There may be a commercial auto policy out there that covers contents of a commercial vehicle, but in 40 years of handling claims, I've never seen one without an inland marine rider. Ya might want to check with your agent again. I think what you have is a "combo" GL and Business Property policy. They can be underwritten to cover employees' tools for scheduled amounts, but they ain't cheap.

 

[smcgee10]

These are the people I used once. I worked in a really sketchy side of OKC. They paid pretty well when an ambulance ran through a wall and into my box. I dont know if they do mobile insurance.

http://www.mechanicsinsurance.com/home.html