Thread: Insuring our shed and tools

Originally Posted by crowie

Help I need someone to do a tools and machinery inventory of my sheds...
Yes I have the sort of monetary coverage that folk have indicated, listing woodworking tools & machinery with DSH Insurance but as to specific inventory "ikes" .

Peter, it took me weeks, firstly to compile the inventory then to price it all from the internet and then to recover from the shock of how much in dollar terms was there. I must admit to being negligent with the latest additions and some I have sold so I have to bring it up to date.

I too keep a spreadsheet of (almost) all my tools. I have a variety of categories and subcategories. Each tool then gets a unique identifier. Plan is to engrave this on everything.

The spreadsheet also details when I bought the item, how much for, who from, warranty details as well as the serial number if it has one.

It is kept on my Google drive cloud account so that even if the house burnt down I still have a record. I also take photos of all receipts and this goes onto the cloud as well. Much easier if I ever need to provide proof of purchase.

Originally Posted by chambezio

This subject comes up now and again but no real forward progress seems to be found. I have got nearly all my policies with NRMA. It was just easier at the time to use them. Last week I called the NRMA and asked about the coverage of my existing policies would cover the shed and contents. Initially the operative told me that the House insurance and the Contents insurance would cover the shed. When I told him that the shed is 160 square metres and had maybe around $30,000 worth of tools and machinery he went quiet. He listened to my quick description the went to see his Superior. When he came back he said that the House and Contents policies would cover the shed provided that the shed was NOT used commercially. He made it clear that the coverage only covered "Hobby Use".
I thought that the premium would jump up as well knowing that the $ value was increased. But no, the premium stayed the same and the policy now carries and "adjustment" that gives coverage to the tools and equipment in the shed.

I did get a quote else where but their policy did not cover as much as NRMA and worked out to be dearer.
The operative at NRMA also told me it was a good idea to list and describe the contents of the shed to make a claim . I don't know if I got "the deal" because I am a long term customer but I reckon it would be worth the exercise for anyone with contents insurance to check out their existing polices.

I have no connection with NRMA apart for being a customer

had a similar experience with NRMA after I calculated how much stuff was in my workshop.
If anyone wants it, i produced a list of equipment by category, both for insurance purposes and to assist whoever gets to dispose of my stuff, assuming it's not me.
It's a Word document, so I don't think i can attach it here. But I'll email it to anyone.
I

On another note, how much detail have those who have got some kind of record got?

I wonder, if there was some kind of incident would simply having an item such as "assorted drill bits" for a couple hundred dollars be reasonable? I know I have a variety of large sized bits that are easily upwards of $50 a piece.

Of course one could simply itemise each and every bit, however that seems extremely time consuming. Would the insurer accept this?

Originally Posted by Deverell

On another note, how much detail have those who have got some kind of record got?..........

Hi Deverell

This is a really grey area with many interpretations.

Most insurers require you to individually list all "high value items" above a specified value, perhaps $500. If a "high value item" is not listed then there are two possibilities:

• it is not insured, or
• insurance cover is limited to the $500.

On the issue of your $50 drill bits, there are several options:

• it is covered as a $50 bit, or
• it is a component of a "high value item", a set of drill bits, which set must be separately listed, or
• its a consumable, and not covered.

As Malcolm Fraser famously said "Life was not meant to be easy"!


Cheers

Graeme

I did drill bits by sets except for the Morse taper drills. On the machines and electrical items I logged the model & serial numbers and found a price for each item. I must admit that screws and fixings got ignored though there is a considerable amount of money tied up in them.

Depends on your risk. The QBE people were very happy for a very detailed list. They wouldn't cover trivia like screws and nails, nor timber (they said it could not be "replaced", though they did see the value of it, but "Soz").

They were quite pleased to have super dooper detail. I honestly believe they found the conversations refreshing. The fact I had a spreadsheet with great detail removed any and all hesitation. I'd imagine they have a nightmare job with post-loss claims where people were certain that the Matisse, Gauguin and Picassos were on dining room walls....

Well I certainly can't say I'm as fastidious as Deverell. I haven't noted down serial numbers or even model numbers for most of my power tools, but I think I might just do that now as it seems like a good idea. I also didn't bother with any individual items under about $100-, but maybe I should motivate myself to do that too - they would certainly add up if you needed to replace them. Although, (knock on wood), I wouldn't have thought that a thief would even bother with the small stuff though and would target the more attractive, higher value items that are easier to sell? Although I could be wrong - I hope I never find out.

Also, I hope that insurance would cover the items for their replacement cost/value rather than the purchase price. A lot of my stuff would cost 30%+ more to replace now than when I purchased it. Anyone have any experience with this? My last insurance claim was for a bicycle written off in a crash during a race and the insurance company paid the replacement cost rather than the purchase price - which makes sense to me.

Has anyone ever heard of people stealing larger machine tools from someone's home workshop? Like 200+kg tablesaws, thicknessers etc? Are thieves that organised that they would pull up with a truck or large ute, have several people and actually load up large equipment from a residential property? Even thinking about all this kind of stuff makes me mad to be honest...

Cheers,

Dom

Originally Posted by woodPixel

Depends on your risk. The QBE people were very happy for a very detailed list. They wouldn't cover trivia like screws and nails, nor timber (they said it could not be "replaced", though they did see the value of it, but "Soz").

They were quite pleased to have super dooper detail. I honestly believe they found the conversations refreshing. The fact I had a spreadsheet with great detail removed any and all hesitation. I'd imagine they have a nightmare job with post-loss claims where people were certain that the Matisse, Gauguin and Picassos were on dining room walls....

what is "Soz" pls?

Hi,
Thieves are not the only risk, your shed could burn down and being too heavy to carry out the door don't worry fire.
Regards

Originally Posted by DomAU

Well I certainly can't say I'm as fastidious as Deverell. I haven't noted down serial numbers or even model numbers for most of my power tools, but I think I might just do that now as it seems like a good idea. I also didn't bother with any individual items under about $100-, but maybe I should motivate myself to do that too - they would certainly add up if you needed to replace them. Although, (knock on wood), I wouldn't have thought that a thief would even bother with the small stuff though and would target the more attractive, higher value items that are easier to sell? Although I could be wrong - I hope I never find out.

Also, I hope that insurance would cover the items for their replacement cost/value rather than the purchase price. A lot of my stuff would cost 30%+ more to replace now than when I purchased it. Anyone have any experience with this? My last insurance claim was for a bicycle written off in a crash during a race and the insurance company paid the replacement cost rather than the purchase price - which makes sense to me.

Has anyone ever heard of people stealing larger machine tools from someone's home workshop? Like 200+kg tablesaws, thicknessers etc? Are thieves that organised that they would pull up with a truck or large ute, have several people and actually load up large equipment from a residential property? Even thinking about all this kind of stuff makes me mad to be honest...

Cheers,

Dom

I guess the small stuff is the hardest as Dom suggests. I have a mechanics tool box with spanners and sockets in it that would be picked up by two blokes so I listed everything in it which came to many thousands of dollars and the price of good tools these days is absolutely frightening compared to when I bought them decades ago.

Hi all. Unfortunately I can speak from recent experience. I'm in townsville, and had over a metre of water through shed. My range of tools isn't massive, but I had a big bandsaw thicknesser jointer drill press festool vacuumbut it adds up pretty quickly. Lots of old power tools especially. Then there was fishing rods and camping gear. The assessor saw it all in place, and wrote it off on the spot due to black water. He did ask about whether it was a hobby or business. I had heaps of contents cover. That was the secret apparently. I took photos but he didn't need to look.

Originally Posted by Deverell

The spreadsheet also details when I bought the item, how much for, who from, warranty details as well as the serial number if it has one.

Does your wife/partner have access to your spreadsheet??? If Blokes told their other half what they really paid for tools etc, I think most would be in the doghouse!!!
Thanks for the details of your spreadsheet. It's a good idea to take note of Serial Numbers etc, as in the event of theft, the Police will have a record of tools, equipment taken. In the event of finding stolen property, the items can be traced back to the owners.
Same as for heavy machinery, have details and photo's of the items, even though they might not be stolen, in the event of a fire, damaged machinery can be replaced. No point in not insuring them, have a fire go through, and the machinery is damaged beyond repair. Heat can do strange things to machinery, even though it doesn't look damaged.
A friend of mine had a fire go through his shed and part of his house. All that was left of his tools was molten lumps of plastic or aluminium. He had 5 Chainsaws in total, all that was left recognizable of them, were the bars, the rest was molten lumps.
The other thing is, it's better to be over insured than under, and make sure that it's new for old replacement.
Kryn

I have enquired from several insurance companies when trying to insure my significant investment in tools and machines. At that time only the NRMA would cover me- this is as mentioned before- non commercial.
Fortunately I fit that category, otherwise insurance is either unaffordable, or if you are a tradie, limited to $3000 (at that time)
I would endorse the idea of a register of your possessions. If you have power tools record serial numbers.