Contractors
Contractors
Tools/Equipment Coverage: What General Liability Doesn't Cover for Contractors
Aaron Ameduri
Last reviewed: September 23, 2026
General liability covers damage or injury you cause to someone else. It doesn't cover your own tools if they're stolen out of a truck or off a job site. That's a separate coverage, usually called contractor's equipment or inland marine, and a lot of contractors find out it's missing the day their tools go missing.
Why general liability doesn't apply here
GL responds when your work hurts someone else's property or person. A stolen table saw isn't a liability claim, it's a first-party property loss, and GL policies exclude your own tools and equipment by design.
What actually covers your tools
- Contractor's equipment (inland marine) coverage for tools and equipment away from your shop
- Scheduled coverage for higher-value items like a specific skid steer or trailer-mounted compressor
- Unscheduled/blanket limits for the smaller stuff, hand tools, cordless equipment, ladders
What it depends on
Whether you need scheduled or blanket coverage, or both, depends on what you own and how much any single piece is worth. A $40,000 excavator usually needs to be scheduled by itself. A truck bed full of hand tools is usually fine under a blanket limit.
Where contractors get caught off guard
Rented or borrowed equipment often isn't covered automatically either, it depends on your policy's rented/leased equipment provision. If you're renting a lift or a generator for a job, worth checking that before it walks off site.
Common questions
Does this cover theft from a locked job site trailer? Usually yes, but confirm your policy doesn't have a forced-entry requirement or a lower sub-limit for trailer storage versus a vehicle.
What about equipment that just breaks down, not stolen? That's typically a separate issue, mechanical breakdown isn't a covered cause of loss under most equipment floaters unless you've added it.
Send me a list of what you're carrying in the truck and on site, and I'll tell you straight whether it's actually covered.
— Aaron