What to Do If Your Tools Are Stolen

It is a bad morning that a lot of tradespeople have had: the van door is open, or the site container has been cut, and thousands of dollars of tools are gone. What happens next is largely decided by paperwork you either have or do not. Here is the order to work through it — and what to do beforehand so it goes better.

The first hour

• Do not tidy up. Leave the scene as it is until you have photographed it — the damage to the van or lock is part of the claim.
• Report it to the police and get a reference number. Nearly every insurer requires one, and a claim without it stalls immediately.
• Tell your insurer early, even before you have the full list. Policies carry notification deadlines, and “I was still working out what was missing” is not always accepted.
• Write down what is gone while it is fresh. You will remember more in the first hour than the next day — and considerably more than a week later.

What an insurer will ask for

This is the part that separates a fortnight’s claim from a three-month one. Expect to need, per tool: make and model, serial number, purchase date, purchase price, and a photograph. Receipts where you have them. Without serial numbers a claim is harder to substantiate and stolen tools are almost impossible to identify if recovered — a marked, recorded tool that turns up in a pawn shop can be traced back to you; an unrecorded one cannot.

Then tell everyone else

• Local second-hand dealers and pawn shops, with the list and serial numbers.
• Trade groups and community pages — stolen tools are often offered locally within days, and tradespeople are good at spotting them.
• Online marketplaces, watching for your own gear.
• Your hire company or supplier, if anything on the list was not yours.

The uncomfortable part: being underinsured

Plenty of tradespeople discover at claim time that the sum insured reflects what the tools cost years ago, not what replacing them costs now — or that cover excludes tools left in a vehicle overnight, which is exactly when they tend to go. Worth reading the policy on a quiet evening rather than a bad morning. Knowing your real replacement total is also the only way to tell whether the sum insured is right.

What to do before it happens

• Record every tool now — photo, make and model, serial, purchase date and price. An hour of work once.
• Mark your tools visibly and distinctively. It makes them harder to sell and easier to identify.
• Keep the record somewhere that is not the van. A list stolen along with the tools helps nobody.
• Review the sum insured against what replacement actually costs today.

Have the claim ready before you need it

ToolTally is a free Android app built for exactly this. Log every tool with photos, brand and model, serial number, purchase date and price, your own estimated value and where it lives — plus per-tool insurance details — and mark anything Stolen when the worst happens. Its Insurance Claim Pack then produces one tidy ZIP containing a formatted PDF, a spreadsheet-friendly CSV and all your photos, for every active tool, stolen tools only, or a custom selection — ready to send to your insurer. It also tracks warranty expiry with reminders, and includes a bonus on-site toolbox (level, angle finder, AR camera measure, stud detector, trade calculator and materials estimator).

It runs completely offline with no account, so it works in a basement or a paddock. It is free and ad-supported; one optional rewarded video opens a 24-hour window that unlocks the claim-pack export and removes the full-screen ads.

Get ToolTally on Google Play

More on the app: the ToolTally page. The claim pack is a record you compile yourself — it is not insurance, a valuation or proof of cover, and ToolTally does not provide or arrange insurance. General information only; check your own policy.

Frequently asked questions

What do I do first if my tools are stolen?

Photograph the scene before touching anything, report it to the police and get a reference number, notify your insurer early, and write the list while your memory is fresh.

What does an insurer need for a tool theft claim?

Typically make, model, serial number, purchase date and price, and a photograph for each tool, plus the police reference. Receipts help where you have them.

Why do serial numbers matter so much?

They substantiate the claim, and they are the only reliable way to identify a recovered tool as yours.

Are tools covered if they are left in a van overnight?

Often not, or only with conditions. It is one of the most common exclusions, and worth checking your policy before you need it.

Get ToolTally on Google Play