Yes — tools stolen from your van are covered, but by contractors equipment, not by the auto policy most shops assume stands behind them. This is the single most common inland-marine loss in the trade: a window punched out overnight, the doors pried in a parking lot, a jobsite trailer cleaned out before the crew arrives. The coverage that answers it is contractors equipment, an inland-marine floater built for the tools and gear you own and carry. Commercial auto covers the van; contractors equipment covers what is inside it. Get that seam wrong and a break-in lands on a policy that was never going to pay. This guide draws the line, names the valuation term that decides what you actually recover, and shows what to check first.
The reason this matters is that the two policies look adjacent but answer different property. Your van is a vehicle — it is insured as one. Your recovery machine, gauges, vacuum pumps, and hand tools are contents that happen to be riding in the vehicle, and contents are a property exposure, not an auto one. The full treatment of the gear-and-tools side lives on our contractors equipment page; this post stays on the question contractors actually type after a break-in — does insurance cover the tools that were stolen, and which policy pays.
The seam: the van is auto, the contents are contractors equipment
Start with the line that decides every tool-theft claim. Commercial auto covers the vehicle — the van itself, the liability from operating it, and physical damage to it if you carry that. What it generally does not cover is the equipment inside the van, because that gear is contents, not part of the vehicle. Contractors equipment is the inland-marine coverage built precisely for those contents: the tools and gear you own and carry, covered against theft and damage whether they are in the van, on a jobsite, or in storage.
So picture the break-in. Someone pries the rear doors and takes a recovery machine, a vacuum pump, two gauge sets, and a tote of hand tools. The damage to the door is a question for your auto physical-damage coverage if you carry it. Everything that walked out the back — the tools themselves — is a contractors-equipment claim. A shop carrying only commercial auto, assuming “it is all insured because the van is insured,” discovers at exactly the wrong moment that the contents were never on the auto policy. This is consistent with the framing in the completed operations post: your own tools and equipment are never a liability matter and never an afterthought on another line — that first-party exposure runs to contractors equipment, on purpose.
That is the seam to get right before anything else: auto insures the van, contractors equipment insures the gear inside it. Forms and terms vary by carrier, so confirm you actually carry the contractors-equipment piece rather than assuming the auto policy reaches the contents.
Why contractors equipment, not auto, answers a tool theft
Contractors equipment is an inland-marine coverage, and inland marine is the family built for property that moves and property away from a fixed premises — which is the entire life of an HVAC contractor’s tools. The coverage is structured around the equipment itself, not around one location, which is why it generally responds whether the theft happens from the van overnight, from a jobsite during a multi-day install, or from a storage unit between jobs. The gear is the insured property; where it was taken from matters far less than the fact that it was your owned equipment.
Commercial auto cannot do this job because it is structured around the vehicle. It is the right and necessary coverage for the van — and the reasons a shop needs it in the first place are their own subject, covered in why HVAC contractors need commercial auto — but it answers the vehicle exposure, not the contents exposure. The two coverages are complements, not substitutes: auto for the truck, contractors equipment for the tools. Read your own policy for any conditions tied to unattended vehicles or jobsite security, because those terms vary by carrier and can shape how a theft claim is handled, but the underlying answer holds: the tool theft is a contractors-equipment claim.
The valuation trap: replacement cost vs actual cash value
Knowing the right policy answers a theft is only half of getting paid well; the other half is the valuation basis, and it is the term most worth reading before a break-in. Replacement cost pays to replace the stolen tools without a deduction for age and wear. Actual cash value (ACV) pays the depreciated amount — what the gear was worth at the time it was taken, after subtracting for its age and condition.
On working HVAC tools, that gap is wide. A recovery machine you have run for years, a well-used vacuum pump, a set of gauges with miles on them — under actual cash value, the depreciated payout can land far below what the replacements cost new, and you make up the difference out of pocket while you are also trying to keep trucks running. Under replacement cost, the coverage works toward putting new equivalents in your hands. Read your contractors equipment for which basis it uses, and where you can, confirm replacement-cost valuation — because a theft answered at depreciated value is exactly the kind of surprise that surfaces only at claim time, and forms vary by carrier.
How to check your own policy
The seam and the valuation term turn into a short checklist — the actionable part of this post. Forms and terms vary by carrier, so confirm what your policy actually names:
- Confirm you carry contractors equipment, not just commercial auto. The auto policy covers the van; the contents need contractors equipment behind them. If you only have auto, the tools are exposed.
- Read the valuation basis. Confirm whether your contractors equipment pays replacement cost or actual cash value, and push for replacement cost so a theft does not leave you buying new gear with a depreciated check.
- Check that coverage follows the gear, not one location. Confirm theft is covered from the van, from a jobsite, and from storage — and read any conditions tied to unattended vehicles or jobsite security.
- Mind the deductible. A deductible applies to each loss; confirm it makes sense against the value of the equipment you carry.
- Keep a current equipment inventory. A list with descriptions and serial numbers, kept before anything happens, is what makes a theft claim fast — and it is what supports the police report most carriers expect.
Insure the gear, not just the van
A break-in is the most common inland-marine loss in the trade, and the shops that come through it cleanly are the ones that insured the gear, not just the van. Carry contractors equipment for the tools and equipment you own and move, keep commercial auto on the vehicle where it belongs, and read the valuation basis so a theft is answered toward new gear rather than a depreciated check. The related seams sit close: how the equipment floater compares to the coverage on units you are installing is laid out in contractors equipment vs installation floater, the case for the auto policy itself is in why HVAC contractors need commercial auto, and the liability framing that keeps your own tools off the general-liability side is in the completed operations post. When you are ready, start a quote, read the full contractors equipment treatment, see how the coverage fits a commercial HVAC contractor operation, or step back to what drives HVAC insurance costs to see where it fits in the program.