Contents insurance that covers tools & toys in shed?

It's come around to Home & Contents insurance renewal time and I'm unhappy with the clarity I get from my insurer when I ask what is covered under the contents insurance for our garage / shed. The current policy coverers the bikes but not "tools of trade". They cannot articulate what "tools of trade" are (my "trade" only requires a computer so everything in the garage is hobby related).

When I list off the tools in the the shed from table saw, dust extractor, drills etc they can't proved a clear answer on what is covered and suggested I take out extra insurance.

So my question - can anyone recommend home and contents insurance to covers all the toys (mostly bikes) and tools in the shed?

Cheers,
Leigh

From my experience the general insurers will provide you with specific cover for nominated items like tools, jewellery, pushbike, paintings etc but you will be charged an additional premium. If they are over a particular amount they will want you to take out a seperate policy.
Tools of trade is seperate and definitely a different policy but a hobby is not a Trade.

I went through this process last week when GIO sent me a renewal notice for my home and contents insurance with a 27% premium increase. I’ve never made a claim - so thought this was a bit nasty.

Called Shannons, who insure my cars and had a very helpful bloke walk me through the insurance options. They offer an “enthusiasts’ insurance to cover automotive memorabilia and spare parts but this doesn’t cover non automotive stuff. For tools and workshop machines, it’s simply added into the home contents insurance (non trade tools, hobby use only). I updated the spreadsheet I keep that tries to keeps track of all my stuff - including photos and serial numbers and got a total replacement value. This is then the amount nominated by me for coverage. I included the shed replacement cost in the nominated house replacement value. The spreadsheet and photos are stored in the ‘cloud’ as well as on my home computer.

I’m not an insurance expert, but I’m confident that I’m covered. The premium was just over half of GIOs.

Hope this helps.

Leigh


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I do ours on a Farm Pack. House, sheds and contents. There are a lot of extras on a farm pack that don't fall into the normal house insurance policies, but lend themselves well when it comes to tools, bikes, boats etc. You just pick and choose through the available options, select what is relevant and add a dollar value. The premium is then calculated on that.
A good insurance broker should be able to steer you in the right direction. Our insurance was actually cheaper this year for the same cover thanks to our brokers diligence.

My old mans shed/workshop/garage was broken into a week after he died, they took everything they could carry, over several days, before we went up there and found it open. There was 65 years of professional joiners tools and equipment in there, as well as all our guns, game fishing gear and heaps of other stuff. I made a claim with NRMA, who, after SIX MONTHS of me harassing and haranguing them, finally settled it and paid me, after I did all the legwork and found all the prices for things. Initially, they were only going to cover for “ basic home maintenance tools”, which of course was ridiculous. Eventually, I found a section in the policy where because the shed and house were connected together by a common roof, a carport over the driveway, it deemed the shed as part of the house, and therefore it’s contents should be included as home contents. They then argued that the “tools of trade” weren’t included, but I then worked out that “hobby equipment “ was, so we put that in the claim.
I ended up getting $90k back from them, but it was a lot of work.
My point is, check the policy, photograph everything, keep receipts. Good luck.

For what it’s worth, I just added to my contents policy a specific addition of “woodworking machinery and tools” to a specified value; cost a little more but peace of mind that I have coverage. Cheers