If you use a vehicle to carry workers, tools or materials to a job, it needs a commercial auto policy, not a personal one. A personal auto policy expressly excludes business use, so a single work-related accident can void the whole claim and leave you paying for the crash yourself. The trap most tradespeople fall into is assuming commercial auto also covers the tools inside the van. It does not. Commercial auto covers the vehicle and the gear bolted to it; your loose tools need a separate equipment floater (see Tool and Equipment Insurance).
Why a personal policy will not do
Personal auto policies in Canada carry a business-use exclusion. The moment the vehicle is being used to earn income, hauling tools to site, carrying a crew, picking up materials, the personal insurer can deny the claim. That is not a grey area: it is the standard wording. If the work van is on your personal policy and you have an at-fault accident on the way to a job, you can be left covering the damage, the third-party liability and your own injuries out of pocket. Commercial auto exists precisely because business driving is a different risk.
What commercial auto covers
A commercial auto policy covers:
- The vehicle itself, against collision, and against theft and other perils where you carry comprehensive cover.
- Your third-party liability while driving for business, which is the part that pays when you injure someone or damage their property on the road.
- Permanently attached equipment, such as shelving racks, ladder racks and built-in fixtures that are bolted into the van.
That last point is the boundary line. Anything fixed to the vehicle is part of the vehicle. Anything loose inside it, your drills, your toolboxes, your portable power tools, is not.
What commercial auto does NOT cover: your tools in transit
This is the costly misunderstanding. Loose tools, portable power tools and toolboxes inside the van are not covered by commercial auto, even when they are stolen in a break-in on the vehicle. Some commercial auto policies include a small contents sublimit, but it is almost always far below the value of a working tradesperson's full kit.
The correct product for tools, whether on site, in transit between sites, or stored in the van, is an equipment floater (a form of inland marine cover). It follows the gear rather than the vehicle. So a complete picture for a tradesperson on the road is two policies working together: commercial auto for the van and your driving liability, and an equipment floater for everything you carry in it. Neither one does the other's job.
The overnight-in-vehicle trap reaches both policies
Whichever policy you look to for tools, watch the overnight-in-vehicle conditions. Many equipment floaters exclude or restrict theft of tools left overnight in an unattended vehicle unless strict conditions are met: the vehicle locked, a working alarm, tools in a locked hard-sided container or van safe rather than loose in the cab, and evidence of forced entry. A clean, no-forced-entry theft is likely to be challenged. Confirm the overnight wording in writing before you rely on it, and read Tool and Equipment Insurance for the detail.
Cost: ranges, not quotes
Commercial auto premiums depend on the vehicle, its use, your driving and claims record, where you operate and the limits you choose. Treat any figure you see advertised as a starting benchmark, never a quote: only a licensed broker who knows your operation can price your real risk. The wider Canadian commercial market eased into a softer cycle in 2025 and 2026, so premiums on many lines have come down, but your own record drives your price more than the market does.
Theft, break-ins and the catalytic converter
Work vans and trucks are heavily targeted, both for break-ins and for catalytic converters, because their ride height makes the converter easy to reach. Public Safety Canada notes that stolen catalytic converters can fetch about $800 to $1,200 each on illicit markets. Comprehensive commercial auto cover responds to theft of, and damage to, the vehicle itself, including a stolen converter or a smashed window, subject to your deductible, but it still will not replace the tools taken in the same break-in. British Columbia and Manitoba have tightened metal-dealer rules to choke the converter resale market. Practical hardening, deadlocks, a floor-bolted van safe, trackers, smart parking and converter shields, lowers both your claims and your premium over time (see Protecting Tools from Theft).
Common mistakes
- Running a work vehicle on a personal auto policy. The business-use exclusion can void the entire claim after an accident.
- Assuming commercial auto covers the tools inside. It covers the van and bolted-in racks only. Loose tools need the floater.
- Forgetting comprehensive cover. Without it, a stolen van or a stolen converter is your loss, not the insurer's.
- Ignoring overnight wording. The most common real-world theft, tools taken from a parked van at night, is exactly the scenario the standard floater restricts.
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