Does public liability insurance cover your tools?

Short answer: no. Public liability covers damage you cause to other people and their stuff. Your own tools aren't other people's stuff. If the ute gets broken into and your public liability is your only policy, you're replacing that kit out of your own pocket.

What public liability actually covers

Public liability is about third parties. If your work injures someone, or damages property that belongs to someone else, this is the policy that responds.

• A customer trips over your gear and gets hurt.
• You crack a water pipe and flood their kitchen.
• A ladder goes through their window.

That's the lane. It's the certificate real estate agents, body corporates and builders ask to see before you're allowed on site. It says: if I stuff up your property or hurt someone, my insurer pays, not you.

What it doesn't cover

Your own gear, your own vehicle, and your own body.

• Stolen or damaged tools. That's tools of trade cover, a separate policy or a separate section in a business pack.
• Your ute. That's motor insurance.
• You getting injured and unable to work. That's income protection or personal accident cover.
• Bad workmanship you have to come back and redo. Rectifying your own work generally isn't what liability policies are for.

Why the confusion happens

Two reasons. First, plenty of tradies buy a business insurance pack, and some packs bundle public liability and tools together. So the one bill covers both, and it's easy to assume "my insurance" covers everything. Sometimes it does. Often the tools section was never added. Second, licence and contract requirements usually name public liability specifically, so it's the policy everyone knows they have. Nobody asks to see your tool cover, so it's the one that quietly doesn't exist.

The fix is a five-minute job: pull out your policy schedule and look for a tools, portable equipment or general property section with a dollar limit next to it. No section, no cover.

How the two fit together

Think of it as: liability protects everyone else from you, tool cover protects your kit for you. A lot of sole traders carry both inside one business pack. Some carry liability only because a site or licence demands it, and self-insure the tools. What matters is that it's a decision you made, not a gap you found out about after the break-in.

This is general information, not insurance advice. Policies vary, so check your product disclosure statement or ask an insurer or broker about your setup.