What Is Goods in Transit Insurance for Tradesmen?
Goods in transit insurance covers materials, stock and finished work against theft, loss or damage while they are being carried in your vehicle. For a trade it fills the gap between your van policy, which insures the van, and your tools policy, which insures your kit.
Most tradesmen only discover the gap after a break-in. The van is repaired, the tools are claimed on the tools section of the tradesman insurance policy, and the £4,000 of boiler parts in the back turn out to be nobody’s problem but yours.
This guide sets out what counts as goods in transit, where cover starts and stops, what the unattended vehicle conditions actually demand, and how single-load limits work. Get those four right and the section does its job.
Your van policy insures the van and your tools cover insures your kit, but the materials and finished work you’re carrying can fall through the gap between them. Check your goods in transit limit against the value of a typical load, particularly if you carry boilers or sanitaryware, and read the unattended vehicle conditions carefully, since most insurers won’t pay out if the van was left unlocked or out of sight.
Get a tradesman insurance quote that covers materials in transit.
- What counts as goods in transit for a trade?
- How is goods in transit different from tool cover and van contents?
- Are you covered while loading and unloading?
- What do unattended vehicle conditions actually require?
- How do single-load limits and per-item caps work?
- What is not covered by goods in transit insurance?
- How do you set the right sum insured?
- Frequently asked questions (FAQs)
What counts as goods in transit for a trade?
Anything you are carrying that is not the vehicle and not your own hand tools. That means materials heading to site, stock, plant being moved between jobs and client property you have agreed to shift.
The three loads trades actually carry
The first is materials to site: pipework, cable drums, timber, paving, plasterboard, a boiler on a pallet. These are usually yours until they are fixed into the building.
The second is completed or part-completed work heading to a customer. A joiner or kitchen fitter carries a double loss there, because the labour is inside the value as well as the materials.
The third is client property you have taken on, such as furniture moved out of a room, a door taken away to be planed, or an appliance you agreed to dispose of. That is the load most policies want declared.
What is not really goods in transit
Your own hand tools and power tools sit under the tools section instead, even though they travel in the same van. So do fixed items bolted into the vehicle, which usually belong on the motor policy.
If you are carrying other people’s goods for hire and reward rather than for your own jobs, you are into haulage territory and the conditions of carriage change. A landscaper taking green waste away is fine, a landscaper running paid removals is not.
How is goods in transit different from tool cover and van contents?
Tool cover insures the kit you work with, while van contents on a motor policy insures very little of anything. Goods in transit insures the load itself, wherever the vehicle happens to be.
Why the motor policy will not fill the gap
A standard van insurance policy is written around the vehicle, third party liability and the driver. Cargo is an afterthought carrying a token limit.
Even where a motor insurer offers contents cover, it is usually low, often excludes theft without forced entry, and rarely covers goods belonging to somebody else. That is three refusals in one clause.
Where the boundary gets argued
A cordless drill is a tool. A boxed cordless drill you bought to install for a client is stock, and the tools section may decline it.
The same logic runs the other way with hired-in plant, which often needs naming on the policy because the hire agreement makes you responsible for it from depot to return.
| Cover | What it insures | Where it applies | Typical gap |
| Goods in transit | Materials, stock, finished work, client property | In the vehicle, loading and unloading | Unattended vehicle conditions |
| Tools | Your own hand and power tools | In the van, on site, sometimes at home | Overnight theft from a vehicle |
| Van contents on a motor policy | A token amount of loose items | In the insured vehicle only | Low limit, no third party goods |
| Contract works | Materials once fixed into the works | On site, after delivery | Nothing while still on the road |
Are you covered while loading and unloading?
Usually yes, and that is one of the strongest reasons to buy the section. Most goods in transit wordings run from the moment the load is lifted to the moment it is set down at the destination.
Where the cover starts and where it stops
Loading and unloading is when most physical damage happens. A slab dropped on a tail lift or a worktop caught on a door frame is a transit loss, not a site loss.
Cover normally ends once the goods are delivered and set down, which is where contract works cover or the site’s own arrangements take over.
Read the wording for the phrase covering goods in the course of transit including loading and unloading. If that phrase is missing, a dropped load in the customer’s drive may not be covered.
What do unattended vehicle conditions actually require?
They usually demand a locked vehicle, all security devices in operation, and evidence of forced entry before a theft claim is paid. Many also add an overnight condition about where the van is parked.
The conditions that decide a theft claim
- Most wordings require the vehicle locked with windows closed and any alarm or immobiliser set, though the unattended-vehicle condition varies by insurer, so check yours.
- There must be visible signs of forced entry, so a cloned key or unlocked door usually fails.
- Overnight, the van often has to be garaged, in a locked compound or on a driveway.
- Some wordings exclude goods left in the vehicle between certain hours entirely.
Theft is not a rare event in the trades. A Simply Business survey of 645 tradespeople in March 2026 found 51% had been affected by tool theft, with an average claim of £2,646, and the same vans carry the materials.
Security conditions are why a bricklayer with a locked driveway gets a different answer from one parked on the street outside.
How do single-load limits and per-item caps work?
The single-load limit is the most the insurer will pay for one incident. The per-item cap is the most it will pay for any one thing inside that load, and it is the limit people forget.
Setting the single-load limit
Insure the heaviest load you ever carry, not the average one. The busiest week of the year is the one that gets broken into.
A plumber running two boilers and a bathroom suite in one trip can be carrying several thousand pounds of stock on a job worth a fraction of that.
Why the per-item cap bites
A load limit of £5,000 with a per-item cap of £1,000 will not settle a stolen £3,000 boiler in full. High-value single items normally have to be specified by name.
Underinsurance is the other trap. Insure £3,000 while regularly carrying £6,000 and the insurer can apply average, paying a proportion of an otherwise valid claim.
| Load you carry | Sensible single-load limit | What to specify separately |
| Decorating materials and sundries | Low, often within an existing package | Nothing usually |
| Boilers, cylinders and heating parts | The value of your busiest single trip | Individual appliances |
| Bulk building materials to site | Full delivered value including waste allowance | Hired-in plant |
| Completed joinery or fitted units | Materials plus the labour already in them | Any bespoke single unit |
What is not covered by goods in transit insurance?
Wear and tear, bad packing, unattended vehicles left insecure and anything you carry for reward without telling the insurer. Most declines come from the conditions, not the perils.
The exclusions trades meet most often
- Goods left visible in an unlocked or unattended vehicle against the policy conditions.
- Damage caused by poor loading, inadequate packing or an unsuitable vehicle.
- Gradual deterioration, damp, rust and wear rather than a sudden transit event.
- Livestock, plants, perishables, cash and documents, which are usually named exclusions.
A painter and decorator carrying a few tins and brushes may find the exclusions outweigh the benefit. The value in the section rises with the value of the load.
How do you set the right sum insured?
Work from replacement cost on your heaviest trip, add a margin for the jobs you have not won yet, then review it every renewal. The figure should track the business, not your first quote.
A method that survives a claim
List what actually travels: stock, components, part-finished work and anything belonging to a client. Price each line at what it would cost to buy again today.
Then check whether the section is cheaper bolted onto your motor cover. Running several vehicles can change the answer, so compare it against fleet insurance and against the main business van insurers.
Two practical notes. Insurance Premium Tax of 12% is already inside the quoted price, and HMRC treats business insurance taken out wholly and exclusively for the trade as an allowable expense.
Check the insurer on the FCA Register before you buy, and remember the ABI point that almost none of this cover is compulsory, so nobody will chase you for the gap.
Frequently Asked Questions (FAQs)
Generally no. Tools belong on the tools section of a trade policy, while goods in transit covers materials, stock and finished work you are carrying.
Rarely in any useful amount. Motor policies insure the vehicle and offer only a token contents limit, which will not settle a van load of materials.
On most wordings yes, from lifting the load to setting it down. Check the policy says in the course of transit including loading and unloading, because that phrase does the work.
Only if the wording says so and you meet the parking condition. Many policies require a garage, a locked compound or a driveway, and some exclude overnight storage altogether.
The insurer can apply average and pay a proportion of the claim. Carrying £6,000 of stock on a £3,000 limit can halve an otherwise valid settlement.
Only if you declare it. Third party goods are often excluded by default, so tell the insurer if you shift furniture, appliances or items taken away for repair.
It is the maximum payable for one incident, whatever the vehicle was carrying. Set it against your busiest trip rather than a typical day.
Probably not. If your load is a few tins of paint and some sundries, the tools section and a modest motor contents limit may be enough.