It is ten past six in the morning and the side window of your van is in the footwell. The Makita is gone. Both testers are gone. So is the press tool you finished paying for in March.
What happens in the next hour decides how much of that you get back. Not because anyone is going to catch the person who did it — they almost certainly are not — but because everything from here runs on evidence you either have or do not have.
1. Ring 101 and get the crime reference
Do this first, before you tidy anything up. You will be asked what was taken and whether you have serial numbers. Insurers normally expect you to report the theft and to give them the crime reference, so this call is the thing every other step hangs off.
If you cannot answer the serial-number question, say so honestly and come back to it. A partial list now beats a perfect list next week.
2. Photograph the van before you touch it
The damage, the broken lock, the empty racking, the street. Take more than you think you need. You cannot go back and take these later, and the method of entry matters — some policies treat an unforced entry differently from a forced one.
3. Write the list while it is still fresh
This is the part people underestimate. Two documents are needed and they are not the same document:
- The police want identification. Item, make, model and serial number. Serial numbers are the only realistic route by which a recovered tool ever finds its way back to you.
- The insurer wants valuation. What each item is, what you paid, when you bought it, and ideally the receipt.
Most people write the first one badly at the roadside and the second one three evenings later from memory and a shoebox. The second one is the one that decides what you are paid.
4. Be honest about what you cannot evidence
If an item has no serial number recorded and no receipt, say so rather than guessing. Without those, proving the item was yours and establishing what it was worth is much harder, and an estimate you cannot support is worse than an honest gap.
5. Tell the people expecting you today
Your 8:30 is not going to happen. A short message that does not go into the detail keeps a customer on side; silence does not. Then sort hire, because a week without tools costs more than most of what was in the van.
The uncomfortable bit
Everything above is easy if you already had a list, and close to impossible if you did not. Nobody builds a tool register on the morning of a break-in. They build it slowly, when nothing is wrong, adding each tool as they buy it — and then it is simply there on the day it matters.
That is the whole argument for keeping one. Not tidiness. The fact that the worst morning of your working year turns into about ninety seconds of ticking boxes instead of an evening reconstructing a decade of purchases.
How ServicePay handles it
If your kit is on the tool and equipment register, the stolen-tool report takes the crime reference, lets you tick what has gone, and produces both documents at once — the itemised list with serial numbers for the officer, and a priced schedule built from what you actually paid for the insurer. It also flags any item with no serial on record, so you find out now rather than at the point someone asks you to prove ownership.
Items carrying a scannable QR or NFC tag can also be checked by anyone with a phone — no app, no login — which is what makes a tool awkward to resell.
Common questions
What information do the police need after tools are stolen from a van?
An itemised list with make, model and serial number where you have it, plus where and when the theft happened and how entry was gained. The crime reference they give you is what your insurer will ask for.
What evidence does an insurer need for a stolen tool claim?
Broadly: proof the items were yours, proof of what they were worth, and the crime reference. Receipts, purchase records and serial numbers all go to the first two. Check your own policy wording — cover for tools left in a van overnight varies a lot between insurers.
Can I still claim without serial numbers?
You can claim, but proving ownership and value is harder without them. That is the practical reason to record serials when you buy a tool rather than after it has gone.
How do I list what was in the van if I never wrote it down?
Bank and card statements, supplier accounts, photos of jobs where the tool is visible, and the hire or finance agreements on bigger items. It is slow and it is always incomplete, which is the argument for keeping a register.