"Insurance Covers It." It Covers the Mower. Not the Next Four Days.

"Insurance Covers It." It Covers the Mower. Not the Next Four Days.

What National Equipment Theft Estimates Leave Out, and Five Questions to Ask Your Agent Before the Next Theft

Infographic: insurance covers it. Only 21 percent of stolen equipment was recovered, the average stolen machine was worth 29,258 dollars, and national theft cost estimates exclude rentals, delays, and wasted crew time, according to the NER and NICB 2016 Equipment Theft Report.

"Insurance covers it."

It is the most common reason landscaping and construction owners give for not tracking their trailers and equipment. And it is not wrong. If you carry the right coverage, the policy will probably pay for the mower.

It just will not pay for the next four days.

The national equipment theft numbers make the same point in their own fine print. The cost estimates everyone quotes leave out the part of a theft that hurts a small company most. Here is what is in them, what is not, and what is worth checking on your policy before the next theft instead of after it.

What the Theft Estimates Count

According to the NER/NICB 2016 Equipment Theft Report, the most recent edition published, annual estimates of the cost of equipment theft in the United States "vary from about $300 million to $1 billion, with most estimates in the range of $400 million." The same report put the average estimated value of a stolen machine at $29,258.

Then come the notes. The estimates "do not include the theft of tools or building materials or damage to equipment and premises caused during a theft." And they "do not include losses from business interruption. Those losses include the cost of rentals, project-delay penalties, and wasted workforce and management time" (NER/NICB 2016 Equipment Theft Report).

Read that list again. Rentals, delays, and wasted crew and management time. For a landscaping company in leaf season, those are not side costs. They are most of the cost.

Most of It Does Not Come Back

The same report recorded 11,574 equipment thefts in 2016 and 2,442 recoveries, a recovery rate of about 21%. Riding mowers and garden tractors were the largest category of stolen equipment, at 41% (NER/NICB 2016 Equipment Theft Report).

So in most cases, the claim is not a short wait while the police find your mower. It is a replacement, and replacing equipment takes time: the claim, the adjuster, the paperwork, the dealer, the delivery.

The Next Four Days

Here is an example, not survey data. A three person crew loses its trailer and mower on a Sunday night in late October. Here is what the policy usually does not see:

Monday: The crew shows up and has nothing to run. You report the theft, call the insurer, and start the paperwork. Eight hours each at the August 2026 BLS average of $27.71 an hour for landscaping crews is about $665 in wages for a day with no billable work (BLS Current Employment Statistics, August 2026, preliminary).

Tuesday and Wednesday: You rent a mower and borrow a trailer, if you can find them in the middle of leaf season. The rental is your cost unless the policy specifically includes rental reimbursement. Some properties get pushed. One customer calls the other company.

Thursday: You are still on the phone with the adjuster about the serial number you cannot find, and the blowers and trimmers that were on the trailer, which may fall under a different part of the policy or none of it.

Then the deductible. Then the renewal.

Five Questions for Your Agent

None of this means insurance is a bad deal. It means it is worth knowing exactly what it does before you need it. These are general questions to ask, not advice about your policy:

1. What is my deductible per theft? On a single mower, it may be a large share of the loss.

2. Is it replacement cost or actual cash value? Actual cash value pays what the used machine was worth, not what a new one costs.

3. Do I have rental reimbursement, and for how many days? This is the coverage that pays for the next four days, and many policies do not include it by default.

4. Are my handheld tools and the trailer covered, and under which part? Equipment, tools, and trailers are not always on the same schedule.

5. What records will you need after a theft? NER lists "equipment owners' inaccurate or nonexistent ownership records" among the reasons stolen equipment is not recovered. Your insurer will want the same serial numbers. Have them before the theft.

The Part Insurance Cannot Do

Insurance pays after the loss. It cannot shorten the time between the theft and the moment you find out, and that time matters. The first reason NER gives for the low recovery rate is "delays in discovery of thefts and subsequent delays between time of the occurrence and reporting."

A trailer you get an alert about at 11 PM Sunday is a police call with a fresh location. A trailer you discover missing at 6:30 AM Monday is an insurance claim.

Where Alertrax Fits

Alertrax is not insurance. It is the thing that can keep a theft from turning into a claim in the first place.

  • After-Hours Movement Alerts: Set the hours your trailers and mowers should be parked. If one moves outside them, you get a notification instead of a Monday morning surprise.
  • Geofence Alerts: Draw a boundary around the yard or a job site and get notified when a tracked asset crosses it.
  • Shareable Tracking Link: Generate a live link from the fleet portal or the app and give it straight to the responding officer.
  • Live Fleet Map: Location updates every 2 minutes in the Alertrax Fleet Portal and the iOS and Android app.
  • Complete Route History: A record of where the asset went, useful for police and for your claim if it comes to that.
  • One-Year Battery, No Wiring Required: Two AA cells, nothing to wire, so it goes on trailers and mowers with no power of their own.

For a step by step plan for the hour after a theft, see The First Hour After Your Equipment Goes Missing.

Pricing

You can equip your fleet with Alertrax for a low monthly rate, no long-term contracts, no hidden fees.

(Want to own it outright? We offer a $599 Lifetime option for permanent, subscription-free tracking.)

Every Alertrax order comes with a 30 day money-back guarantee.

Sources

National Equipment Register (NER) and National Insurance Crime Bureau (NICB), "2016 Equipment Theft Report," published 2017, retrieved October 2026: annual cost estimates of about $300 million to $1 billion, most around $400 million; notes that the estimates exclude theft of tools and building materials, damage during a theft, and business interruption losses including rentals, project-delay penalties, and wasted workforce and management time; average estimated value of a stolen machine of $29,258; 11,574 reported thefts and 2,442 recoveries in 2016 (21%); riding mowers and garden tractors 41% of stolen equipment; listed factors in low recovery rates, including delays in discovery and reporting and inaccurate or nonexistent ownership records. This is the most recent edition listed on NER's annual theft report page as of October 2026, and its figures are a decade old
U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics (BLS), Current Employment Statistics, Landscaping Services (NAICS 56173), series CEU6056173008, not seasonally adjusted, retrieved October 2026: average hourly earnings of production and nonsupervisory employees of $27.71 in August 2026 (preliminary)

This article is provided for general informational purposes and is not insurance, legal, or financial advice. Coverage, deductibles, valuation, and rental reimbursement vary by policy and insurer; talk to your agent about your own policy. AlerTrax is a GPS tracking company, not an insurer. The four day scenario and its dollar figures are an illustration, not survey data. No tracking device can guarantee recovery of stolen property.

Insurance Covers the Mower

Keep the policy. Then make sure the next time a trailer moves at midnight, you hear about it at midnight.

Visit www.buyalertrax.com today and cover the part your policy does not.