Stolen tools..

[Joe Chritz]

Thankfully I don't have any missing right now. Well except a few hand screwdrivers and I think they are with all my single socks.

This is actually in reference to Gail's thread on a missing drill. Take a few minutes to walk through your home and shop and write down the make, model and serial of all your tools that have them. Consider adding you drivers license number to those that don't with a vibrating pencil. Do the same for anything of value in the home. Add the new cost of the items with the list and keep two copies. One at home in a safe location and one someplace else.

If your stuff ever comes up missing it increases your chances of recovery exponentially. It is also a huge help if there is a catastrophic event like a tornado or fire.

Joe (hopping off box now)

[Doyle Alley]

Somewhere in all my junk, I have a little program called the Tool Journal. It is a little mini-database where you can store all this information on your computer. I haven't tried to use it yet, but I plan to. If anyone needs a copy of it, send me an email to my work address and I'll send you a copy. It's a little less than 1 meg zipped up.

doyle.alley@vertexinc.com

[Bob Wingard]

Here's another pretty good "freebie" .. .. .. \

http://www.knowyourstuff.org/

[Lee Schierer]

I've also heard that a video record of your home is a good idea. You gothrough each room of the house, opeing doors and drawers to show the contents. You make two copies and keep one at another location. I suppose this could also be done with digital camera. At the very least in the event of a claim you have some proof and a reminder of all the things you had.

[Alain Tellier]

That is what I did a year ago.

I went through all the rooms of the house including the shop and filmed everything. It's good cause you can speak important information about each object and also because it proves without a doubt that you had the actual equipment in the shop not only on a list.

I keep a tape at my house and a copy in my safety deposit box at the bank.

[Cliff Rohrabacher]

I got one better .

My insirance company is soo good and so service oriented that they never ask questions they just send the check.

If I lose my stuff I'll just make a claim. If I catch the perp in action I'll just fill 'em with lead.

[Rick Doyle]

......Take a few minutes to walk through your home and shop and write down the make, model and serial of all your tools that have them. ......
If your stuff ever comes up missing it increases your chances of recovery exponentially. It is also a huge help if there is a catastrophic event like a tornado or fire.

Joe (hopping off box now)
hi joe,

your post was pretty good timing for me. i just got my house insurance renewal notice and in it was the always present advice to make an inventory of our home and personal belongings - for the exact reasons you state in your post.

i remembered i had a ms excel spreadsheet for doing this and along with the usual insurance company info(i.e. name, policy number, contacts etc.) it has the following fields:

Name of Tool - Make - Model - Serial/ID Number - Date Purchased - Where Purchased - Est. Current Value - Photo?

i've attached a copy of the ms excel file for anyone who wants to download it.

if you'd rather see what it looks like prior to downloading, you can see a sample portion of the spreadsheet at:

http://www.rickswoodworking.ca/workshop.htm#what and download from there for free if you like.

[Steve Clardy]

I've also got the Tool Journal program somewhere. Haven't used it in several years.
I just do the digital camera thing every 3-4 months. Load pics on a disc for safe keeping

[Tim Solley]

I've been talking to my wife for a while about this, and I'll get around to doing it eventually. My plan was to take digital pictures and make a list inventory. I will then put the pictures and spreadsheet on a CD. Two copies of the CD, one for home, and give the other to my insurance agent to put in my file. I may lose the CD, but he probably won't. Then if someone breaks in, I don't have to go looking for my CD, my agent will have it.

Tim

[Jeff Horton]

...My insirance company is soo good and so service oriented that they never ask questions they just send the check.....

Your either self-insured or you have never made a claim of any size with them! :rolleyes:

[Cliff Rohrabacher]

Your either self-insured or you have never made a claim of any size with them! :rolleyes:

Nope. there is a third option: You have never had Chubb insurance until you do you do not know what you are missing.
It's like the difference between dating Bella Abzug and Cindy Crawford.

[Frank Pellow]

Here's another pretty good "freebie" .. .. .. \

http://www.knowyourstuff.org/
That looks interesting Bob. I think that I will give it a try.

Right now, I am in the strange postion of having all the contents of my shop well documented and photographed in a "self-rolled" database, but having almost nothing in the house captured. :o That's because, I built the shop inventory while I was buliding and populating my shop and a bought mostly new tools but over a two year period. Starting to record all the stuff that we have accumulated over the years is a daunting task.

Maybe this "free" software is the incentive that I need to get started. We will see.

[Ian Barley]

Having gone through a house fire which destroyed about 90% of what we owned I can vouch for the difficulty of trying to construct an inventory after the fact. I must walk around with the video camera again!

[chester stidham]

:eek: Your right but man do I have a lot of tools not just wood tools but every thing from auto to well it would take me a week to do it and the house to oh man you guys just made a lot of work for me thanks lol.:D

[Bruce Benjamin]

Your either self-insured or you have never made a claim of any size with them! :rolleyes:

I have State Farm and about a 14 years ago or so our house was
burglarized in a pretty big way. My wife actually walked in on them
but they ran out the back before anything happened. This was a
house we rented in Portland, Or. I talked to our insurance agent
and he just told me to make a list of whatever was missing, figure
out what it costs to replace and give him the list. One camcorder
didn't even work. 2 still cameras had problems too. He said it didn't
matter if it worked or not. He just said to find something close to
whatever is missing in a local store and give him the bill. I couldn't
believe it but I ended up making out very well on that burglary and
I didn't even have to come close to lying to him. I could've really
stretched it out but that's not my style. With only one exception,
State Farm has treated my wife and I very well over the past 20
years with at least $100K in claims and they pay right up!

Bruce

[Jeff Horton]

I am impressed Bruce. My experience has been quite the opposite and most of the folks I have talked to too.

[Bill Fields]

All good advice--I'm doing th edigital camers/CD thing now.

For me, it is more about REMEMBERING what I had--rather than "proving it".

Think this thought--"Could/would I remember all my stuff/tools/guns/cameras/stereo/jewelry/etc/etc. if someone said "make a list--and don't come back for seconds".

ME: "--oh, I forgot the Incra 1000SE, and the---".

I DO keep a pretty complete hard-copy file of Owner's Manuals and the like.

We hope this theft/fire never happens to you or us--the hassle factor is aboslutely beyond any physical loss!

BILL

[Bruce Benjamin]

I am impressed Bruce. My experience has been quite the opposite and most of the folks I have talked to too.

I guess it's just either where you live or maybe who your agent is.
I've had State Farm in both Portland, Or. and in a few Northern
California locations and with the exception of two occasions, rock chips
on new paint and the value of a totaled Jeep-Both resolved in my
favor, I've been treated as I would hope to be. In fact, I don't think
I've ever known anyone who's complained about State Farm. I guess
we've just been lucky. I know they are rated higher than most. I hope
if I ever have to replace any tools whether from theft or accident that
they continue their 24 year streak. :cool: This thread has inspired me to
start taking a complete household inventory and I'm using one of the links
provided in this thread for software. Thanks to that poster for the link.

Bruce

[Ed Blough]

I have had claims for a house fire (totalled) and burglary with two different insurance companies and both were handled fairly.
When our house burned to the ground we found we had severely unestimated the value of the contents and the insurance just paid the max. Learned that lesson! On the burglary some low life walked into my garage and carried out a brand new compound mitre saw, 35 year on compressor and all my "fine" carpentry tools. Since I had just bought the mitre saw I handed the insurance company the receipt everything else they had to take my word for it and they did. Total claim was $1800 which they paid no questions asked.
Lost a lot of my grandfather's planes, chisles, tools that simply can't be replaced.
My biggest complaint is nobody makes compressors like they did 35 years ago. It was a Sears with a cast iron compressor and 20 gal tank. I bought one that looked just like it and nearly jumped out of my socks when I turned it on. Sounded like a baleing machine with a cat stuck in it.
Took that one back, spent nearly a month trying compressors for sound. Finally bought a PorterCable "oilless" that was quieter than an anything on the market oiled or oilless.
Ed

[Tyler Howell]

Pictures....
I have an Excel model I built and have been using for years. Started with Visi Calc in the 80s on my Comadore Pet.

Price, model, SN, date of purchase and lots of pictures all on CD.
I keep those in my safe deposit box with the family jewals.
I had a break in some years back and the police man about wet himself when I produce a print out of al the lost items. As did the insurance man when I had pictures and receipts.;)

[Kevin Herber]

Pictures....
I have an Excel model I built and have been using for years. Started with Visi Calc in the 80s on my Comadore Pet.

Price, model, SN, date of purchase and lots of pictures all on CD.
I keep those in my safe deposit box with the family jewals.
I had a break in some years back and the police man about wet himself when I produce a print out of al the lost items. As did the insurance man when I had pictures and receipts.;)

I can't wait for the replies regarding Tyler keeping the family jewels in a safe deposit box....

-- Kevin

[Jeff Horton]

I can't wait for the replies regarding Tyler keeping the family jewels in a safe deposit box....

-- Kevin
I was thinking that had to be painful. :D ;)

[Phil Ordway]

A good way to store your info is to send it to youself at one of the free email programs. Gmail which I use has unlimited storage space. You can send your inventory with pictures and documentation and recover the info any time if you lose your own data storage. I like gmail. The downside is that your data is electronically read (Google is not the only one - all emails are read electronically) and Google ads are put on the right side of your emails based on key words. The upsides are unlimited storage, Google search within your saved emails, an excellent spam filter and no more filling up your own storage space. You can use it anywhere. I'm currently in Brisbane, Australia. I don't know if invitations to gmail are still necessary, but if they are, I have lots. Email me and I'll send them out.

[Dave Lehnert]

The MS Money program also has a inventory list built in. You can also link your photo's to the items in your list.

[Gail O'Rourke]

Good thread and yes I will make a list....I have some photos of my shop on my website, so that will spark my memory too...

Great news - I did find the drill...it was in the food pantry with the papertowels and dry goods. Why? Who knows, but glad that it turned up.

[Richard Wolf]

Good thread and yes I will make a list....I have some photos of my shop on my website, so that will spark my memory too...

Great news - I did find the drill...it was in the food pantry with the papertowels and dry goods. Why? Who knows, but glad that it turned up.

Glad you found the drill, it eases that violated feeling!

Richard

[Larry Norton]

I have Erie Insurance. When the tornado destroyed our home, I figured it was going to be a big job getting receipts and everything I needed to prove what I lost. When I asked my adjuster what he needed, he told me to write everything down and the present value. If I replaced it, I would get 100% of the replacement costs. If I didn't replace it, I would get 80% of the replacement value. That was all I had to do.

Since I had full replacement costs on my policy, it not only covered the costs of the tools, it covered the replacement cost of the house entirely.

Please check your policy and make sure you have replacement costs on it. It's only a few dollars more a month, and worth every penny. My policy was for $133,000 for the house, it cost $170,000 to replace it like it was, and they paid every penny. We didn't have to pay anything.

As a side note, we were featured in a story on Erie's quarterly newsletter. That was pretty neat!

[Jeff Horton]

From what I have seen total losses like house fires and tornadoes don't seem to be a problem to collect on typically. My neighbors house burned and they had no problems to speak of. Just slow.

The problem was remembering everything that they had.