Problem is I have tons of tools and no receipts. I can't afford one of those rollaway expensive Tool Lockers with 43 drawers.

If you add them up thats a lot of money I have invested. I mean not megabucks but still they are worth a lot to me. Maybe I am just being strange because who the H--- is going to want a Air Compressor or Welder--how do you sell that on a street corner vice a laptop or jewelry.

Sometimes it scares me a lot of my intellectual and personal worth is sitting behind a thin tin garage door.

I took tons of photo's once but I am told that's not worth much for insurance. It got so bad that when I moved I put all my tools in my suitcases and all my junkyard parts and rocks in my tool boxes so if the movers got mischeivous..

I took out extra insurance on my tools and provided my agent a bunch of photos. I don't collect watches, rifles, fine art, fur coats, etc,.... but I got some tools! Trust me, the insurance folks will insure anything you want for a price...

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~shell
As of 2/2010:
2001 CLK55 0o\=*=/o0
13.6 @ 106mph
10K mi
1984 300SD
260K mi and going and going...
97 S600
46K miles
1991 Sentra SE-R (extremely dorked with)
www.se-r.net

its not just a money thing, its kind of like someone taking part of your soul. I mean they could even steal one of my cars, but it would take years to recollect all those tools. And at today's prices.... I mean how do you recreate all those yard sales and odd moments when you followed a hunch on a newspaper ad....

. And at today's prices.... QUOTE]

It cost me enough scrimping and borrowing to buy all those tools..

I make my living with tools so I worry about it also. I won't even lend tools unless I know the person knows how to use them and I know where to go to get them back if they doen't return them quick.

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1983 300SD
200000miles

My brother in law had a repair shop and one night someone rolled his complete set of tools in the tool box out of the shop and across the driveway to a truck. You could see the grooves in the asphalt left by the wheels on the box.

I "spread them" around all over the place to make them harder to collect...

I had my tools stored in a series of had tool boxes. you know the handy man style ones. and i had one nice one with some drawers. I was in school at the time. so i had them all in the back of my Toyota wagon, and i had a blanket over them and the car locked. but they stole the car... a car worth like $100 just to get the tools.

after that i bought tools and never took them out of their packaging and stashed them in my dads garage rafters. i only went and got them after i had a house with garage, and a large locking tool box to put them in.

i thought, and still think the large tool boxes are over priced. so i got a used one. and with my friend who is a lock smith its a very nice tool box for only $150.

i got a tool box, just like this, I painted it green.
http://sfbay.craigslist.org/nby/tls/659844844.html

compare that with this
http://www.sears.com/shc/s/p_10153_12605_009H0240000B?vName=Tools&cName=Garage+%26+Tool+Storage&sName=Chest+%26+Cabinet+Combos

not only are they expencive, they are getting crappy. the one i bought is like 20 years old. its got ball bearing sliders... because that was standard. but now they have boxes with nothing but rails for the sliders, then if you spend more you can get them with Teflon sliders, and if you spend even more you can get the Deluxe Ball Bearing sliders.... that are exactly the same as the sliders on the old tool box.

O well

just another reason to buy used.

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are under my Bed

I usually have good storage, and if theft is attempted, I'll fight back, especially if the thief is a dude and... oh wait, what kind of tool are we discussing?

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'81 MB 300SD, '82 MB 300D Turbo (sold/RIP), '04 Lincoln Town Car Ultimate

Sooner or later every car falls apart, ours does it later!
-German Narrator in a MB Promotion Film about the then brand new W123.

I am also anal about my tools. After a lifetime in the motorcycle world, I have accumulated a garag full of the things. My garage and driveway are watched by 3 closed circuit cameras w/motion sensors. My bedroom window overlooks the garage and a fully loaded ak-47 is beside the window. God help the sob who tries to rip me off. 2 years ago I had two guys try to make off with a mini bike I was working on in broad daylight. I ran one of them down and brought him back home at gun point. Had him ty-wrapped and face down on the pavement when the law got there. When I went to court the kit pointed to me and told the judge "that b------ is crazy. Ain't life fun.

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Had I known I Would Have Lived This Long, I Would Have Taken Better Care of Myself----Don

Hell YES!

I love to hear a story like that.

My dad got his coat (with company logo) stolen out if his car along with a brand new Pentax, 3 days later my dads Crazy B------ of a friend found a kid wearing it. needless to say my dad got his coat back. sadly the kids friend took the camera and they never got that back.

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I have been a heavy equipment mechanic for over 25 years now, so you can imagine the tools that I have collected. Last count was around $50K just in the service truck boxes and there is a roll-around in the shop that is full also.
Watch out for insurance salemen,, when I tried to buy insurance on my tools, they wanted to depreciate them over a period of years. I argued that they never decrease in value because I only buy quality tools with a lifetime warranty. He didn't even have time for my argument, so I told him to carry his &%^#@
About 3 years into my professional mechanic's career, all of my tools were stolen from a shop with no insurance. At the time I probably had around $10K in tools. If it were to happen again, I'm afraid there would just be one more fellow out there in the unemployment line, I couldn't do it again
Jeff

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1971 R600 Mack toterhome (SuperDawg)
99 NU-WA Snowbird 34+2 SE 102 5er
If it's not diesel, it's not in my stable!
53 F100 617.951/auto
95 Dodge 3500 Cummins/5 speed service truck

If you're in business, just list your tools and take pix, and ask for a replacement policy worth 'x' amount, to cover your tools. See if there's a farm bureau near you who will write you a policy. If you're not in business, insure them with your home. If you don't own, best to etch your name and some code into the tools. Years ago, I put my SS # on all my tools. With the identity theft nowadays, I'll be grinding off half of that # but it will take at least a day to do most of them.

The police say to put your Drivers lisc. on the tools as they can referance that back to an owner. For instance if the raided a hous several years later and found tools with a drivers Lisc. To go along with that you also need to have filed a police report of the theft.

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84 300D, 82 Volvo 244Gl Diesel