Itemize Tools/Assets??

[Bugsysiegals]

My home owners insurance told me I didn't need to have receipts or photos of all my household items as they'll just give me a lump sum check if the house ever burns down but I'd never remember all I had so I decided to start itemizing everything on Google Drive. 

Much to my surprise I've already accumulated over $29,000 in wood working tools alone and now I'm anxious to itemize all my other assets since I'm not sure the lump sum would cover all this stuff.

So ... have you itemized all your assets?  If not, they sure add up quickly so you may consider ...

 

[Ron B]

Remember the insurance ads where companies rush out and are writing checks right after the storm?  Yep-pay them quick and get them to sign off before they realize how much they are actually missing.  Another reason for a listing if you are a business and you have a fire, your chances of an tax audit just went up. 

 

[squall_line]

It's worth knowing whether you have depreciated cost coverage or replacement cost coverage, too.  Depending on the scope of the event, you may or may not be able to keep/"buy back" items that were part of the loss.

 

[Michael Kellough]

Strongly recommend getting replacement cost insurance. We had a fire in our house and recovered more than twice as much money from replacement cost insurance as we would have with ordinary insurance.

This was nearly thirty years ago and the insurance company was Aetna. It seems we drove them out of the house insurance market and they switched to health insurance.

 

[hdv]

Currently I am in the process of doing so...  [big grin]

 

[Bob D.]

Don't know anything about this app, I just found it after I did a search wondering if there was an app out there to help with managing all the tools I have collected over 40 years.

But it looks interesting. Their website says this YT video is a demo of their old app which they rewrote in 2020 but I guess don't have a video demo of as yet. Not free but if you have multiple employees on multiple jobsites something like this might be worthwhile.

 

[GoingMyWay]

Here's the video:

 

[peter halle]

Itemize and get replacement cost insurance for the maximum protection.  It does come at a higher cost of course.  For my business I have a mix.  The high cost items are on replacement cost.

Peter

 

[Peter_C]

I just went round and round with my insurance provider. First because of forest fire danger only one company would cover the house, and deck, and even then getting the square footage cost high enough for replacement build was hard, so we also have an over rider (Term?) policy on top in case costs are higher. Off note but jewelry over $2500 must be appraised and added to the policy. Tools are the BIG loss item for me. In a home owners insurance policy the maximum limit for us is $3500 in tools...end! Anything beyond that and we have to get a policy which is effectively commercial at a cost of $4,000 a year. Start running the numbers and you can quickly decide what the ROI is "in case" of loss. Hopefully we never need our insurance. The "interior" insurance for personal items, computers, collectibles, clothing, furniture, etc. will need to be itemized upon a loss claim. Video everything and upload to the cloud prior to a loss.

Now if anyone knows a way to insure a decent tool set without spending $4,000 a year please share.

 

[Bob D.]

I have no insurance on my home shop or any tools other than what my HO policy might provide which I know will be peanuts. I did recently get a policy to cover my Ham Radio equipment as I have a hefty investment there, almost as big as my tools outlay. It was only a couple hundred a year to cover all my gear which is about $20k.

After reading this thread I went looking for similar insurance for my WWing tools. I have at least $25K wrapped up in tools in my shop so I though I should see if I can get some sort of coverage similar to my Ham gear.

I found this place. Don't know anything about them as I just started looking into them. But if there is one there must be others who offer the same sort of coverage.

An inland marine policy might work for some, but they are not designed for fixed assets as I understand it.

Anyone know who Next Insurance is or used them?
https://www.nextinsurance.com/tools-and-equipment-insurance/

Poking around on their site I don't see anything that offers coverage to a individual such as myself that is not a business, so maybe not a good choice.

 

[Vondawg]

Depressing, $ubject...every time I get into it. At $3500 max. in a home owners policy that should cover, the table saw and  ah......oh ....that’s it. Guess I could live with canceling Replacement Ins. after retireing, as it would be just a hobby at that point.

 

[squall_line]

I guess I'm surprised (but not TOO surprised) to find out that tools can't be added to a rider the same way jewelry is.  I'm guessing there's actuarial tables that show the loss rates for tools compared to jewelry and you also start getting into the weeds with businesses who would prefer to claim their tools on a homeowners policy rather than a business policy for various reasons (usually taxes), and the attendant losses that come with that.

For theft, serial numbers and discreet markings (blacklight-visible inks) are about all one can do; with the internet nowadays, pawn shops aren't necessarily the first stop for a tool thief to unload their wares.  For other losses (fire, earthquake, flood, locusts, etc), suppression and secure storage seem like they're about all that can be done.  If your safe is worth more than the contents, it seems to defeat the purpose.

I've been through a house fire and had some fool steal a yard tiller off of my front porch (I call them a fool because they pawned it less than 1/2 mile from my house).  Neither one was a large dollar figure claim, but they were relatively costly compared to my income and station in life at the time.

 

[simnick]

Thanks to this thread I just double checked, and tools are NOT an exception to personal property for Safeco Insurance (WA State). They even call out in the policy: "If you have a garage full of tools, are passionate about the latest gadgets or collect just about anything, you should seriously consider getting more personal belongings coverage than the standard policy provides."

 

[Roachmill]

I started using "Memento Database" a good few years back. It doesn't (or didn't at the time) come with a specific tool inventory type database (although you can import a blank canvas for just about anything you want to catalogue) so I created my own and have added all sorts of data to it along the way. It's easy enough to get going with and you can get pretty fancy with what you do e.g. filters, tabs displaying only items included in a filter, charts, graphs linking to other databases etc.

Even for just recording the basics I'd recommend having a look at the free version. It runs on Android, iOS, Windows, Linux and Mac operating systems so you're pretty much covered there and it syncs very well between them. Oh, and there's the option to sync your databases to Google Sheets as well. I'm not affiliated with them - just a very happy customer.

 

[Bob D.]

To follow up the two responses I received to my email inquiries recommended an inland marine policy which neither of them (one was Next Insurance) offer at this time.

 

[Crazyraceguy]

I learned the hard way about the difference between "actual cash value" and "replacement cost" insurance several years ago when my house was broken into. They took a go-kart and a quad runner from the garage, nearly everything electronic from the house and tore up just about everything else looking. They didn't really bother anything else in the garage and even left my brand new Camaro sitting untouched.
The depreciation of anything more than about a year old is so much that the value is shockingly minimal. I was so upset with the insurance adjuster that I literally shouted do I have to pay you for the door they broke? It is over 90 years old

The fire at the shop where I work was just the opposite. They covered everything at 90% of total replacement cost (including sales tax) right away. Then they would cover the other 10% with proof that you actually replaced it.
As it turned out, it was far better that my tools were at work. If I had those stolen from the house, it would have been even more devastating than losing it all instantly.