OT: Stolen Tools Update

[Brian]

I spoke with the adjuster today. I need to fill out paperwork and include a list of items stolen. They also asked for me to provide any evidence of ownership I could such as receipts, owner's manuals, etc, and said that they do understand when you don't have paperwork for every item.

He said they will provide replacement cost for the items, based on web searches at Amazon.com and the like. Unfortunately on bicycles they do have a limit of $1000, so I won't recover my loss entirely there. But for the tools, I'm very hopeful that I will despite the fact that I am missing a couple manuals.

FYI

Brian.

[Todd Fatheree]

Well, I don't know about the rest of the group, but I'll be heading out to the garage with my digital camera very soon.

todd

[John]

I have had a flood and two claims for trees falling on my house. I have found the insurance company to be pretty decent. I hope yours is the same. Good luck.

[xrongor]

a video camera is faster for a general overview for this sort of thing, do your whole house while you're at it. but it does seem prudent to get a few detailed snapshots of a few key items also...

randy

[Larry C in Auburn, WA]

Heck, I'm just going to the recycling center to pick up all the owners manuals I can find...

[Todd Fatheree]

Well, I wasn't going to go there, but an unscrupulous person could have their buddy bring over a few tools for a little photo shoot.

todd

[Mike]

A lot of the tool manufacturers have pdf files available for down loading off of their web-sites. You might want to try there for any missing ones. Is there anyone in particular you need? Maybe the group can help.

[Brian]

Mike, this is a good idea. I will ask the groups in a separate post. It seems that the theives took some manuals too. I had a stack that is now missing.

Brian.

[Todd Fatheree]

Well, the video camera's in the shop, but IMHO, I'd feel better about getting prints made from a digital camera to put in the safe deposit box than throwiug a video cassette in there. I'm in the computer bidness, and I have a distrust of all magnetic media. If you want to tell me you could take the video and put it onto a CD or DVD, that would be right, but not necessarily easy. If you have a camcorder that records right to a DVD, then I guess you're golden.

todd

[xrongor]

well, i agree about magnetic media as it concerns digital data because losing even a single bit 'may' corrupt it unrecoverably if its the wrong bit. i would never go to a clients site without at least two copies of anything i needed if it was stored on magnetic media. but a vhs tape would have to lose quite a bit before the image would become unusable for insurance purposes.

it will last the 2-5 years until its time to do it again anyway... and like i said, for big ticket items it does seem prudent to make photographic hardcopy. but whatever works works... and hardcopy will work.

randy

[WebsterSteve]

Video editing software is cheap. I shoot everything on a digital 8 camera, firewire it to the harddrive, edit it, add titles, fades, etc. and then burn it to a DVD. You can also burn it to a CD (cheaper) without too much loss of quality. For a record of what you own, a CD would be fine.

[Tim Douglass]

A good reminder that you should schedule coverage for anything that isn't "normal household items". If you have guns, cameras, extra computer equipment, tools or any other specialty stuff make sure it is listed on a separate schedule and keep those schedules up to date. You will pay more in insurance, but you will be covered on those items if they are stolen or destroyed.

Tim Douglass

[Brian]

I'm going to pass on this and do it the right way. Hopefully my insurance company will do me right. They want original copies of manuals anyhow. No photocopies.