@$#!;$ thieves

[sawmill]

My oldest grandson is a building contractor in Spokane. He builds houses. He's building one 3 minutes from his house. He went to work Monday and his tool trailer was gone. It was an 18' enclosed trailer with all his tools, saws, compressor, etc. in it. He had two tongue locks on it. They couldn't get to the locks with bolt cutters. The only way they could get them off was a power tool with a cutting disc. He had about $50K tied up in the entire package. His home owners insurance will only give him $6K. What a ripoff.
These thieves are hitting contractors pretty regular around N/E Washington. To bad someone couldn't catch them and deal with them properly.

 

[North Idaho Wolfman]

One of the reasons for my moving from AZ to where I am now was because of thieves.
My shop was broken into 4 times in just the last few months.

Tell your grandson to invest in Inland marine Insurance (pays for tools and equipment) get an umbrella policy on his home insurance, and get a GPS tracker for his larger equipment (most insurance companies will give a discount if you install one)!

 

[sawmill]

One of the reasons for my moving from AZ to where I am now was because of thieves.
My shop was broken into 4 times in just the last few months.

Tell your grandson to invest in Inland marine Insurance (pays for tools and equipment) get an umbrella policy on his home insurance, and get a GPS tracker for his larger equipment (most insurance companies will give a discount if you install one)!

Thanks for the tip Wolfman. I'll tell him.

 

[Daren Todd]

Nothing worse then a bloody thief Sorry your son got hit. They have been ripping off those types of trailers around here as well. Quite a few from churches.

If he decides to go the GPS route, make sure the battery for it is inaccessible as possible. And have the GPS unit installed smack dab in the center of the roof. Make the wiring as hard to get to as possible also. If it can be painted the same color as the roof the better. You don't want someone to be able to tell what it is right off, or notice it.

Company I work for spend hundreds of thousands on GPS units for the equipment. Takes less then 10 seconds to disable one.

 

[Tooljunkie]

I think this sort of thing is common everywhere. Sorry you get to take the double hit-thieves and insurance.

A hidden gps would be the ticket.
Connecting to homeowner's wifi (if available)
Could set up a surveillance camera that notifies you of any action around trailer. I have appcams on my shop, they run on 12 volts.

 

[Dalroo]

There is nothing worse than a thief.

 

[Lil Foot]

I hate thieves. Well, pretty much all criminals. Wouldn't be so bad if when you caught them, you could give them what they so desperately need- a 230 grain .45 headache remedy, or a 12ga 00 buck chest treatment, or a 150 grain boattail open heart procedure. But alas, you then become the one that the system punishes. Crap. I was born about 150 years too late.

 

[Lennyzx11]

I've started hanging a game camera nearby when I leave my trailer out.
Sorry for your loss. I got hit in 2008 and tracked them back to their meth house and called the sheriff. Got most of it back.
Good tip on the Gps. Going to look at that. Insurance is good now but just the point of the matter wants me to catch them.


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

 

[coachgeo]

sounds like he's getting robbed twice. It is the second thief causing the most damage now. AKA the Insurance Company. Suggest he fight them tooth and nail.

 

[tempforce]

i would sure check into using a different insurance company from now on..

 

[Kurtee]

The wolfman has given good advice. A lot of people do not realize that homeowners insurance does not cover business ventures. I would hope that the grandson has business liability insurance. The missing tools and equipment could look like small potatoes in the event that he needs liability coverage. Just me looking in.

KURTEE

 

[sawmill]

The wolfman has given good advice. A lot of people do not realize that homeowners insurance does not cover business ventures. I would hope that the grandson has business liability insurance. The missing tools and equipment could look like small potatoes in the event that he needs liability coverage. Just me looking in.

KURTEE

Yep, He had to get liability insurance when he got his contractors license.

 

[sawmill]

My grandson got his job trailer back. The thieves unhooked it and left it in a hospital parking lot. A friend of his saw it and called him. It was empty, of course. He had a couple of changes of clothes in it and they even took them, along with all his tools. They even peeled the 2017 sticker off the license plate. He had it wired inside with lights and outlets. They even stole the light bulbs.

What a bunch of low life rotten b@st@rds.

 

[bcp]

I wonder if the hospital, or a nearby business, has surveillance video.

Bruce

 

[sawmill]

I wonder if the hospital, or a nearby business, has surveillance video.

Bruce

The police are supposed to be checking on that possibility. Hopefully they will come up with something.

 

[skeets]

I hope they do as well,,, but I wouldnt hold my breath waiting

 

[Newlyme]

Sorry to hear about the loss.

Reminds me of a similar situation I went through.

Twenty some years ago I had a construction company, small but I had a lot invested. I had to take the panel truck in for a front end alignment. I was too lazy to empty the tools out for one day at the repair shop no overnight stuff here.

I had been parking the truck every night at home in my driveway for five or six years at the time and never an issue.

My address was on the invoice for the alignment and I am sure the guys in the shop saw all of the tools inside.

Two days later I go out to the truck in the morning, empty!
In my driveway!!

Insurance would only pay a fraction. After all I was a contractor and the tools were "used".

About a week later on the local TV station news I see a story about criminals being busted breaking into contractors trucks and trailers and the police have a huge amount of evidence that you can come to claim.

I went to the station to check. I talk to the officer at the window and he interrupts me to ask me for my drivers license. OK, I hand it to him and he runs my drivers license like I'm the crook! I explain why I am there and would like to see if any of the tools were mine. He says that I am not allowed to look at them and I would have to describe to him each tool and he would then go look. I tried to give him the police report with no success.

By this time I am pretty frustrated and it was showing. I asked him what would happen with all of the unclaimed equipment. It would be auctioned off with the money going into the city's general fund.

We get hit by the thieves, the thieves get hit by the police, our tools get sold to put money in the general fund, to support the government!

Good thing I had insurance to get some pennies for my dollars!

We moved out of the city and into the country soon after.

The end.