And when I Die - tool disposal

[LSU]

I had an old Army friend who died unexpectly recently.

He left a wife, a bunch of tools and a whole bunch of unpaid bills.

His wife needed to sell the tools at a reasonable price to pay some of the bills. I'm half way across the country and could only give long distance advice on values and suggestions on how and where to sell them.

Have you given any thought as to what will happen to your tools if you die?

My wife knows I've got tools but she doesn't know the value of them, have any idea how to sell them or where to even start.

I've got a son and a brother who could step in and deal with disposal of my tools but if I didn't where would my wife sell my tools --Sell them on CL, Ebay, garage sale?

Come on - if my wife had to sell my tools she'd have guys like you (and me) showing up trying to buy my Snap On for Husky prices.

In the long run she'd sell them for much less than their worth. I understand tools mostly depreciate but some of them are worth more than i paid for them.

If you've got kids and you plan on leaving your tools to them, how you going to do this? If you've got a 4 year old, it will be a long time until the child can actually use the tools.

Let's assume you don't have a relative who can successfully sell your tools.

So let me post this question - if you were to die tomorrow what happens to your garage of tools?

Easy to say "I have a will" but even with a will someone has to dispose of the tools.

Give it some thought and let me know what you think?

I've got some special tools that have been handed down to me from my dad. Nothing of real value but I'd hate to see them show up on GJ with someone posting "Does anyone know what this tool is?". I've got some old military wrenchs my dad brought home from WW2. No real value but something I'd like my kids to know where they came from.

So, anybody got a plan for if they die?

How do you plan for your heirs to dispose of your tools?

 

[klhitman]

i dont want my tools sold. i have made that clear. i want them passed to my kids. i have my grandpa's tools. he is still here but i will never sell a tool of his.even though i will never use most of them. i wish my kids will do the same.

 

[Tarheelgarage]

I'm having mine melted down to form a lid for my coffin.

 

[canuckian]

All mine will go to my son to do with as he pleases. He'll also have the set I'm building for him now so he'll have tools out the wazoo. I Can only hope that he develops an interest in using them Like i do but it Doesn't much matter to me what happens to them when I'm gone. sure it would be nice to keep them in the family as a bit of a legacy but if no one will appreciate or use them, whats the point in keeping them? As for having to sell them to pay the bills, not really a concern either. My family is well provided for in the event of my passing and if I can help it, there won't be one unpaid bill theyll have to worry about. Saying that, I realize that this isn't the case with some people and that families get left with piles of debt and no way to pay it off. That's the scenario in aiming to avoid. I do find it sad when I hear about the people selling their departed relatives tools and getting gouged for pennies on the dollar. I mean for them to make the price and sell it cheap is one thing but when people tell the unknowing widower that her husbands $50,000 worth of tools are only worth scrap metal price so they can buy em and flip em for 500% profit, well that's just immoral.

 

[Danglerb]

I've been mostly planning on not dying, haven't done a thing outside of a very basic will.

One of my friends had three months last year to put his affairs in order, and he was a savvy guy on this kind of stuff, but its just too much bad news to get too deep into it.

For a lot of families the grief is too much for anybody in the immediate family to deal with a lot of detail, so best to keep it simple, and keep it in a known place. I'm thinking take pictures good enough to ID everything in them, and make a few piles with instructions. Sad truth is that a LOT of stuff may have less value in a difficult selling situation. Top dollar might be from quality ebay listings, but those take a lot of time to manage.

Do something to protect your assets, dying can be crazy expensive. Talk to somebody that knows your state laws etc.

 

[pipsters]

I've wondered it as well. Really hit home when I went to my first estate sale. Depending on our financial situation I would think donation would be a good route, we have a place in town that takes donated cars and fixes them up to give away to people who need decent cars. I don't have much into my tools, under $3k including the tool box, so even at fire-sale of 30% that is like $900 out the door. Maybe up to $1500 if you sit and wait. Not really that much money in the big scheme of things.

$3k in our tax bracket is like a $750 reduction in taxes so not much difference in giving it away to a place who really could use the tools or to a guy who is buying to resell on eBay.

I would like to be buried with a few of them though, that is for sure. I know my wife would probably throw in my jumbo clown wrench and screwdriver .

Every time I pick up the old Craftsman 3/8" flex ratchet or 1/2" breaker bar I got from the estate sale I think about the guy who used it for decades before me. He was a builder who worked on his own equipment in his garage/shop under his house that he built himself. He got cancer and died in his early 60's.

Enjoy it while it lasts it could end at any time.

 

[davesnothere]

I would like to think my daughters will want them, however I'm beginning to think maybe they'd be better suited being welding altogether into a giant monument of obnoxiousness.

 

[Danglerb]

I do find it sad when I hear about the people selling their departed relatives tools and getting gouged for pennies on the dollar. I mean for them to make the price and sell it cheap is one thing but when people tell the unknowing widower that her husbands $50,000 worth of tools are only worth scrap metal price so they can buy em and flip em for 500% profit, well that's just immoral.

People who would do that certainly would ****.

Sometimes the surviving family can't bear to have anything around, or the person died did so related to their hobby, so everything related they want gone and its either sold or given to the church, or gun guy I knew had everything handed over to the police to be destroyed.

OTOH I think you are talking about a swindler, somebody who tells the widow lies about the value, and that is fraud and stealing. Good reason not to leave it up to somebody that doesn't know value. They take a fair cut, but professional estate sales are a lot safer if nobody close to the family can step in.

 

[plung]

I could care less about my stuff.

When I'm dead, it's not my problem anymore. Of course my brother would take everything.

 

[Beaumont67]

I am in my mid 50's, married with one son in his late 20's (not interested in wrenching or restoring cars).
I have a few muscle cars, tons of Chevelle/Beaumont parts, several 1980's GMC trucks, and vehicles stored in 4 different places.
Nice 2 stage compressor, paint guns, Miller mig, AC/DC stick welder, Oxy/Acet gas welder, parts washer. CP/BluePoint air tools, socket sets, SnapOn & Proto body hammers, Mac dollies, etc.
Mint tool boxes - Craftsman, Gray Pro, Proto Pro, jacks, stands, enclosed 14ft. trailer.
Honda commercial generator & snowblower, Toro push mowers, Stihl stuff, John Deere 318 with hyd. blower.

I know exactly what I have and my twin brother, knows values like me...my son won't have a clue.
We talked about this exact subject, a month ago...I suggested:
a) take digital pictures of all the stuff
b) photo serial # / vin #'s if available.........also good for theft claim
c) vehicles, have a central spot in office for ownerships
d) print off pictures and place in a 3 ring binder
e) put a price range on each item (low $ reflects fast sale in depressed market and possible high $ amount)

Categorized everything, it would help the wife and kid(s).

 

[Syndicate]

This is a sore subject around here. We have had too many deaths in our family since 2006. My wife really hates tools. She doesn't understand why I buy so many, nor does she care. She does shop on the truck for gifts, IE birthday, Christmas and anniversarys, however she could care less about them.
I make a living, and we are not poor. But, with that said, we are not wealthy either. Although I am the wealthiest man alive, (wife loves the **** outta me!), I have made a special book, it even has angels on it. I try not to have it out when she is around, because she knows what it is, and starts to cry sometimes. I comfort her and tell her it will be alright. In my heart I know she will be crushed when I die. As I would if she were gone. She is my EVERYTHING!! I put every tool in that book and what I paid for it. She knows it will never sell for that, but I tell her to shoot for half depending on shape, and go from there. I have some close friends in the business and we all have a pact. Be there for our wives till the end, and help out with the sales of any belongings.

We all have to only do 3 things in life. 1 Be born 2 Pay taxes 3 Die
Make of it what we will, we all parish in the end. That is how it works. It *****, it is not fair, and some times it is downright ugly. But it is the fact that happens.

Whoever on this earth would consider telling my wife that 232,000 worth of tools was worth scrap, may not make it to the driveway. I would hope that if anyone anywhere would witness such a thing, that they would immediately put that scumbag in his/her place and let it be known that is a disgusting way to live. Karma comes around.

I have been buying and selling tools for over 20 years and am always looking to get a great deal. However to stoop as low as misguiding a widow, would make me want to hang myself!!

I wish everyone on gj a long and healthy life. Peace out, L J

 

[holdover]

66+ son 34 and as much a car nut as me 2 young boy grandbabies, everything goes to them. They live very close and I am sure when the time comes he'll live in the house also, it is more than he could ever afford and its paid for. main garage 40 X 60 2 lifts with 16 X 60 lean-to attached.. storage area 24 X 72 with a 30 X 45 teed into it on 17 acres of land. I am sure his boys will have it after him.

 

[warmpancakes]

I keep a list on the car parts I have when I bought them and what I paid she knows who to call for help selling them

 

[mtwaterguy]

Easy to say "I have a will" but even with a will someone has to dispose of the tools.

That's why you appoint an executor/executrix. They're job is to make sure your wishes are carried out.

 

[nso123]

My race car, tools, and guns will all go to my son.

 

[AmickRacing]

Right now I don't have much as far as a will goes, I'm only 32, but I need to get something lined up...

I don't have a family of my own, so no one would really be out that depends on me when/if I pass until that changes. Having said all that... I'd like to see my tools go to my nephews if they wanted them and could/would use them. If no one in my family wanted them, I'd honestly rather them be given to someone who would appreciate them and could use them, but might not be in a position to be able to afford the stuff.

I have only been collecting tools/parts/junk for a short time, I can't imagine all of the **** I'll have when I get to be an old fart! I'm glad it'll be someone elses problem when that happens lol

 

[ncfh]

Years ago a coworker died on his way into work because he fell asleep at the wheel from the exhaustion of working two full time jobs.

The family didn't know what to do with his tools, so they trusted another coworker, a friend of the family to remove them and store them until they decided what to do. Eventually they asked him sell them, he offered them $1k which they took for $15k of virtually brand new tools.

The worst part was few months later the shop hires a new painter, this guys son. And in wheels the box, and all the tools, right down to the the welding helmet.

I did not approve.

 

[Aberdale]

Once I'm dead, do I really care about something as trivial as the value of tools and how to liquidate them? Do I really care about much of anything? Probably a discussion for another thread, or another forum.

The best way to get a fair price is to have an auction. Advertise it well, sell it to the highest bidder. The highest bidder always sets the true value, and at the end of the afternoon, everything is gone. Simple.

 

[venturesomerite]

I have actually thought about it, though I'm still young, but hey, I can still get hit by a bus.


It's always good to have a plan.

 

[Mstrfxit12]

This thread really caught my interest. My neighbor died almost a year ago, he was in the middle of a divorce and all in all it wasnt a pretty situation. In the end his house sits abandoned next to me, his two vehicles are still sitting in the driveway, the house was mostly picked clean by family on his side, and i havent seen his ***** wife in much more than a year. He owed 13 months on the house when he died and my guess is that it will ultimately be destroyed because it currently has no power, we are in the Northeast, its cold and it has no heat, the water is still on to it at the curb.
In the end it has caused me to think about this topic alot. I have sufficient life insurance to cover any of my debt as well as the cost of dying. I have specific instructions to my family for my tools and two Harleys. As far as I'm concerned everything else is up for grabs.
What bums me out is I still havent done a will, power of atty., and healthcare proxy. I have set a goal though to have it all done by the end of March. Since I am divorced there isnt anyone that "by right" gets my stuff. This is something I really need to get done. While I do subscribe to the thought "why should I care I'll be dead" it still isnt fair to overly burden your family or whoever is left to deal with the mess it can cause.

 

[-->]

You know a friend of mine recently asked me to take care of his stuff so his wife would be setup in the event of his death. He's got alot of stuff to sell, maybe half of it is junk, the rest mid grade stuff with alot of power tools and heavy industrial stuff. I told him I dont know if I am comfortable with it it but I eventually agreed.

 

[Wastedwagesracing]

I have my dads tools, My son will have them all some day..Same holds true for the guns and electric trains.

 

[Davefr]

There should be room in the coffin for a few of my favorite tools. Maybe I can use them at the other end.

Let's see. I think I'll take these few with me:

Cornwell JR72 Ratchet
SO long pattern double box end wrenches
Mitutoyo digimatic
Klein long reach pliers
Tronex 711s

Of course a Shark prybar might also come in handy.

P.S. Getting hit by a bus is a definite possibility here in Portland.

 

[woody 73]

I am scared to death about this topic, I am on my hands and knees praying that my two boys will one day appreciate my tools; if not I told them to use the web for information about tool prices and go from there.

 

[TheGrooveking]

Great thread, my wife jokes that she'll have an auction for all of my stuff, which if gives fair value I'm cool with it, I wouldn't want her short changed. I have a few friends who would be interested in somethings, but for the most part it will be a major pain in the ***, that is why the idea of putting together a binder is a genius way of informing her(thanks Syndicate).

I have my father's tools, which I can remember when I was 10 years old working on my father's 72' Ford LTD and my father asked me if anything ever happened to him what did I want? I told him Dad all I would want is your guns and your tools, which I ultimately did get, and everytime I pick up one of them to use them I think of him, man do I miss him.

TheGrooveking

 

[cderalow]

since my wife and I are finally in the start of talking to estate lawyers, I've take the task of inventorying all of our stuff with original retail prices, pictures etc. figured it would help with our home owner's too.

 

[Gabastone]

I asked the wife what she would do with my tools if I died: "Give them to my next husband."

So, it looks like I am covered.

 

[wornoutoldman]

Exhaustive inventory with current pricing and useable part numbers will help net out the most cash if somebody is willing to spend the time to ebay or better yet list them here in the classifieds. My wife and kids know the value of my tools but would have no use for them so selling them off is the best option in my case. I do have a will, healthcare directive yadda yadda. Every day above ground is a good day!

 

[SpiderGearsMan]

sell it all now ..replace it with fabulous HF gems

 

[ratdoggy]

I told my wife there is a lot of money in the garage and basement as far as tools go. If she decided to sell to get an auction company in. If I died now with 3 kids,her and a mortgage; that she'd need money even after insurance.

 

[demographic]

He owed 13 months on the house when he died and my guess is that it will ultimately be destroyed because it currently has no power, we are in the Northeast, its cold and it has no heat, the water is still on to it at the curb.

Can you get to the tap to switch it off for them? Might save them a lot of money in the long run?

 

[Kev442]

The way my wife talks, all my tools and cars are going at liquidation prices and shes moving someplace warm. No big deal to me, I won't need them anymore.

 

[contactme_11]

This thread really caught my interest. My neighbor died almost a year ago, he was in the middle of a divorce and all in all it wasnt a pretty situation. In the end his house sits abandoned next to me, his two vehicles are still sitting in the driveway, the house was mostly picked clean by family on his side, and i havent seen his ***** wife in much more than a year. He owed 13 months on the house when he died and my guess is that it will ultimately be destroyed because it currently has no power, we are in the Northeast, its cold and it has no heat, the water is still on to it at the curb.

You don't live in agawam, do you?

 

[Robbie UK]

I've asked the Wife to make sure I am buried with a small selection of my tools. You know, small drill, saw, screwdriver and shovel - just in case.

Her response was that the coffin would be buried really deep - you know, just in case.

 

[Steevo]

I have advised my wife to engage a reputable auction company (we know several from prior business dealings), and let them appraise, bundle, and auction everything she doesn't want. I have tractors, shop equipment, tools, machines, etc. that she'd have no use for. The auction pros can drive the prices higher than any individual sales would, and can advertise to a broader audience and can handle both live and online auctions. The percentage she'll pay to them is less of a loss than what would happen with people individually negotiating her down on stuff she knows nothing about.

 

[gsport]

my wife will have one heck of a garage sale, i'm sure....

 

[porphyre]

Strange thread....

1) Make a will.
2) Get life insurance.

The will outlines all the tools you care about. Want your first son to get the Snap-on roller and the second to get the Mac box? put it in the will.

If you calculate your life insurance amount correctly, it doesn't matter if your survivors throw 100% of your "expensive tools and equipment" into the lake. They won't need the sale money, nor the headache of worrying about "getting fair value" for the sold stuff.

It's not like dying is a surprise. I've had a will and life insurance since I moved out from my folks.

 

[zjrog]

My son will have mine, meager as they are. Biggest question for him will be where to keep them.

 

[richfinn]

There should be room in the coffin for a few of my favorite tools. Maybe I can use them at the other end.

Let's see. I think I'll take these few with me:

Cornwell JR72 Ratchet
SO long pattern double box end wrenches
Mitutoyo digimatic
Klein long reach pliers
Tronex 711s

Of course a Shark prybar might also come in handy.

P.S. Getting hit by a bus is a definite possibility here in Portland.

Apparently when you get to heaven they only use Snap On and you get to work on your dream cars.

If you go to hell you get HF and have to fix Fords and GMs 15 hrs a day

 

[Octarine]

Apparently when you get to heaven they only use Snap On and you get to work on your dream cars.

If you go to hell you get HF and have to fix Fords and GMs 15 hrs a day

Nah, you don't get to fix anything in Hell, you just get one after the other of 6.0 driveability issues that can never be resolved.