| Author | Message | ||
     Omar M. Shams Grand Master Username: omar Post Number: 2011 Registered: 04-2009 |
I have a shed load of parts in my garage for lots of cars and bikes that are worth a fortune. My family have no idea what that stuff is worth but if i put them all up on ebay over a period of a year I would get tens of thousands of dollars. So when we die - all the stuff in our garages go where? what about all our tools? who gets those? and will they appreciate Snap-on compared to run of the mill crap? If we had a good postal system where I live, I would start selling some of the parts on ebay. But sadly our postal system does not make this plan feasible. I went onto the roof of the garage the other day. There I found the entire front suspension of a Turbo R, 2 steering racks (shadow and Turbo R) a shed load of VW parts and all manner of things. I bet all of that will get thrown into a big skip when I am gone. | ||
| Jeff Young Frequent User Username: jeyjey Post Number: 430 Registered: 10-2010 |
About 25 years ago my neighbour died and his wife Georgia gave me all his tools. The son-in-law was evidently incensed, but Georgia said Jim would have wanted them to go to someone who would appreciate them. No Snap-on, but they were all from the 1950s when there wasn't a lot of rubbish around in the States. | ||
| David Gore Moderator Username: david_gore Post Number: 3691 Registered: 04-2003 |
Omar, Give them away BEFORE you pass on and get the pleasure of seeing both the appreciation of the recipients and having the knowledge they are appreciated.  | ||
| Graham Phillips Frequent User Username: playtime Post Number: 268 Registered: 03-2019 |
G'dday everyone,..... I remember reading a long time ago (and its why I will always remember it) about a mother who's son passed away. The son had been collecting tools and parts for this car and some machinery he had, to most it looked like junk and he was thought of as a bit acentric. So his mother not knowing what he had got all his stuff collected by a recycler/scrap yard. His mother was paid for the scrap metal. Turns out it was all valued at around 3 million dollars! This is why I would list what you have and note where it is and approximate value. This list should be with your will for your executor. Graham. | ||
| Omar M. Shams Grand Master Username: omar Post Number: 2015 Registered: 04-2009 |
Dear David, Sound advice from you as always. I think i will have to do exactly that. I am in my late 50s now - so I may wait a few years before i give it all away. Thanks Omar | ||
| David Hughes Experienced User Username: wedcar Post Number: 110 Registered: 07-2004 |
Omar Good to see you are at least thinking of what will happen. At present we have 4 Classic cars, others now sold (with parts for just about all of them). For the past couple of years I have been sorting through the parts, labeling the ones to keep with approximate value, placing some on ebay with low starting prices, (DHL and UPS will deliver, costs go to buyers), donating some parts to other owners, contacting car clubs and placing ads in their club journals. This was prompted when a friend, with large amount of parts became ill and had to vacate premises, we did what we could to assist however, as you say, most of the parts when to scrap. At least now my pile is getting smaller. By the way, The Henry Royce Foundation would welcome any donations. Just a few thoughts. Regards David | ||
| Trevor Hodgekinson Experienced User Username: wm20 Post Number: 172 Registered: 11-2006 |
Graham & David have it right. Either give it all away before you die or bequethe it to people who might value it. A few years back one of my business partners & I were having a breather after taking 2 van loads of stuff up to a photo studio. A young man strode up & asked if we owned the vans and if we could do a big moving job right now . It had to be finished before 6 am on the following ( thursday ) morning. So we went along to have a look. It was a double garage plus a large under house storage area chockes full of wood turning gear and racks of wood, including 3 hans made wood lathes. There were about a dozen hand made carved wooden cupboards full of hand made wood turning tools plus a small forge . Each & every piece a work of art. We asked him if he really wanted all this sent to the tip & he was ardent it was all gone so the @#$%!** demolishers could pull the house & sheds down on Thursday because the turf was coming Friday so the site could be auctioned on Saturday as a vacant block because the estate agent told the grandkids that pops property would be worth double if it was a vacant block with water views. When asked if he wanted any of these pieces to remember grandad with & we got a pile of abuse about the old *!@%#$! hanging on for too long and spending all of his time down in the shed. So we threw in an absurd price, cash only in advance including overnight storage fees & tip charges . The kid started peeling off a pile of $ 100 bills. We shifted everything to my place from where we found new homes for everything. The cabinets yielded over $ 1000 a piece from an interiour designer, the tool all went to a local wood turning group and the timber got valued at $ 250,000 by a timber restoration company so they got all of it. So it just goes to show, that our passions might not necessarily be passed down through the generations . Right now there is a massive liquidation of motorcycles & cars from a collection of a deceased legal person and two of my club members are selling the contents of members garages on behalf of the widdows of our deceased members. But unless there is a trusted person to liquidate , or a club to pass it on to most of this stuff becomes scrap metal. BAck in the 70's , 80's & 90's I went regularly to VMCCof A auction nights where the contents of members garages were sold off. | ||
| ross kowalski Prolific User Username: cdfpw Post Number: 1391 Registered: 11-2015 |
Trevor, all to common a story but it's hard to blame the kids. In those situations sometimes there is a week to deal with 100 things and if 15 higher priority items can get done, well ... Sometimes command decisions need to be made. The fellow in your story speaking with distain about the wood working tools clearly had different priorities. I once left the worlds best surface planer to the scrappers. I had three days to pull whatever I wanted from a shop I used to work at, and that planer would have to have gotten broken down into 5 300+ lb pieces then loaded onto the trailer. I'm guessing half a day's work. It didn't make the cut. Omar, I have heard friends say "I've got to start ebaying this stuff". What happens is ebay is a pain and takes time and they have better things to do so it never gets sold. I recall their words as I am throwing a couple hundred dollar piece of metal into a scrap bin at their estate sale. Maybe I should keep it, then five years later I can say " I should start ebaying this stuff", then eventually someone else can throw it in the scrap bin at my estate sale. Good luck. | ||
| Omar M. Shams Grand Master Username: omar Post Number: 2016 Registered: 04-2009 |
Great feedback and some fantastic stories. I will have to start giving stuff away and selling stuff too. I will start when I am 64 I think. | ||
| Patrick Lockyer. Grand Master Username: pat_lockyer Post Number: 2305 Registered: 09-2004 |
Here in the UK classic cars are inheritance tax free. Buy more to save tax and bequeath it to who ever not forgetting the NHS. | ||
| Benoit Leus Frequent User Username: benoitleus Post Number: 412 Registered: 06-2009 |
I have the same problem : when I was younger I collected 1000's of car brochures and still have them all. There are plenty of really rare brochures and the collection is worth a few quid. I have been telling my wife and children not to throw them away after I'm gone, but they think I'm mad in believing anyone would want to exchange money for some old paper. | ||
| Patrick Lockyer. Grand Master Username: pat_lockyer Post Number: 2308 Registered: 09-2004 |
Benoit, your not the only one collecting brochures. I have collected vehicle instruction books from my early days of a weekend job of collecting salvage cars for a breaker. I shall probably donate them to the local motor museum. As for brochures the first one I had was delivered to school with the salesman together with a new Messerschmitt, oh dear I only applied for a brochure not a new car, caused a lot of attention at the time. | ||
| Brian Vogel Grand Master Username: guyslp Post Number: 3040 Registered: 06-2009 |
There are, at least here in the USA, folks who "eBay for you" as a business. Of course, like all regular auctioneers, they take a cut. However, better that than having stuff pushed into a dumpster, and that does happen. If you leave your heirs a building full of stuff they know nothing about, you can be sure an awful lot of it will end up scrapped. If you know you own something, anything, that is of value, that no one (including yourself) wants or will want within your personal circle, then take the time to get it to someone who can sell it for you if you can't or don't want to sell it yourself. After what I went through after my partner's father died (and that, indirectly compared to him and his sister) I can completely understand why heirs curse those who "dump all their junk" (a great deal of which is just that) on them to deal with. Brian, who full well intends to be down to the barest of minimums by the time I leave this earth (unless I leave it quite unexpectedly) | ||
| David Hughes Experienced User Username: wedcar Post Number: 111 Registered: 07-2004 |
Omar Ironically, this was recently posted on the RROCA NSW facebook page  | ||
| Omar M. Shams Grand Master Username: omar Post Number: 2018 Registered: 04-2009 |
Dear All, This has been an enlightening thread for me. For me, the penny dropped with the last line of Brian's post. To leave the world unexpectedly is arguably the best way to go. The price tag for such a peaceful and quick exit is the loss of the contents of the garage (and all the brochures that I have also collected over a lifetime). Now if that is the price to pay for a swift exit and not a prolonged bedridden goodbye... then let me say I am happy to pay that price. | ||
| Patrick Lockyer. Grand Master Username: pat_lockyer Post Number: 2309 Registered: 09-2004 |
"To leave the world unexpectedly is arguably the best way to go" Not for the family etc though. | ||
| Omar M. Shams Grand Master Username: omar Post Number: 2019 Registered: 04-2009 |
Trust me Patrick. I have seen both types of exit. The pain is the same but one is spread out over a period of years in mild doses whereas the other is one short sharp shock and people move on as early as a year later. The overall pain is the same either way. Those left behind will be sad regardless of how one goes. | ||
| Trevor Hodgekinson Experienced User Username: wm20 Post Number: 173 Registered: 11-2006 |
I have the same problem : when I was younger I collected 1000's of car brochures and still have them all. There are plenty of really rare brochures and the collection is worth a few quid. I have been telling my wife and children not to throw them away after I'm gone, but they think I'm mad in believing anyone would want to exchange money for some old paper. Funny you should post that A friends father died nd he friend was liquidating his estate Dad had been a hermit & had gone back totally to horse drawn equipment which he though would bring in a lot of money...... it didn't I went up there to give a hand & found him burning 100 year old newspapers and convinced him not to do this & bring them home. That was 25 years ago & he is still living off selling the papers or adds from these papers. He actually have made more than the old farm equipment & the land especially as the rest of the family did not want to know about it. Originally there were 4 garages full of stuff and now he is down to a 6 x 10 shed full and only deals through a select group of collectors} | ||
| Mark Luft Frequent User Username: bentleyman1993 Post Number: 311 Registered: 10-2016 |
In the late 70's I helped a friend and his dad empty out his dads salvage yard. Henry Sr (dad) had cataracts from the early 1960's until late 1977. he had essentially been blind and had shut the salvage yard down during that time. The yard had operated from the 1940's and had (to me) a treasure trove of old cars, trucks, and, NOS parts. Almost ALL OF IT WENT TO SCRAP. We had a mound of straight eight engines 30 feet tall. Pontiacs, Packards, even a peerless, all went to the scrapper. When I mentioned to Sr about selling these cars/parts I was told we had no time. So we scrapped everything and cleared the land to make way for a bypass and a shopping center. It was incredibly sad for me. He had an old transit bus that was filled with NOS parts including a complete Ardun OHV conversion kit for a Flathead ford. That would be worth a fortune today. Oh well, hindsight is 20/20 I guess. | ||
| ross kowalski Prolific User Username: cdfpw Post Number: 1394 Registered: 11-2015 |
Omar, summary, it all ends up in the bin. | ||
| Patrick Ryan Grand Master Username: patrick_r Post Number: 2258 Registered: 04-2016 |
Great thought provoking post Omar. I don’t have many parts as such, but I have a lot of tools. So over the last few years, I have transferred a lot of these and set up my 29 year old sons garage to a pretty good working place. He even has some of my dads tools I kept when dad passed away. He’s a pretty keen guy, and uses the tools quite often with his group of mates that work on anything from mowers, and chain saws to trucks in their spare time. Of course I get called around to sort a problem or advise on this and that, but I can walk away and leave them to clean up the mess  Also, his beer fridge is always full, so this helps | ||
| Richard Gray New User Username: mooney1el Post Number: 9 Registered: 08-2016 |
Several years ago, after my wife passed away, I went to my lawyer to revise our will. Being an engineer, I went in with most everything in prioritized order. One of my first statements was that I wanted to make things as easy for my Personal Representative as possible (PR, used to be called executor). The lead lawyer put everything into perspective quite succinctly: "You don't care, Richard, you're dead". I will not forget that....This lawyer is currently running for a judge position. Think I should vote for her? | ||
| Larry Kavanagh Frequent User Username: shadow_11 Post Number: 626 Registered: 05-2016 |
In my opinion Richard, that lawyer is a realist who gave you practical advice. Many people value stuff that their beneficiaries would have little interest in. Then again, the more complicated a will is the more opportunity for a lawyer to profit from handling affairs. | ||
| Larry Kavanagh Frequent User Username: shadow_11 Post Number: 627 Registered: 05-2016 |
I would be most interested in hearing the learned legal opinion of our esteemed member Vladimir on the pros & cons of making or not making wills and on the necessity or lack of same with regard to detailing a schedule of assets and a valuation of same for the benefit of the beneficiaries. It might be worth noting that the tax collector's interest could be aroused at probate stage should the testator identify items of significant worth which might otherwise be regarded as incidental chattels of little intrinsic value. There's a possibility that a beneficiary might be liable for inheritance tax if such items were to be itemised and appropriately valued. Vladimir would no doubt know the appropriate legal advice to give a prospective testator in such circumstances. | ||
| Patrick Ryan Grand Master Username: patrick_r Post Number: 2259 Registered: 04-2016 |
Larry, How would Vlad possibly put a value on a Russian gun ship in mint condition, but in about 70 crates stored in his lair at Mt Coolon? | ||
| Omar M. Shams Grand Master Username: omar Post Number: 2024 Registered: 04-2009 |
We are all looking forward to Mr Kirillov's response to the above. Great question Larry. | ||
| Patrick Ryan Grand Master Username: patrick_r Post Number: 2260 Registered: 04-2016 |
Ohhhhhhhhhh Yeaaaaaahhh | ||
| felipe heuser Experienced User Username: felipe Post Number: 105 Registered: 07-2017 |
A few years ago decided to make a list of owned valuables including family inheritances and turned out spending well over a year cataloguing a complete inventory of every single item of furniture, paintings, china, silver, car parts & literature, my complete library, plus the wine cellar, etc. Admittedly this requires time and patients, however a most interesting journey, especially with the convenience of internet helping analyse every item from either hallmarks or periods, or else dedicated researching until a similar item is found to compare… in some cases surprising results of considerable history and value… All has since been documented and archived identifying in which room, garage or shed assets are located with individual descriptions plus images which also later went onto a personal webpage I created not only for possible sales but a complete inventory for the beneficiaries when the time arrives, taking the exertion away trying to sort it all out. Inheritance tax is assessed differently in each country and in some quite unfairly, however with the correct legal advice one may get round it, especially with personal assets in comparison to free hold land and buildings… | ||
| Omar M. Shams Grand Master Username: omar Post Number: 2028 Registered: 04-2009 |
Wow Felipe - Now that is a "top of the class" way of doing things. In fact the lockdown was why I asked the question in the first place. Because we actually have the time to do stuff like this now. And perhaps more of us should follow Felipe's example to help those who get our junk to know the good from the bad and the ugly. | ||
| Benoit Leus Frequent User Username: benoitleus Post Number: 416 Registered: 06-2009 |
Felipe, that is an excellent idea. And my children can forget to "share" that list with the taxman  | ||
| ross kowalski Prolific User Username: cdfpw Post Number: 1400 Registered: 11-2015 |
Benoit Omar, Have you considered scanning the brochures? Sharing those to the world would be be an epic gift to generations to come. Also, Passing tax free wealth to your progeny through cataloged piles of auto parts and tools would work but do know that there are easier ways of accomplishing that. Ask your financial planner and I suspect they will vouch for this. | ||
| Omar M. Shams Grand Master Username: omar Post Number: 2030 Registered: 04-2009 |
I happen to be very blessed to live in a country that does not tax you when you die. Our wealth is passed onto the next generation in a structured manner and everyone knows in advance what the proportions are of wealth distribution. It works really well. | ||
| Benoit Leus Frequent User Username: benoitleus Post Number: 417 Registered: 06-2009 |
Omar, you are Lucky. My wife and children would pay the maximum rate of 27%, anyone else would have to pay 55%. We know, because we had to pay that when my wife inherited from her uncle. What was a rather nice inheritance was reduced to less than half that. | ||
| David Gore Moderator Username: david_gore Post Number: 3701 Registered: 04-2003 |
Death duties were abolished here many years ago when the Queensland State Premier Jo ["Don't you worry about that"] Bjelke-Petersen saw an opportunity to attract wealthy retirees to bring their money and assets to Queensland. Avoiding the previous onerous State death duties were a major concern of family elders and there had been a lot of tax avoidance associated with finding ways of hiding or minimising the value of assets subject to death duties. Jo didn't achieve the outcome he expected as the other States quickly implemented a similar exemption and later imposed other less easier to avoid fees and charges to maintain revenue. |
