Huge Vintage Guitar Collection Stolen

walrus

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At the very least, I hope he has them all insured...

walrus
 

GGJaguar

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The weird thing is that they identified the guy who actually broke in to the storage unit, but he is dead now. Makes me wonder if he was part of a bigger ring of thieves and he got whacked because, you know, dead men tell no tales.
 

awagner

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While I certainly have sympathy for the guy, and hope he recovers all of his guitars, I cannot understand why he would allow his insurance to lapse on a $2,000,000 collection.

Aside from reimbursing him for his loss, the insurance company would have most likely also provided significant resources to the recovery effort.
 
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dreadnut

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A standard old storage locker seems to me would not be a great place to store a collection like that. Then why would he let the insurance expire?
 

Guildedagain

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I had a storage unit broken into once, lost $10k in Snap-On Mac Proto tools. So glad I don't have one now.

Horrible story but at the end of the day it's just stuff.

In hindsight, this is not a good way to keep a collection.
 
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jp

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I had a storage unit broken into once, lost $10k in Snap-On Mac Proto tools. So glad I don't have one now.

Horrible story but at the end of the day it's just stuff.

In hindsight, this is not a good way to keep a collection.
My tools are the one thing that are sacred, and I would be pissed if they were stolen! Uggh!
 

Guildedagain

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My tools are the one thing that are sacred, and I would be pissed if they were stolen! Uggh!

That was only the top box that was pried open, the bottom held or it would have been $30k. I chose the storage over my home garage for the rollaway, between jobs, figured it was safer somehow, big mistake. No doubt was an inside job. Storage next to mine was full of old lady crafts and wasn't broken into.

I still have the same rollaway.

P1150758.JPG


That's a 1" drive ratchet on the amp. I used it this year, indispensable, but the amp was not and is gone now.

P1230134.jpg
 
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awagner

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Their liability may be limited by the terms of the storage contract itself. But there may also be consumer statutes that apply, depending on the State.

Civil claims for negligence may also be viable, and if it was an inside job, I suspect the company would definitely be liable.

A claim might also be filed with the storage facility's own insurance company.

Regardless, even if liability is established, you still have to prove what was actually in the storage unit at the time, and its value.
 

adorshki

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What liability, if any, do storage places bear for theft?
I'm sure it'd vary by "provider", but you got my curiosity up, and found this article for owners of those businesses which says:

"As a general rule, self-storage businesses are not accountable for items stored by tenants. Customers are responsible for providing their own insurance to cover the contents of rented space, and specialized customer-storage insurance programs are readily available to provide it.

However, the reality is not all tenants insure their goods. At some time, an incident may occur wherein your facility is accused of being liable for damage to or loss of a customer's property. Some tenants, particularly those lacking insurance, will insist on seeking financial damages from your business, whether or not you are truly responsible.

A key feature of customers' goods legal liability is defense against such allegations. Your insurer provides the protection you need from claims based on this type of exposure. As legal expenses rise and lawsuits become more common, it is not unusual for legal costs to exceed the amount of an actual claim. Self-storage businesses without customers' goods liability coverage may feel forced to pay damages for which they are not liable just to avoid the legal expenses that could be even more costly."

'At's about what I expected. :)
 

jp

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Uggh! One would think that all those matching headstock Jaguars and Jazzmasters would be sure to stick out where ever they go.
 

wileypickett

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Some of the stolen guitars have been found: $225K worth of guitars recovered

The owner was certainly pushing his luck by not keeping up his insurance payments, but I wish him luck getting his guitars back.

The knuckleheads in custody now will have plenty of incentive to spill the beans on who else was involved, which may lead to getting some or most of the collection returned.
 
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