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Originally Posted by CurlyDave  I checked into insurance and it is $250/year for a 14K machine through my insurance company which seems very high (I plan on shopping around more next week).
1. Theft of my tractor is covered by my homeowner's policy, if I park it on my own property. It is not covered off my property (there goes parking at your neighbor's). Check your homeowner's policy with your agent.
2. The ideas discussed will mostly cost a lot more than $250 and will be much less effective than an insurance policy.
3. My dealer recommended a locking fuel cap to prevent vandalism, and covering the machine with a tarp while I was gone. These will slow kids down, but won't do much against a determined adult. Park it in the deepest woods you have and cover it with a camo tarp. It won't disappear, but it won't stand out like a new tractor. The idea is to make it look like an old tractor from a distance.
My thinking is that the insurance is cheap compared to the tractor, and can not be defeated by a thief. Plus, if someone should happen to be injured stealing the tractor, any extraordinary steps you took to protect it could cause a legal liability -- insurance will not do this.
While the sea containers are a great idea, they start at $2000 around here and could be as high as $4000. Plus another $500-1000 to outfit it it the way you want. That buys a lot of insurance. |
These are excellent points. When I offered my parking boot suggestion I should have added that the boot was in addition to insurance. When I was a uniformed police officer I used to tell people all the time that the best thing they could do to deter theft, vandalism, etc. was to buy a good insurance policy. There is simply no way to 100% prevent theft or vandalism, it just isn't possible. My suggestion for the boot(s) was simply a cheap addition to the insurance policy to hopefully prevent having to use the policy and be without a tractor for any length of time. No advice given thus far, or that could be given would ever replace an insurance policy.