Thousands of stolen tools are being auctioned off in Howard County

Howard County Police 18,600 stolen construction tools recovered became involved in a large-scale theft scheme this year. Many of them will be sold at auction this weekend.

So grab your wallet and your warmest coat, and make sure you do your research on which tools you want to get your hands on at Saturday’s auction.

Associated Auctioneers & Appraisers will host the auction at West Friendship Park to help the county liquidate the tools, owner Roy Gregory said. The auction will feature more than 10,000 brand new and gently used construction tools – and this is just the first auction of possibly several, he said.

Gregory expects to sell at least 10,000 lots this weekend — meaning one item or multiple items, depending on how they will be auctioned — and said the second auction will include the same number.

When and where is the auction?

The auction will take place at 12985 Frederick Road in West Friendship. It starts at 9am

There will be a preview day on Friday from 10 a.m. to 4 p.m. at the same location where the auction takes place, where people can view the items and scout out what they want to buy.

What can you expect when you visit an auction for the first time?

Gregory said he thinks at least a thousand people will show up at the auction, but he won’t know until it happens.

“We’re selling something that every man wants,” he said. “There are a lot of brand new items, and these items are very expensive, so they only come out to get a deal.”

Everything in sales is pretty simple, Gregory said. But it’s important to try not to get caught up in the desire to win, which he says happens in the auction world.

That “winning” mentality can lead to people overpaying for items, “which we as auction companies love,” he said.

But Gregory’s No. 1 tip for a first-time buyer? Knowledge is king.

“Do your homework and know what you’re buying,” he said.

How long does the auction last?

Hopefully the auction will end within eight hours, Gregory said, adding that he thinks people will get tired around 5 p.m.

Typical auctions last less than eight hours, but this is an extreme circumstance, he said. There will be one auctioneer present at a time all day. This is different from other auctions where multiple auctioneers sell items simultaneously at different locations within the auction.

“We’re going to have four auctioneers, so we’re going to give everyone a taste of the auctioneers in the state of Maryland,” Gregory said. “We bring one up for an hour, he comes down, another goes up for an hour, and he comes down. So we make sure the audience gets a break from one person’s voice and keep everyone fresh so it keeps moving at a good pace.

Everything will be sold in lots, he said, meaning all the same items will be grouped together, or they could be one individual item.

For example, all brand new chainsaws can be sold in a lot, but an individual can buy only one from the lot or the entire lot. The older chainsaws that may have some damage are in a different lot.

What types of resources are available?

Some of the tools up for grabs include drills of all kinds – such as hammer drills and impact drills – flashlights, levels, air compressors and air purifiers, staple guns, tool bags, saws and chainsaws, paint sprayers and welding equipment. supplies.

Many of the items are brand new and still in the box. Other items have been used but are like brand new, so things aren’t in bad shape, Gregory said.

Money from the tools sold at the auction will be used to cover the county’s costs for leasing the warehouse space and to pay for overtime to move and inventory all the items, said Lori Boone, a public information officer at the police. Any remaining money would likely go to the county’s general fund, but that will be determined at that time.

How did these tools end up at auction?

In late January, county police began recovering the construction tools after a tracking device in a stolen tool led police to a storage unit in Elkridge.

Since then, police public information officer Seth Hoffman said police have conducted searches of 12 storage units, 11 of which are in Howard County.

While many of the stolen tools are being returned to 155 victims, thousands remain unclaimed and will be auctioned on Saturday.

Police initially allowed people who believed they might have been victims of this theft to fill out an online form to get their tools back, but that window has now closed. The remaining tools cannot be claimed outside the upcoming auction, Hoffman said.

When is the next auction?

Possibly in mid-December, but that has yet to be determined. Due to the large number of items, Gregory says his company has been sorting through the tools for about two weeks and is still doing so.

He said the challenge is trying to present the items in a way that makes people want to buy them.

The items that don’t sell in the first auction, and those that never had a chance to be auctioned, will get a chance at future auctions, Gregory said.