How to beat the vehicle thieves

How to beat the vehicle thieves: Does it stand out?

Understanding the characteristics of auto theft, there are four main reasons why a thief would take your vehicle

1) Joyriding.

2) For “Chop Shops”.

3) For export abroad.

4) As a means for getting the thief home.

With millions of vehicles to choose from, thieves usually opt for the “easiest vehicle to steal” in the area. For a thief, the easiest vehicle to steal is one that suits their purpose, one that can be entered and started quickly, and one that can be moved from place to place undetected. Read below the best practices to perform to secure your vehicle and prevent theft.

The top 7 ways to protect your vehicle and the equipment used to stop them:

1. Never leave the engine running. Especially on cold mornings when owners leave their vehicle to help warm it up. Thieves will commonly target supermarkets, petrol stations, fast food restaurants and cash machines, even if you are “gone for a minute.”

2. Do not leave important documents on display. Bank statements, credit card bills, mobile phones and money on display make the vehicle an attractive proposition. Personal information on display will also help the thief steal your identity and access your accounts.

3. Put away that Sat-Nav. Satellite Navigation devices on display give thieves another opportunity to just break in and steal. Make sure you especially lock the sat nav with a special code, making sure they don’t have access to your home or work addresses.

4. Avoid parking in unattended areas. Park in well-lit attended areas close to other vehicles and pedestrians. If parking in daylight, consider how it might look in the dark.

5. Always use the handbrake when parking. It does sound silly, but it will make your vehicle much harder to tow away.

6. Park your vehicle correctly. Turn the wheels towards the curb, especially in driveways and car parks. This makes your vehicle extra difficult to be towed away.

7. Use a garage. Nearly 50% of vehicle crime (Source: Road Driver: www.roaddriver.co.uk ) occurs right outside the house. By locking the vehicle away in a garage or lockup will greatly improve the chances of deterring the thieves.

Protect your vehicle the right way with Vehicle Accessories:

Use Deadlocks/Slamlocks. Designed to protect the vulnerable areas around the door locks. Thatcham accredited and insurance approved, these commercial van locks are very durable and can withstand heavy physical attack. For more information go to https://www.vehicle-accessories.net/Lock-Security

Upgrade your alarm. Get Vehicle Accessories to install your Thatcham approved alarms and pin coded anti-hot wire immobilisers. Don’t forget to place stickers in the windows to tell people you have the alarms installed. For more information go to https://www.vehicle-accessories.net/Alarms-and-Immobilisers

Beware of catalytic converter theft. If you run a car you need to be aware of the risk of catalytic converter theft, particularly if your car has large ground clearance. Thieves are targeting catalysts – located in the exhaust system under the vehicle – because of the high value of the precious metals they contain. Get Vehicle Accessories to install cost-effective catalytic security that will protect you from the most severe theft attacks. For more information go to https://www.vehicle-accessories.net/Catalytic-Security

Protect your tools. Protect your belongings with our selection of Tuff Boxes, Van Vaults or Armourgard to store inside the vehicle or for keeping outside full time. If a thief does get into the van, then a van box can still keep the tools safe. These are essentially high steel safes with anti-drill locks. For more information go to https://www.vehicle-accessories.net/Tuffboxes

Vehicle Accessories also provide a mobile fitting service direct to your door throughout the UK, or alternatively why not get it fitted at our Bristol installation centre.

For more information contact our sales team on 0333 200 7244 or email sales@vehicle-accessories.net

https://www.vehicle-accessories.net/

Paul Randall

2024-03-14

First Class! Dave and the team are fantastic. The fit on our first Mobile Bike Service and Repair Van could not be any better. From the very beginning, through the design process, all the way to completion I cannot fault a single thing. As I write this, our second van is being fitted to exactly the same specification and the third van is on the way. Long may this partnership continue!

Tim Lees

2024-02-20

Very helpful and patient with an older guy who was a bit nervous ordering from a company I didn't know. The product I wanted wasn't on their website but I thought it worth asking and they had it at a good price. It came the next day and worked perfectly.

Richard Shepherd

2024-01-17

I highly recommend Lee, Dave and the Team at Vehicle Accessories after they did a fantastic job for a one off bespoke van fit for my business. I approached them with a rather radical high concept idea, Dave did a great job taking notes from my extensive brief. He made a great effort to listen and take notes along the way making sure he understood and made suggestions for materials which really led to a much better end product. A particular highlight was a suggestion for them to fabricate a wall mounted Steal Mesh cage system for my equipment which far exceeded my expectations of quality and engineering. During the planning stage and construction suggestions were made to change materials and systems for what they thought would work better for the project as it developed. The end product was perfect and done to a very high standard, it really turned out better than I ever hoped for. Communication throughout was excellent with regular updates, fast responses and easy dialogue when confirming details or discussing changes. Changes were managed quickly and efficiently throughout the build with a great deal of flexibility and professionalism. Even though I was just having just one bespoke build being done for myself I felt highly valued as a customer and treated with the same level of respect and attentiveness as someone ordering a fleet. The quality of work and customer service will certainly mean I’ll be coming back for my next van project.

Philip Taylor Ashby

2023-12-26

Lee and his helpful staff sorted my lock problem that made it easy to break in or steal and at there Christmas closing time🙏, friendly helpful and reasonable thank you all.

Mark Elliott

2023-05-23

Great choice of equipment to fit and all done efficiently. They have designed and fitted racking to 75 vehicle for us in the last year.

Ross Thomson

2023-05-20

I can’t recommend Lee and his team of wizards enough. They fitted the gas with all the safety requirements and modified / adapted several parts of the electrics. They went above and beyond my expectations - I won’t hesitate to use them again.

Andrew Young

2023-04-13

What can say.... the order process was simple, prices competitive and when it was realised that I had ordered 2 incompatible parts I got a call to check and recify the order. Collection was easy and the install team did a quick, neat job. Job done....until next time thank you

Annie Meadows

2023-02-28

Dave, Lee and the team at VA moved crates from my old van to a new one. Easy to communicate with, quick turn around, met all my requests, made good suggestions (such as putting in a waterproof floor) and did an excellent job. Highly recommend.

miles leech

2022-12-22

Big thanks to Dave and the rest of the Vehicle Accessories team. They've done a great job fitting security locks and a floor in my new van. They also moved over my racking and interior lights from my previous van while going out of there way to make it all fit. Excellent service, very efficient and professional. Highly recommended and nice people to deal with. Thanks Miles Ashton Gas