The Security Risks to RV Dealerships and How to Prevent Them

Between 2021 and 2026, the RV industry has an expected growth rate of 7%, making the market extremely lucrative for dealerships. However, this increase in popularity comes with its risks.

Criminals have seen an opportunity themselves to target this market as well, but at the detriment of dealerships.

Why Are RV Dealerships Targets for Criminals?

There are multiple reasons that make RV dealerships prime targets for criminals, but the simple answer is due to the visibility of stock, the high volume of it, and their valuable car parts.

Unfortunately, like with any dealership, you will have your RVs on display to allow customers to explore and visualise the various options. This supports the sales process, however, leaves you prone to security risks.

Criminals thrive off easy opportunities and RV dealerships are included in this. Having visible stock in an easily accessible location where there is rarely anyone occupant during the night is an ideal scenario for them. 

The Security Risks for RV Dealerships

Due to the vulnerabilities surrounding RV dealerships, there are several security risks you can be faced with:

Vehicle Component Theft

Although RVs may be difficult for criminals to drive and not the perfect target for direct vehicle theft, car components such as catalytic converters, batteries, and spare tires are not off-limits for them. 

In fact, it was found in 2022 that the US experienced more than 14,400 RV catalytic converter thefts each year. 

Catalytic converter theft has risen over recent years due to the valuable metals within them, driving criminals to target vehicles where these will be present. 

Compared to other vehicles, RVs often have more valuable car components and dealerships provide endless opportunities to complete multiple thefts at once. This reduces risks for them by removing the need for multiple trips and maximises profits for them.

Vandalism

Unfortunately vandalism does occur at RV dealerships, even on vehicles that are due to be collected the following day. Sometimes there may not be a reason for this except to cause damage and disturbance to your business. 

Vandalism can create large financial implications for your business, delay the delivery of the product to the customer, and cause reputational damage. 

Property Damage 

As much as RVs will often be the main target for criminals, your dealership’s property could also be at risk. 

Properties can hold valuable items such as HVAC units and these can also be enticing to thieves, therefore they may also target your property in addition to the RVs. 

Find out more about LotGuard's property management security solutions

Squatting or Unauthorized Sheltering

With homelessness figures at an all-time high in the US and many left without shelter due to the shortages, parking lots and dealerships can become shelters for them to be able to squat in.

For RV dealerships, there is the availability for individuals to have places to sleep and find a place of safety. However, for businesses this can lead to increased vehicle and property damage, as well as theft.

You may be surprised to know that if injury were to occur on-site, you can be held liable for this as you have a responsibility of care to ensure your dealership is safe for all individuals including intruders. Otherwise you could face legal repercussions and heavy financial consequences.

Steps to Prevent and Protect Your RV Dealership

RV dealerships rely on sales and attracting customers to their business, however, the consequences of poor security can lead to an increase in crime which can create revenue loss and reputational damage to your business.

Waiting until an incident occurs is not how you should approach security, as even one incident can cause a mountain of damage. It’s time to get ahead of criminals and take your steps towards prevention and protection.

Find out LotGuard’s 6 top tips to secure your RV dealership below:

Ensure You Have Valid Insurance on Your Dealership

There are various insurance types required by RV dealerships, all of which aim to protect your business and prevent you from any large financial implications that can be created.

The three main insurances you should have for your dealership are as follows:

• Liability Insurance - This protects RV dealers from any legal action from clients or third parties such as settlements, judgements, or any legal defense costs.
• DOL Coverage - This covers any physical damage for your vehicle inventory being held for sale including fire damage, theft, and vehicle damage. 
• Employment Practices Liability Insurance - This protects your business from any claims of wrongful termination, discrimination, or harassment.

Although, these are the main three insurances required, there are others to consider investing in also for further protection:

• Collision Coverage
• Underinsured Motorists
• Bodily Injury Liability
• Public Liability Insurance

Insurance is important to protect your business, particularly your finances. It may not directly prevent criminal activity or damage, however, without it you would not have protection from the consequences of them and this could severely damage your dealership.

Install a Surveillance System

One of the most effective methods of prevention for RV dealerships is to install a surveillance system that provides full coverage of your property’s site. 

However, as much as there are multiple benefits of having a surveillance system fitted, you also need to consider the support it provides. 

RV dealerships have specific needs and security risks, therefore your surveillance system must be able to directly tackle these to ensure maximized prevention.

By utilizing a LotGuard security solution such as the LotGuard PRO Surveillance Trailer, there are multiple features that help to support parking lot and dealership security:

• Integrated blue lights, sirens, and audio voice down for maximum visual deterrence
• Complete power autonomy and wireless connectivity
• Holds up to 4 pole cameras or secondary cameras that can be fitted with LPR, thermal, or multi sensor
• Rapid deployment (Can be installed in 20-minutes)
• Remote monitoring capabilities
• Portable design 
• Proactive response to threats and the recognising false alarms

In addition to the above, the LotGuard PRO tends to be more cost-effective than other solutions due to the multiple features that are included within one solution. Normally, you would need to reach out to various suppliers to have all the LotGuard listed features which can become costly.

Utilize an License Plate Recognition Solution

As mentioned, surveillance cameras like with our LotGuard products can have License Plate Recognition (LPR) connected to them. This type of technology uses image processing to identify vehicles by their license plate.

This may not directly prevent crimes, however, where intrusion or damage has taken place with another vehicle involved, an LPR solution can help to track down the vehicle and registered owner. 

From here, you would be able to support any legal proceedings or insurance claims if required for the incident.

Access Control

Access control can be difficult to manage with parking lots and RV dealerships as you still need to maintain easy access for customers. This reduces the amount of restriction that can be put in place. 

However, there are still steps that can help reduce access like placing perimeter fencing around the site and reducing the access points or implementing a surveillance system that can monitor the full property and parking lot.

With the LotGuard PRO Surveillance Trailers, you are provided with near 360-degree view to ensure complete protection of your RV dealership and has monitoring centre support that helps to identify threats effectively. 

Find Out More on How we Supported Lithia Motors

Create a Crime Deterrent On-Site

Creating a crime deterrent on your dealership can help to prevent various RV crimes. The aim is to place fear onto the intruders and criminals in order to prevent them from committing any crime.

Surveillance cameras, perimeter fencing, and security guards are normally the most common way of providing this, however, surveillance cameras tend to be the best option, especially with LotGuard.

We designed our Surveillance Trailers to stand up to 20 ft tall to show intruders that security is present and in action. This bold presence should both help with crime deterrence whilst monitoring and capturing any threats that enter your dealership’s site. 

Implement Remote Monitoring onto Your Surveillance System

Having a surveillance system in any instance will often work to benefit your security, however, to ensure full protection and management of this, upgrading to a solution where remote monitoring is enabled is more beneficial for your business.

With LotGuard’s products, the remote monitoring feature allows you to be as hands-on or hands-free as you wish to be. 

You can live monitor your dealership yourself from any device wherever you are, or leave the monitoring to our advanced technology and monitoring center who will work to identify movement and assess threats.

Essentially it provides a proactive service that can both prevent crime or call out the correct support if active crime is taking place there. 

LotGuard: Trusted Parking Lot Surveillance Systems for Dealerships

Trust is easy to lose but hard to gain back, and with stock and sales central to your business you cannot afford to lose the trust of any of your existing and potential customers through poor security.

RV dealerships face unique challenges and although the market is lucrative, the only way for it to remain like this and upkeep your success is by being proactive with your protection. 

Placing your trust in a third-party supplier to uphold these standards can be impossible, however, with our years of knowledge and expertise, you can trust your security with LotGuard.

Find out more about how we can support your dealership’s security by speaking to one of our experts today!

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