Does anyone have experience with a security safe onboard?

[AussieB]

I am looking at purchasing a v small security safe for our van for passports, backup cards, etc etc. Does anyone have experience with such a safe onboard? If you have, do you have advice on where and how to secure it to the van? Thanks in advance. I see some advertised for 34 pounds.

 

[andyman]

I have one of these, fitted in the space under the passenger seat.
Link Removed

Andy

 

[Henryhymer]

Have similar to andyman (but not telling you where it is!!) Useful size for passports etc and odds and ends. Obviously needs to be fixed in as firmly as possible. Guess it wouldn't stop someone who was really determined but probably better than nowt. Also atleast if stuff is in the safe I can remember where I put it!
Cheers

 

[Ralph-Dot]

I have one in the side locker, it was in the wardrobe but I had to move it forward when we started carrying a scooter on the back for weight issues, not that the safe was too heavy.

 

[hallii]

Just bolt it in with some spreader washers, try to find something metal if you can, if not you have to use what you have. Put the nuts inside the safe and put a lock nut on.

When you have it all nicely installed, use it to store your socks and pants.

Hide your valuables somewhere obscure (there are lots of good places).

The theory is that the thieves will spend ages trying to break into the safe, assuming that the valuables are in there. I would love to have a video of their face when they find my socks and pants! ( should it ever happen).

Hallii

^{_{Subscribers  do not see these advertisements}}

 

[dazzer]

Argos do them as well for less than £30.00

Link Removed

For that price i dont know why the manufacturers dont fit one as standard anyway

 

[Terry]

Argos do them as well for less than £30.00

Link Removed

For that price i dont know why the manufacturers dont fit one as standard anyway

something else to go wrong can you imagine a year down the line reading about the keys locked in the van safe with joe bloggs blaming the manufacturer
terry

 

[gazz]

i used to have one of those electronicaly opened safes in my van (not that secure really as the key operated overide lock was a very cheap key that could be picked by a 5 year old with a paperclip... infact i did just that when i lost the keys and the batteries went flat)

i put the safe in in a location where i could disguise it, bolted it through the floor with some flat steel bars to spread the load (if someone tried to rip it out) used coachbolts with the nut end inside the safe.

but i took it out a few years ago as it was taking up so much room, and i found i hardly used it anyway, it was easier for me to hide the passports and other valuables than use the safe.

and like others have said, if a thief sees a safe, they will try to get it, assuming there's something valuable inside.

in a motorhome there are so many hidey places, i built my motorhome so added a few more deliberate hidey places,

in my last van i had a couple of false cupboard bottoms, one of them was accessed from the cupboard below (so really a false cupboard top?)
that held my laptop (back when they cost a grand a go, nowadays i use a £250 laptop, and if it was stolen i'd half see it as a blessing, as i could replace it with a newer model.. at prolly a cheaper price)

i kept the passports seperate, so if a thief did find one, the other would hopefully be safe, same with money, i'd spread stashes about the van in different hidey holes.

if anything i wa more carefull about hiding the dogs passport and docs, as if my passport was nicked, it'd just be a case of getting a new one, but if the dogs went missing, she'd be in quarenteen for 6 months.

 

[vindiboy]

Most van break ins are opportunist jobs so if all your valuables are secure in a hidden safe you stand a good chance of retaining them, generally a theif wants to be in and out grabbing quickly what he/ she can so off course a safe is a safer bet.:thumb::thumb:

 

[Hymer]

You must also inform your insurance company, as there is a risk that they will cause a large amount of damage attempting to break into or rip out the safe !

Alan

^{_{Subscribers  do not see these advertisements}}

 

[Welsh girl]

You must also inform your insurance company, as there is a risk that they will cause a large amount of damage attempting to break into or rip out the safe !

Alan

tell them what??? that you are carrying your documents and such like in a safe and the whereabouts of the safe? surely not?
mine is in a secret place that is well hidden I wouldnt tell anyone where it is as someone said at least we could get back home but the poor dog would be locked up for 6 months aawwww

 

[Doddy999]

Have not used my MH yet, only had it a week fed up showing neighbours it, but
one caravanner told me he had a couple of zips sown into the matteress, they where hardly noticable, its where he kept his money & docs.

 

[vindiboy]

Have not used my MH yet, only had it a week fed up showing neighbours it, but
one caravanner told me he had a couple of zips sown into the matteress, they where hardly noticable, its where he kept his money & docs.

Well that's not secret anymore is it, do you not think that all the proffesional thieves have done their homework and know where the secret hiddy holes in our vans are, most probably go to Motorhome shows and seek out the secrets in the vans on display.

 

[gazz]

makes me glad my motorhome is a one off, no one can go anywhere and see another to get an idea of whats in it

but the thing is, there are millions of hidey places for flat objects like passports and money in a motorhome,
or you could be inventive and make something, like put in an extra plug socket of the same type used in the conversion, but dont wire it up, and behind it you have your hidey hole, hold it on with strong magnets and trim the screw heads off and glue them in so it looks normal.

or there's the baked beans tin safes,

inside light fittings and so on.

unless the thief has time to rip everyhting appart looking for something he dosent know is even there, he'll go for the easiest thing, maybe even leave some bait?? a few old currency foriegn notes, a few million lira or something, wrapped in a fiver with a laghy band round it, somewhere anyone would look, so he finds it and thinks he's rich so buggers off before looking for owt else.

RE: the insurance thing, it would take a 5 minute phone call to check with your insurers, you never know you may get a discount, but in the event of a claim at least it'll be on record you informed them of the modifcation you made to the vehicle,

i've had to make a claim in my motorhome, and trust me it's not a nice experiance, i had a month of them trying to find reasons not to pay out, even had that the sterio wasnt the factory origional!!! (i got out of that because i have the origional reciept for the van when it was bought from the dealer, and it was delivered without a radio)

 

[Spacerunner]

Halfords do a small safe to store satnavs in.
Its about the size of a thick paperback book.
I have one to keep all my original docs in. It is small enough to be easily installed in a hidden location.

^{_{Subscribers  do not see these advertisements}}

 

[rainbow chasers]

[ame]http://www.amazon.co.uk/Sat-SMD00479-Nav-Car-Safe/dp/B0012RNYY4[/ame]

our vehicles are fitted with ones similar to these - easy to hide away, yet big enough to store sat nav/cards, wallets, spare cash and RED KEY in!

(This is just incase you loose the keys and lock yourself out - recovery will get in for you, you at least can get a key cut and coded!)