more stolen vans (1 Viewer)

[laneside]

Please, please, please share. My poor dad who has worked all his life to build up the family business has had his new place broken into last night and had 6 motor homes stolen! Absolutely gutted. Please share! Please inbox for details. Scumbags.

Apparently near Lytham St Annes lots on Facebook regarding this.

 

[laneside]

Sorry for the confusion but this was not my dad but someone on facebook and I thought Funsters should be aware of stolen bans around

 

[irnbru]

Surely the guy must have had insurance. Hope so anyway.

 

[nicholsong]

Surely the guy must have had insurance. Hope so anyway.

The insurance will probably ask to see the purchase price evidence and use that for their payout, so he will have lost any profit he would have made on their sale, which I doubt he could have got insurance for, as it would be difficult to quantify in event of a claim.

Maybe Peter at John's Cross could give his opinion.

Geoff

 

[cornish boy]

Were all six vans for retail or were some in for repair?
If they were on sale via commission, lets hope the owners had told their insurance company.

Sadly these incidents are reminders that you have to get 'down and dirty' and check out all the chassis number plates and the engine number with 'HPI type reports' as part of buying a second hand van.
Serial/chassis number plates are very well defined so if any numbers/letters look deformed, then there is a likelyhood it has been altered.

If we all spent time writing, etching and scratching the chassis number all around our vans, on windows, under beds, inside cupboard doors, on roof lights, side panels, inside lockers, wheel rims, etc, etc, etc, the harder we would make it for stollen vans to be quickly and easily sold to unsuspecting buyers which may just make them less of an attractive 'quick buck'.

Of course the manufacturers could also do a lot more during the manufacturing process but until customer demand forces them to do so, then they have no incentive to try and help protect our pride and joy!

 

[Hollyberry]

Poor chap must be gutted.
Neighbour's SIL has his big shiny motorhome on her drive and a couple of days ago I saw a man on her drive, facing the motorhome, tapping something into what I thought was a phone. ( I didn't have my specs on ) Alerted neighbour who accosted the man further down the street, reading gas meters ! But she has started parking her car across the front of the m/h.

 

[Jagtazman]

The insurance will probably ask to see the purchase price evidence and use that for their payout, so he will have lost any profit he would have made on their sale, which I doubt he could have got insurance for, as it would be difficult to quantify in event of a claim.

Maybe Peter at John's Cross could give his opinion.

Geoff

If he has decent insurance with business interruption cover he should be able to claim his loss of profits.

 

[John & Joan]

I can sympathise with the owner of Motorlands. I ran a storage business and was forced out of business by thefts. It isn't possible to insure property that you don't own. The result of these thefts was loss of confidence, even though we had a strong compound but it couldn't stand up to a vehicle transporter being driven through it, on one occasion, and a van with maximum security on it being stolen by being winched onto it despite it having wheel clamps and corner steady locks fitted. They left a similar van next to it without the security but a year older. These thefts are to order and scouts check for suitable vans.
One group were apprehended driving a Mercedes car which was registered to a caravan dealer down south I was informed by the Police. I was near Newcastle upon Tyne. They were also stealing from other compounds between York and Berwick. Taking them to Carlisle where a legit haulage firm was taking them to the Stranraer Ferry for Ireland. The ferry company was accepting a cross as a signature and listed the vans as blue and white caravan or similar, no makes or reg numbers.
On my last day in business a local garage was caught at 5am with a transporter and 3 cars loading the remaining vans.

 

[Badknee]

Sadly these incidents are reminders that you have to get 'down and dirty' and check out all the chassis number plates and the engine number with 'HPI type reports' as part of buying a second hand van.
Serial/chassis number plates are very well defined so if any numbers/letters look deformed, then there is a likelyhood it has been altered.

If we all spent time writing, etching and scratching the chassis number all around our vans, on windows, under beds, inside cupboard doors, on roof lights, side panels, inside lockers, wheel rims, etc, etc, etc, the harder we would make it for stollen vans to be quickly and easily sold to unsuspecting buyers which may just make them less of an attractive 'quick buck'.

Of course the manufacturers could also do a lot more during the manufacturing process but until customer demand forces them to do so, then they have no incentive to try and help protect our pride and joy!

There used to be kits for sale to etch the windows and even companies set up to do it but not seen them for ages.

 

[Sidney]

There used to be kits for sale to etch the windows and even companies set up to do it but not seen them for ages.

They do nothing other than give false sense of security. 2 minutes with a DA polisher and it's like they were never there

 

[cornish boy]

There used to be kits for sale to etch the windows and even companies set up to do it but not seen them for ages.

They do nothing other than give false sense of security. 2 minutes with a DA polisher and it's like they were never there

To be fair to the new generation DNA type products, it is impossible to remove all traces but they do need to be used in conjunction with complimentary products such as transponders or tags. The downside is buyers are still unable to check the product at the point of sale to ensure it isn't stolen.

I expect the reality is that motorhome and caravan thefts are just not statistically relevant in volume or value when compared to thefts of plant and agricultural prime movers and equipment and it is in those areas where the effort appears to be focused.