Our 6 Tips for Van Security
After experiencing numerous vehicle crimes living on the streets of London in our van, we thought it was time to talk about van security. So far we’ve had 9 attempted break ins, (perhaps even more that we weren’t in the van to witness), a graffiti’d van, two slashed tyres, a mob surround the van and car crashed into our parked vehicle.
We may seem unlucky and don’t get me wrong we’ve definitely not had a good time here, but ultimately none of the attempted thefts were successful and it made us realise a lot about opportunistic crime and made us aware of how much vehicle crime goes unreported. Last year over half of all vans stolen in the UK were stolen in London. Over the last 4 years up until 2019 there has been a 45% increase in van crime. I’m sure we will look back on 2020’s statistics next year and see further increases.
So based on these rising trends and our own personal experiences here are our 6 top tips for van security.
Install a GPS Tracker
The first purchase that I felt gave us real peace of mind was a tracker. For the week we were transitioning out of our apartment and into the van we came down every morning paranoid the van would be gone (Philly had a work van stolen from the same road). Once we installed our tracker we could obsessively check on the van no matter where we were.
What we were looking for in a van tracker:
We knew we wanted one that already had a SIM built in that wouldn’t need to be changed between countries or incur any roaming fees.
We didn’t want to pay an extortionate amount, didn’t need diagnostics or anything crazy, we just wanted to be able to see where our van was, get alerts if it was getting towed and get vibration alerts if anyone was trying to break in.
We wanted to be able to install & set it up easily ourselves, no install company needed.
We wanted one that had instant feedback and alerts at all times with capacity to log in on numerous devices.
Based on all of these we choose the “Rewire Security DB2 Tracker”. Be aware if you click on this affiliate link we will make a little money with no extra cost to yourself. We couldn't recommend this tracker enough, the interface on the app is really easy to use and gives us all information we want and more.
For £60 upfront cost and £60 per year to keep the tracker active, for us it’s a no brainer!!
Rewire Security DB2 Tracker: https://amzn.to/3lLjQxI
2. Get Extra Locks
We have seen quite a few vans with slam locks fitted and originally this was our plan, however, we quickly realised this was a bad idea with Keely on board. Slam locks are fitted on delivery vans etc. so that when the door shuts it automatically locks, so the risk of Keely getting locked out with the keys inside was too high. We knew we would go down the deadlock route and ultimately we opted for hook locks as they have added protection against crow bars etc. due to their design. After having a rental van crow barred open on us only a few months ago (thanks London) we are very grateful we opted for hook locks on our home.
We decided to pay to get them fitted professionally rather than self install, the only thing in our whole build we paid someone else to do and we are glad we did, it just wasn’t something we wanted to be faffing about with whilst living in the van, couldn’t risk doing it wrong and have an unsecured van. I think all in all for both locks and install it came to about £240 for sliding door and back door.
3. Always Use a Steering Lock
Mostly as a way of a visual deterrent, if someone is walking down London streets looking for a van to rob, hopefully they choose the one in front of us without a steering lock rather than ours with one. I know that steering wheel Disc locks are much harder to break into than the simple bar one we have but they cost over 4 times the price, definitely a good option if you aren’t cheap like us. Our goal was to make our van to look more awkward to try and steal, so bought a bright yellow one that flashes red. You just have to get into the habit of fitting it every time you leave the van, even to pop into the shops, thieves are very opportunistic, twice we’ve had people try to get in the van when I’ve left it not realising Philly was still in it, so £40 seems like a small price to pay to deter that.
Steering wheel lock: https://amzn.to/38XVnle
Steering Disc Lock: https://amzn.to/3mexARO
4. Ensure your cab windows aren’t easy to smash
We are planning to install security window films on the front window to make smash and grab type robberies a lot more difficult, but luckily for us our windows are already toughened to make window smashing difficult so it wasn’t necessary. However, if this wasn’t the case we would 100% install window film to make the windows much harder to smash, as we see a lot of broken glass on road sides so every second you can add to someones attempted break in is another second they have to realise its a bad idea. Ultimately people will be able to break through a window if they hit it hard enough and long enough, but the added time taken is hopefully enough to deter people.
5. Don’t park somewhere too secluded
Obviously if you are somewhere rural then go as secluded as you want, but if you are parking in an urban city that can be a bad idea. We have found that the more secluded the van is the more appealing it seems to criminals, less risk of people seeing and reporting them in dark streets and no houses around. For us personally parking in a well lit area with other vehicles around has been much safer feeling. Plus the more vehicles there are the less appealing ours might be comparative to those around us. If possible park with your back doors close to a wall or another car, if they are easily accessible you get more people trying them and hoping for an easy loot.
6. Don’t leave valuables out obviously in the van
If the worst does happen and someone gets into the van, make it a bit more difficult for them to get access to your valuables (a lot of people have safes which seems like a good idea) we either have our valuables out with us or hidden away somewhere difficult to find.
We find with a lot of security measures its about making it as awkward as possible and time consuming as possible for someone to rob you. Nothing is guaranteed, but don’t make it easy for a criminal.
Possible Future Additions:
In an ideal world we would also love to get CCTV cameras fitted for even further peace of mind, external ones so we could catch criminals in the act of other crimes like the graffiti and tyre slashing, but we haven’t found anything that’s the perfect set up for us yet. We don’t have a permanent WiFi setup in the van, or have power to run a whole system permanently. If people have any discrete CCTV recommendations feel free to let us know.
We also discuss adding deterrent stickers, perhaps claiming we have CCTV or stating no tools are stored in the van. I worry that stickers or very obvious looking CCTV installed would make people assume the van must have really good stuff worth stealing, when really it’s just our home. I also worry if they know there is a tracker and they are pro they will know how to disarm it. Perhaps I am just being paranoid, so would love people’s thoughts and opinions!
We hope you found some of our van security tips useful, let us know your top security vanlife tips!!