It may come as a surprise for some readers to hear that, according to some research carried out by What Car? Vans that was published back in January 2020, only 58% of new vans were fitted as standard with a factory fitted alarm. Does that seem to be a low percentage to you? It is worth noting that 36.5% of new vans offered as an optional extra a factory fitted alarm.

This may be one of the reasons why almost 44,000 vans were stolen in the UK between 2016 and 2019 – a significant number. The worst area for van thefts was in London with over 14,000 vans being stolen. In addition around 117,000 vans were broken into in the UK with almost 45,000 vans broken into in London. Presumably some of those vans that were stolen or broken into did not have an alarm fitted so, if this were the case, how many would still have been stolen or broken into? Obviously, of course we will never know.

There will probably have been many tradespeople who had their vans broken into who had their tools, equipment and spare parts stolen with the value of them probably running into many millions of pounds. Not only could these items prove costly to replace for those who did not have suitable insurance cover in place but a tradesperson could also loose a lot of work until they are able to source a replacement van, tools, equipment and spare parts and therefore suffer a significant reduction in their income.

So, if your van is not fitted with a van, why not consider having one fitted plus consider investing in other security devices such as a steering wheel lock, a tracking device and an engine immobilizer. Apart from acting as a deterrent to a van thief, a potential benefit in having one or more of these security devices fitted is that you may get cheaper van insurance.