Motor Home security (extra)
Hi it seems like a repeating story but after 16 years of caravanning we took the plunge and bought a Bailey Autograph motor home. The dealer has fitted a tracker as most insurance companies seem to require it before you get a reasonable quote. Has anyone any thought's / experience's regarding further security :- Wheel clamps etc. Do the work?
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I don’t think there’s a definitive answer to the ‘do they work’ question other than ‘yes and no’. Any security device can be overcome with enough determination and the right equipment. Most will slow a determined thief down, some will be deterred by the effort involved, but none guarantee it won’t happen to you. I subscribe to the view that a tracker will give you a fair chance of recovering your vehicle with the minimal amount of damage done to steal it in the first place. Personally I think alarms are a waste of money, all they do is go off when they shouldn’t and annoy others. Nobody takes any notice of them anyway and how many folks will be willing to get involved on your behalf?
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I might depend where you store your van. If its on a storage site then perhaps the usefulness of an alarm might be limited. However if you store your van at home and alarm would at least alert you if someone was trying to break into your vehicle whilst you are in the house. Likewise if you are parked whilst out for the day it would cause a great deal of interest from passers by which might be enough to discourage someone from trying. Decent alarms are not cheap, usually between £600 and £1000 if you go for one designed for motorhome use like a Strikeback, Growler or Outsmart the Thief. A motorhome is a big investment and I doubt someone would buy a car of similar value without an alarm!
There are lots of other things you can add to a motorhome like a D lock to the habitation door or extra deadlocks to the cab doors. It seems that many motorhomes and caravans have been stolen even when fitted with wheel clamps, steering wheel locks. Sometimes a visible deterrent will put someone off but unfortunately someone determined will find a way through. Just makes a decent insurance policy essential.
David
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In reply to David, it is a big investment and I can't remember the last car I bought that didn't have a factory fitted alarm on it. I was totally shocked to find our new purchase only comes with an immobiliser fitted as standard. We've even had caravans with alarms fitted (sorry sore point). it is to be stored at home so I've been looking at removable post for the drive too.
Ian
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Ian
The problem with motorhomes is that the manufacturers, certainly in the case of Bailey, only buy the cab and the front two wheels in the most basic form which they marry up with an Al-KO chassis and then build the motorhome on top of that. I stand to be corrected but I don't think many motorhomes at the value end come with alarms? We are on our second Bailey in seven years and on both of them I have had a VanBitz Strikeback alarm fitted. I have no reason to doubt the quality of the alarm. It comes with a useful accessory loop which would be good for bikes on an external rack. It can also be used whilst you are sleeping in the van when it just leaves the external components of the alarm active. I would agree that it would better if they all came with alarms but in the absence we have to do our own thing
David
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Another vote for "Strikeback" I have never bothered with a tracker and have always found an insurance company who was willing to take it on without one. I would rather focus on preventing it being stolen from my drive in the first place than pay for a tracker. Trackers are just as likely to be disabled as any other anti theft device and if they were really any good the insurance companies would offer bigger discounts than they currently do.
peedee
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We have a disklok https://www.disklokuk.co.uk/
It is easy to fit, and I leave it on the steering wheel all the time except for when we are actually on the road so it is never in the way. I understand they can be removed in less than 10 mins with an angle grinder, but so can all wheel-clamps etc....
At home the MH is usually blocked in on the drive by our car, and we also have a wireless PIR sensor connected to our house alarm which sits on the dashboard when we are at home.
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At home the MH is usually blocked in on the drive by our car, and we also have a wireless PIR sensor connected to our house alarm which sits on the dashboard when we are at home.
I also block my motorhome in with our car. I would be interested in knowing more about your PIR alarm Justus. Can you provide a link to where to purchase one?
peedee
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It's nothing flashy, as its only from B&Q, a self installation wireless alarm system which I installed previously. All the sensors are wireless which drew me to it initially, and you can buy extra sensors as required so in addition to the house I have one in the van and one in the garage. The only downside being that you have to buy a load of PP3 batteries once a year. My actual brand seems to be no more, but this is the equivalent..
Ahh just checked, mine is a Response alarm, so its a name change it seems to ERA....There may well be other options brands and systems online.
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I agree that blocking your van with a car etc is good security but not everyone has that option. Also, if you’re not there and your van is, it’s likely you’ll have your car with you. In defence of trackers, good ones not only provide a geolocation facility, but will alert you in the event of excessive vibration (angle grinder) and battery disconnect. You can also chose to remotely disable a component e.g. fuel pump if an alert is received. They also provide some useful functions like remote starter/leisure battery monitoring in storage.
Another cheap but effective device is fitting striker plates to the inside door panels alongside the locks to prevent somebody prising a screwdriver blade in the gap and deactivating the central locking. Once they’ve done that, it’s simply a case of using a gizmo in the OCD port and away!
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I don’t think I’d have the confidence to go away and leave an activated alarm on a motorhome. False alarms on houses are bad enough, but how do you know your alarm isn’t going off at 3am when a big lorry rumbles by or there‘s a thunderstorm? If it does, nobody will get out of bed to investigate, they’ll just curse you.
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Some years ago there was a spate of break ins in our area, it was arranged via our Neighbourhood Watch for the police to visit all houses, to advise on any add security could be installed
One thing that was highlighted was the ammount of false alarms that occur with doors/windows alarms that are activated by HGVs passing or some loud noises,that are close,
Car alarms are very suseptable to the wash of passing HGVs moving the car and stting off the tilt? sensors
Ps the perpetrators were caught, they were a local Eastern european family, and goods were found in a garage they were renting
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All I can say is that in seven years that has never happened. It's probably down to the quality of the alarm. We don't get HGV's near enough to cause a problem and despite some pretty serious thunderstorms they have not caused a problem. We have a neighbour whose house alarm does go off from time to time. I always have a quick check and we have each other's phone numbers if need be. I once had a phone call from a neighbour because she could hear a beeping coming from the direction of our, then, caravan. It was the smoke alarm battery!!! So neighbours do keep a lookout, at least some of them do!
David
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Another vote for strikeback alarm system had one on my last Motorhome and believe me if it goes off the whole neighbourhood will know it does come with a price though, my new Pilote motorhome comes with a factory fitted alarm so have fitted Thule door frame locks which i;m really happy with.
Phil
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Evening
Having suffered a break in with our caravan whilst in "secure" storage (not club I'll add), and having to deal with clean up I'll add my thoughts on security.
Most caravans and motorhomes use the same windows and roof lights, namely Heki or similar. To a thief or burglar these are the easy way in. I say that as our invader gained access through the heki in the bedroom. Further examination, ie I climbed onto the caravan roof and tried the rooflight above the lounge. With a firm tug the plastic catches snapped in seconds and the rooflight was fully open, gaining easy access. I replaced the catches (readily available) and resigned myself to the fact that no van is completely secure. Trackers, alarms, extra locks etc are all well and good to deter the would be scumbag but from what I've experienced there are lots of weak points in our leisure vehicles that still leaves them vulnerable.
JK
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Evening
All good thanks Brian. Bit of a weird year but at least we're still here?!
Didn't bother to claim on the van insurance as it was only a few quid and some labour to clean up. The "person" that broke in lived in the van for a while and was a dirty smoker too! That storage yard got some bad press from us let me tell you
I've learnt to not get too attached to my leisure vehicles and don't leave many personal effects inside, if it goes it goes! Apart from that is my RV. I have many extra security measures in place including a decent neighbour who lives on site full time and doesn't suffer fools gladly, or anyone that takes an interest in my plot.
JK
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It’s a good point, all that money spent on security stuff and all they need to do is break a flimsy window lock. In Spain, lowlife pull up in their old van alongside your van, break your window latch in a few seconds, shove a small child through the window, quick ransack for valuables and away. Nobody takes any notice of the alarm - who wants to get stabbed on your behalf? Solution - fit a good safe in your van bolted through the chassis.
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An interesting and important topic. I only have a factory fitted immobiliser on my van (which, unfortunately, for a while kept immobilising ME and cost a lot of money to sort out due to useless, cowboy garages), although I do keep my car, or my daughter's car, behind the van most of the time. Are immobilisers that easy for thieves to circumvent? I have never had a problem insuring the van, even though I don't have any other deterrents to theft, other than the immobiliser. My van is a 2004 Eldiss Autoquest and I was wondering what more modern vans have in the way of theft deterrents.
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Are immobilisers that easy for thieves to circumvent?
The short answer is ‘yes’ for many thieves. The computer diagnostic port in your van provides the means of hacking into and bypassing your security system. You can purchase security devices to help prevent access.
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The "need" for some cannot do without gizmo has now it seems superseded one of the finest anti theft devices that were available for motor caravans as we had on our last Boxer based Autocruise ,
It was a detachable steering wheel which could be unlocked and removed not only made it very difficult to be driven
,it also enabled the front drivers side seat to be swiveled without the need to do the shuffle as on most to enable the seat to face the living area along with it moving to give more space
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Apart from motorsport applications maybe illegal now? Might cause a problem with the airbag also? Given that most MH are built on one of 3 vehicle bases, a determined MH thief would simply carry some spares.
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Thanks for everyone's contributions, we are going with the wireless PIA although it will be separate from our house system. We have also decided to get a "decent" wheel clamp (not sure which one yet). Don't suppose invisibility cloaks come in MH size yet! All this before it arrives goodness know what well be like when we get it.
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Not illegal but would be a problem to fit on the later boxer/fiat base ,with all the controls now steering wheel mounted
carry spares?yea right
Ps anyone with the previous sevel base cabs ,i still have it in our LV must have spares room
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