VAN SECURITY LOCKS

Tradesmen are required to have multiple tools at any given time to enable them to carry out their work professionally and in as little time. This requires a capital investment to the business owner amounting to in some cases a large amount of money. It is therefore prudent to take out measures to prevent any downtime, which will ultimately effect your bottom line. Breakages and wear and tear is one thing that we all expect at some time or another and we factor in that cost to our business model. Theft of equipment can be devastating for any company especially a business that depends on its tools and equipment to generate an income. It takes time to build up tools and equipment that a tradesman can stand by and depend on, to allow that person to do their job effectively and as quickly as possible.

What is the defence against this nightmare scenario? Insuring your tools – By insuring your equipment you can then after several weeks of waiting for your claim to be processed by your insuring company, re-purchase what needs to be replaced. Not ideal for a few reasons. It is not a guarantee that your insurer will pay out based on the terms and conditions of you insurance policy. They may require that your van is parked in a secure location that is fenced in, has sufficient lighting and is monitored by cctv over night.

If your insurance company pays out, it may not be for the value of the tools that you have lost based on their age. Therefore costing you the money for the shortfall when re-buying the equipment.The equipment / tools that you want to re-buy may have a time lag in you receiving them. Adding to the downtime and lost revenue during this time. Prevention is the best cure for theft of tools and equipment that occur in commercial vehicles.

You could fit an alarm on the vehicle, but that would just alert someone to the fact that an attempted theft is in place. At that point you may have received damage to the vehicle and the theft of equipment may have actually occurred. So you will need to go belts and braces in terms of the security measures that you need to commit to. A vehicle alarm on its own is really just a false sense of security. But a vehicle with an alarm and security locks on the back and sliding doors will give you piece of mind. Their any a few different locks that you can get installed to provide you with the protection needed to secure your tools. Some of these locks have been successful in keeping intruders out of vehicles and others have not been as secure as you might think.

We at Locksafe Locksmiths put ourselves in the position that our customers might find ourselves in and ask ourselves the following question. What locks would we want to see on our Vehicles and are these locks able to withstand a break in attempted break in? Break ins can be discouraged simply by the intruder being able to recognise a lock as being too troublesome and time consuming to even contemplate bypassing. In the event that a break in is attempted, then you will need locks that can withstand entry being gained. Therefore we recommend that a deadlocking mechanism is installed. Keyed alike the same key will operate the rear and sliding doors at all times. It is a manual looking mechanism that will require the doors to be locked each time that are closed. With hook dead locks securely fitted inside the frame of the doors, the secured mechanism can not be forced open. If thief is looking at two vans that potentially have expensive tools inside with different security locks. Having this lock type can be a deciding factor for the criminal having second thoughts about targeting your van.

If you are considering having a security lock fitted to your van, Locksafe Locksmiths will call to your premises for the installation. This means that during the lock install, you are not off the road, resulting in lost income. The lock comes with 3 key’s, so you will not be caught out. Also if you ever loose a key and you are concerned about the security of your van, you will not have to change the entire lock mechanism. The lock barrels can be changed and keyed alike, in little or no time.

You might ask yourself why would I need to put a security lock on a brand new van. The answer is that criminals have and will continue to find ways to open doors on commercial vehicles to steel tool and equipment that has taken you time to build up your business.

Opening the factory made lock that comes as standard with a commercial vehicle can be easily achieved with just a screw driver and a hammer. Not every van will be victim to this type of crime. Criminals will look at the model of the commercial vehicles. Some commercial vehicles have a superior standard central locking system more so that other makes and model. This does not make them immune to this type of crime and the only solution is to buy a lot more time than 2 minutes with a standard locking system.

Weighing up the cost of having a security lock fitted or taking the risk of being off the road for several days with lost tools, stock and equipment is really a simple choice of economics. I have seen more commercial vehicles that have no additional security locking mechanisms attacked than the vehicles where the owner has taken it upon himself to avoid / prevent this from happening. As mentioned earlier in this blog, thief’s look for the easy option when breaking into a home, business premises or a vehicle. Obstacles equals time… This is a recipe for anyone that makes their income from other peoples misery by stealing what is not theirs a bigger problem. Therefore having a security lock fitted, will provide you with the peace of mind that when parked on a side street working on a job, your van is protected.