We are always reminding members to watch their keys.
Keys are like gold. Don’t just leave them lying around the dealership during operating hours and definitely secure them after hours.
Keys have always been useful to thieves, even back in the days when you could “hotwire” a vehicle, but today, with all the tech and electronics, you simply can’t drive most of these vehicles without the key.
So if the goal is to get the key, put yourself in the mind of the crook
… don’t make it easy for them.
A recent story out of Oakville reminds us of this the hard way.
A group breaks into a dealership in the early morning hours of a Sunday, pries the lock box open with a crowbar, and grabs keys to $2 million dollars worth of high-end luxury vehicles, reportedly including a Ferrari, Porsches, Mercedes-Benzs, and BMWs.
They were clearly organized and knew where everything was. They had “cased the joint,” no doubt.
We don’t want to rub salt into the dealer’s wounds here, but what if the lockbox was not simply hanging on a wall? What if the keys were locked away in a proper safe whose location was not obvious?
Sure, the bad guys may still have ways to know where the keys are hidden, but a more secure lock-up might slow them down just enough for the police to respond to the alarms that were likely sounding all over the place. Maybe then, they could not just make the cars gone in 60 seconds?
We feel badly for this dealer who clearly did their best, but even that was not good enough when stacked up against organized criminals.