As an auto dealer, you’re running a candy store for car thieves. While some criminals avoid dealerships due to surveillance, others find it worth the risk. If you don’t have security guards, any stolen cars could be gone forever or damaged beyond repair in a matter of a few minutes.

For car thief’s looking for specific vehicles, a dealership is sometimes a much easier target. Especially, poorly lit lots and those that focus on exotic cars. These criminals usually either sell them off, send them to chop shops, go for joy rides and demolish them later or wreck them trying to get away from the police. Generally, it doesn’t end well for auto dealers. Auto thefts often happen with multiple vehicles at a time. Once thieves find an auto dealer that meets the right criteria, such as poor security and the right type of vehicles, it’s only a matter of time before cars start to go missing.

While you should always have video surveillance, you also need someone to monitor the feed. In addition, you need security guards too. It’s easy enough to hide your face when stealing a car. But, if a guard is walking by, it’s much more difficult to avoid being seen.

Even small used car lots benefit from having at least one security guard after business hours. It’s a small investment to keep cars safer.

Larger lots should consider having multiple security guards to cover more ground. This is also where surveillance monitoring helps to cover even more area at once.

In addition to guards, ensure there isn’t a single area of your dealership lot that isn’t fully lit. Yes, you’ll pay more for power, but you’ll pay much more in insurance premiums if cars keep getting stolen.