Ed Evans Talks Technical
Ed advises on how to keep your Defender safe
According to Tracker Network UK, Defender thefts increased by 57 per cent in 2016, due to expected increases in value following the end of production, but aggravated by people with plenty of spare cash buying them as investments and pushing the value up artificially. This has long been the situation with the classic car movement where the value of anything really decent has spiralled beyond the reach of the genuine enthusiast of average wealth. I hope this doesn’t happen to Defenders, though it probably already has.
So, Defender (and other classic Land Rover) owners are stuck with these parasites eyeing up our vehicles in driveways, car ports, even locked garages, working out when we won’t be around and planning how they can extract the vehicle. And none of us would dare to leave a Defender parked on the road in the same place every night – that’s just asking for it. Parking the vehicle out of sight is a first step, but if it’s seen driving in and out every day, someone might come looking. Neighbourhood Watch can work. Tell the members your Land Rover will be going nowhere – that you won’t be selling it, you won’t ask a garage to collect it for repair and noone else drives it. Then, if anyone is seen near your vehicle, an alert will be quickly sent to the police and/or your mobile phone.
Electronically or mechanically immobilising the vehicle doesn’t necessarily help, though it will deter or delay some thieves. Others will tow or drag it onto a transporter and be off. If the alarm is sounding and someone approaches them they’ll say it’s their own vehicle and there’s something wrong with the key, or the battery is flat, or that they’ve been asked to take it back to the garage to fix the alarm. If you hear this, ring the police.
Defenders, by their construction, are difficult to secure. And whatever security is fitted becomes just another challenge to some thieves. So, if the worst happens, we stand a reasonable chance of seeing the vehicle again if a tracker system is fitted. A location transmitter secreted within the vehicle can help police locate it quickly, assuming you let them know it’s been pinched before the thieves can dismantle it or find the tracker device. You have been warned.
“The value of anything decent has spiralled beyond the reach of the genuine enthusiast of average wealth”