How to protect your caravan at home

Caravanning is becoming increasingly popular in Victoria – with around 180,000 vehicles registered and numbers rising each year. With caravans being not only expensive, but easy to tow away, they are a prime target for thieves.

So, when you’re storing your caravan away between trips, here are some simple ways to protect it from being stolen or broken into.

Storing your caravan

• When you’re not using your caravan, try to park it in a spot that’s less visible from the road and that has limited access - a securely fenced yard, your garage, a locked shed or behind a locked gate. If you park it in your driveway or front yard, it's going to be quite obvious to a thief when you've gone away.
• If you don’t have somewhere that you can securely store it at home, consider keeping it at a commercial storage facility.
• If you can, store your caravan with the hitch away from the road. 
• Try to avoid parking your caravan on your front lawn or in your driveway – when you take it on holidays it will be very obvious to potential burglars that you’re away.
• If your parking options are limited and you can only put your van on your driveway, consider putting something large and/or heavy in front of it to make harder to steal (eg: a box trailer, boat or vehicle that’s not driven often). 
• If your van will be stored where it can be seen, invest in a good quality caravan cover and tie it up securely – it can help keep your caravan “out of sight, out of mind”. 

Securing your caravan

• Invest in a good quality hitch lock – preferably one without a padlock – to stop a thief reversing up to your caravan and driving away. There are even some models with alarms.
• Consider having a sturdy anchor point bolted into your driveway. Loop a heavy-duty chain or cable through the anchor point and the A-frame of your caravan and secure it with a strong padlock.
• Keep all doors, windows and hatches closed and locked even if it’s parked on your property.
• Don’t hide a spare set of keys anywhere in or around your caravan or RV.
• Consider using additional security devices such as key-operated wheel clamps, tow ball coupling locks, cable wheel locks, alarms, or GPS tracking devices. Combining multiple security measures, especially ones that are highly visible, will provide the best protection.
• Install motion sensor lights near where you park your caravan – these can be an excellent deterrent to a potential thief.
• It can be useful to install a sensor light inside your caravan, that automatically turns on when it gets dark, to help make it look like someone’s inside.

Protecting personal property

• When you’re not using your van, remove all valuables and lock them away inside your home or garage. 
• If you do leave personal property in your caravan, keep them out of view by locking them away in a drawer or cupboard.
• Close all curtains and blinds on your caravan, so it’s harder for potential thieves to see inside. 
• Consider installing a safe in your caravan to store smaller valuables such as mobile phones, iPads and jewellery. 
• Keep a record of the VIN and chassis numbers of your caravan (usually welded onto the “A-frame” or drawbar) and the registration number and take clear photos of it. If your caravan is stolen, this will make it easier to report it to police and your insurer.

Alert your neighbours

• If you leave your caravan at home when you go away, ask your neighbours to keep an eye on it for you. Let them know that you haven’t given anyone permission to urse or take your caravan.
• If you are travelling with your van be sure to tell your neighbours that you’ll be away and ask them to keep an eye on your place and help make it look like someone’s home.