Does your heart sink when you see a social media post pleading for information about stolen car trailers? This is a growing problem in towns and cities across Australia and you may be worried because you have recently purchased a brand-new car trailer for your own purposes. If you don't have the luxury of an enclosed garage and are forced to keep this trailer out in the open, you should know that it is a potential target for adventurous thieves. They know that these trailers can fetch good money on the second-hand black-market and also know that it's somewhat easy to hook up a trailer to their getaway car and vanish into the distance. So, in order to protect your investment, you need to make it as difficult as possible for the bad guys.
Protect Your Investment
The good news is that enterprising companies have developed a number of quality accessories that can make it impossible for thieves to make off with your trailer. You should consider introducing one or even all of them, in order to allow you to sleep more soundly at night.
Lock It
Firstly, remove the standard coupling head from your trailer and replace it with a locking mechanism instead. These automatically engage whenever the trailer is in the stationary position and cannot be disengaged without the actual key. In this case, it doesn't matter whether the trailer is sitting alone in the driveway or attached to another vehicle, as it has an additional layer of protection. You can also get a device that can be attached to the coupling head, and that makes it impossible to introduce a tow ball while it is in place. Once again, this is locked and requires a key to disengage.
Clamp It
Pick up a set of wheel clamps similar to the ones used by the traffic police in your town. Certainly, these may be fiddly to deal with and a bit of a chore if you use your trailer very often, but they do present a very visual deterrent. You may be able to discourage the would-be thief before they get too close.
Tie It
Park your trailer close to something very sturdy such as a telegraph pole or streetlight standard. Then, pick up a cable lock alarm at your accessory store and make sure that your trailer is securely attached to this immovable object. Somebody with the right heavy equipment may well be able to cut through this cable, but if they do so, a loud alarm will ensue.
Find Out Where It Is
Technology can also come to your rescue in the shape of tiny GPS tracking devices that can be mounted in a hidden area. You can match these up to a smartphone app so that if somebody does manage to get away with your trailer, you can track down its whereabouts quite quickly.