An employee from a Mercedes-Benz dealership in Central Scotland got a nasty surprise, when he woke up to see a demonstrator vehicle he’d been authorised to take home, had been stolen off his drive. Fortunately, the AMG Mercedes worth over £50,000, was fitted with a TRACKER Plus for Mercedes-Benz stolen vehicle recovery unit, which was key in helping police recover the car before the end of the same day. As a result of the lucky escape, the Mercedes-Benz dealership is rethinking its security to ensure all demo vehicles are fitted with the latest solutions from TRACKER, the UK’s leading provider of stolen vehicle recovery (SVR) solutions.
Thieves broke into his home via a bathroom window, to find the keys to the Mercedes-Benz which was parked outside, before driving away with it in the early hours of the morning. When he woke up and found the vehicle missing, he contacted the police and the TRACKER was activated. Before the end of the day, police located the vehicle, which was hidden in a garage in Glasgow.
“The whole team breathed a huge sigh of relief, when the stolen vehicle was found,” explains a Mercedes-Benz representative from the Scottish dealership. “We had only recently decided to fit TRACKER units on demo vehicles worth £50,000 or more. If any of our lower value vehicles had been taken, they might never have been recovered, leaving us with a serious loss.
“This incident has demonstrated the value of TRACKER Plus for Mercedes-Benz and we are now fitting all our demo vehicles with these SVR units, increasing the chance of police locating and returning any stolen vehicles.”
Adrian Davenport, Police Liaison Officer for TRACKER, explains, “This was clearly an organised criminal gang, stealing to order. They must have seen the car on the drive and burgled the house for the keys. We found the vehicle in a container, ready to ship and sell overseas.
“TRACKER is the only SVR product that is used by all of the UK’s police forces and in this case, this was key to helping them recover the stolen Mercedes-Benz. This case highlights the value of having a TRACKER fitted and we are delighted to see the fit of our units to all their demo vehicles. With 95% of stolen cars fitted with TRACKER returned to their owners and 86% recovered within 24 hours, it could be the difference between a vehicle being found and returned or it being lost for good.”
Unlike other devices, TRACKER can locate stolen vehicles anywhere, even when they are hidden in a garage or shipping container. TRACKER stolen vehicle recovery systems work like an electronic homing device. A covert transmitter is hidden in one of several dozen places around the vehicle. There is no visible aerial, so the thief won’t even know it’s there.
