Van fleet managers have been warned by AVCIS, the police vehicle crime intelligence service, that light commercial vehicles are increasingly being targeted by thieves.
Vans are targeted for a number of reasons, not least because they often have multiple drivers and there may be a lack of ‘ownership’ – in which case, keys are commonly left in vehicles or in easily-accessible places on sites and at depots.
Many are cloned and sold on in the UK, while others are shipped abroad to other right-hand drive countries such as Cyprus. Because of legislative changes there next year, which mean all foods must be carried in a refrigerated vehicles, AVCIS is preparing for an increase in thefts of such vans from businesses here.
Another worrying trend all fleet managers must be aware of is bogus rental and lease companies established to provide criminals with access to ‘legitimate’ insured and taxed vehicles.
According to the Finance and Leasing Association, the vehicles are obtained on finance – often fraudulently - and then sub-let on with insurance and tax already in place. However, to give the ‘rental’ or ‘lease’ company legitimacy, some of the vehicles may be rented out to genuine innocent companies. Fleet managers should be aware of the problem because these bogus companies may default on their payments to the finance company, in which case a genuine fleet may have its vehicle seized by the finance company.
“This type of sub-leasing is a growing trend,” said Paul Harrison, the FLA’s head of motor finance. One criminal gang created a bogus lease company in the northwest of England and obtained 250 vehicles on finance.