There’s nothing worse for tradies than going to your ute to find someone’s helped themselves to your tools.
A whopping $20 million worth of tools get pinched from tradies in Victoria each year.
Crime Statistics Agency indicate more than 29,000 tools were stolen from VIC tradies in March 2023 alone.
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It’s a costly nightmare for tradies nationwide. So, what can you do about it?
Thankfully, the RACV has come up with a couple of handy tips to prevent sticky fingers from getting on your favourite tools.
Tools are easy to steal because they’re portable and often left out in the open. While we’d like to believe our fellow humans aren’t all thieves, it’s better to be safe than sorry.
“In your car, store tools in a heavy-duty truck bed or portable toolbox with a strong padlock. If your toolbox is portable, fix it to your vehicle with a hardened steel security chain,” RACV Home Portfolio General Manager Darren Turner said.
“Clearly marking or engraving your ID details on tools will make them much harder for thieves to resell, easier for you to report and recover, and more likely to discourage theft in the first place.
“Your name and driver’s licence number are recommended for the best chance of recovery.”
There’s tonnes of micro GPS tags tradies can pick up, which can prove very valuable when stuck on your prize pieces.
There’s plenty of insurers out there that also cover tradies for lost tools which means you’re not forking out thousands to replace lost goods.
So don’t risk it tradies. Make sure you have yourself covered so you don’t regret it down the road.