In Mexico, a truck is stolen every 26 minutes. The lack of security on Mexican highways is an alarming problem, especially in the central and southern parts of the country. If your business constantly faces this issue, the first step toward resolving it is to understand why it happens.

In this article, we’ll share the main reasons why tractor-trailer thefts are successful, as well as some recommendations for protecting yourself against crime.

Reasons Why Truck Thefts Are Successful

The authorities aren't arriving on time

When it comes to road safety, criminals often already know which areas will take authorities longer to reach. Furthermore, everything happens so quickly that, if the vehicle isn’t prepared to prevent the theft, by the time the authorities arrive on the scene, it will already be too late.

Criminals use signal jammers

Jammers are devices that block communication signals, such as GPS, radio frequencies, and even cell phone signals.

If the vehicle is equipped only with a vehicle tracking system, criminals can easily disable it, leaving the truck, the driver, and the cargo completely unprotected.

They tamper with the truck's systems

No matter how much technology is installed in a truck, if it remains vulnerable to cut or tampered wiring, this is the first thing criminals will try to do when taking control of the vehicle.

The reality is that it can take a criminal less than a minute to bypass the most common security systems.

They're moving the unit

Criminals already know exactly where the areas with poor coverage are, as well as the areas controlled by organized crime, where authorities are unlikely to go because the risk is too high.

If the criminal manages to take control of the vehicle, there is a high probability that it will soon be completely out of reach and impossible to recover, especially if they veer off the main roads.

They take the goods and leave the truck behind

Simply securing the truck isn't enough, since criminals often choose to leave the truck behind and steal the cargo—or even the entire trailer—when the truck is equipped with an anti-theft system .

How to Protect Your Fleet Against Theft

Make sure they don't take control of the vehicle

Robberies targeting commercial vehicles occur in three stages:

• Phase 1 is the attack or disruption, which is nearly impossible to prevent since it is an inherent risk of road travel. This is the moment when criminals launch their assault, either in vulnerable areas such as bus stops or low-speed zones, or by forcing the vehicle to stop using other vehicles or by causing a collision.
  
• Phase 2 involves a loss of control or visibility, during which most of the incidents mentioned in this article occur, such as the use of jammers, the cutting of cables, or movement into areas with poor coverage or controlled by organized crime.
  
• Phase 3 is the final stage— that is, the moment when communication with the vehicle is lost, or the truck, trailer, or cargo is stolen. Once this happens, the chances of recovering the truck or cargo are very low.

The most effective strategy for protecting your fleet against theft is to focus on Phase 2: preventing criminals from taking control of the vehicle at all costs.

Minimizes human error

Especially when it comes to large fleets, it’s difficult for a monitoring team to manually track the status of all vehicles at the same time. That ’s why you need an exception-based management system that automatically monitors all vehicles and provides you with the most valuable information to keep your fleet safe.

Our C5 Logístico platform, which is part of our cargo transport security and goods protection systems, is designed specifically for this purpose and offers numerous benefits, such as:

• Definition and automation of process parameters
• Automated monitoring of all units
• Assigning tickets to a specific person
• Compliance with response protocols
• Closure forms for each incident
• Transaction information and statistics
• Customizable dashboard

Install anti-theft technology

A GPS tracking system alone is not enough to protect your fleet from theft. We recommend installing AI-powered devices specifically designed to prevent the most common causes of tractor-trailer theft.

Logitrack's anti-theft security technologies include:

• Anti-tamper system (Tamperlock): a system designed to prevent cable cutting that detects any type of tampering or violation of business rules and automatically locks the unit
• Anti-jammer system that detects both communication jammers and positioning jammers and safely locks down the unit
• Keyboards with dynamic keys (similar to bank tokens ) for unlocking devices locally
• Door Sentinel: Detects when doors are opened and locks the unit upon detecting unauthorized access
• Cargolock: tamper-proof double lock for cargo doors
• Interlock: Tamper-proof fifth-wheel lock

Learn more about our security solutions for freight transport.

‍