Do Mercedes Sprinter vans get stolen? | 4WDTalk - Overlanding and offroad Forum
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Do Mercedes Sprinter vans get stolen?

Bandit63

Bandit63

Active member
We live outside of San Fran, where today there is a big problem with break ins and such. Now granted we don't plan on being much in the city. However this had us talking about the likelihood of our new van getting stolen or broken in. We are in the marketing to buy our first van this year and wondering during the build if we should have a safe built into the van, and GPS stuff for safeguard.
 
Simple, just install one of those pedal control modules and leave it in theft mode when you are not in it.
 
Sadly, its not difficult to steal a car. Most theft deterrents will stop an amateur. That's why I have a bright blinking blue light near my rear view mirror. A pro on the other hand, very few things will stop them.
At the shop, one of my jobs was fixing vehicles that were stolen and recovered. I got to see all the ways there are to take something.

What ever you use, it needs to be seen in the daytime, disable it from driving and make a ton of noise. Siren inside under the seat. OMG do those suck when they go off. That will eliminate the amateur's. Boxing in the vehicle will eliminate most of the pro's.

I'm not going to publicly post any of the techniques. I will say this, Lifted 4wd, especially Jeep people, I can take your rig in less than 5 min's. Sprinter van, not so easy.
 
Found some interesting stats:

In 2020, 1,169 Mercedes-Benz Sprinter 313 CDI vans were stolen, and in 2019, 1,466 were stolen. In 2022, 1,526 Sprinter 313 CDI vans were expected to be stolen, which is 66 more than in 2019.

In 2020/2019, the Mercedes-Benz Sprinter 314 CDI was the second most stolen vehicle, with 860 vans stolen in 2020 and 1,135 stolen in 2019.

According to Fleet News, the Mercedes Sprinter has a combined theft ratio of 5.25 per every 1,000 vans registered.
 
is that data just America or worldwide?
It also makes me wonder, why?

Its a high dollar item but you going to have a hard time selling a stolen vehicle. If your bringing it to a country that doesn't care about that, I can see it. If your stealing it to sell off the parts, I wouldn't think there would be a big market.

There are theft rings that target Wranglers and Civics. Huge part's market. Sprinters? I never would have thought.
 
So something to note, this is UK website, however I can see where they are pulling their numbers from. I'm wondering if this is from the UK and European markets or world?
 
"In fact, Mercedes Sprinters are one of the most common stolen vans in the U.S. Due to a lack of difficulty, thieves are well versed in bypassing Sprinter ignition and reprogramming keys. According to Transpoco Telematics, 860 Sprinters were stolen in 2020 and 1, 135 were stolen in 2019. In total, less than 500 vehicles were recovered."

www.ukcarlocksmith.co.uk

Code Key and the Mercedes Security | UK Auto Locksmith

Do you own a Mercedes and you want to make sure it's security is uo tp date? Read this article by UK Auto Car Locksmith for more details
www.ukcarlocksmith.co.uk www.ukcarlocksmith.co.uk
 
Reading the article above, that's how they were stealing American trucks through the 90's. Based on that design, there's actually an easier way to get around the factory security system. One would think they would update the system. The fact that the article spells out the process makes it worse.

As technology evolves, people find ways around it. This is why my vehicles are protected with an add on, noisy alarm. My vehicles can still be stolen, I just eliminate the everyone except the pro.
 
smritte said:
Reading the article above, that's how they were stealing American trucks through the 90's. Based on that design, there's actually an easier way to get around the factory security system. One would think they would update the system. The fact that the article spells out the process makes it worse.

As technology evolves, people find ways around it. This is why my vehicles are protected with an add on, noisy alarm. My vehicles can still be stolen, I just eliminate the everyone except the pro.
Click to expand...

No kidding, not a good picture of seeing a problem and making it tougher for bad people from the manufactures.
 
Our insurance company rep warned us last year about Sprinter van theft and break ins and that we need to be careful of where we live it. We added GPS tracker and store ours in a garage. But at the end of the day, bad people will be bad.
 
Kind of not surprised. Think about it, these are pricey and likely have other valuables inside. Crooks are going to target anything, but these might be seen as easy targets.
 
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