The good news is that according to the National Insurance Crime Bureau (NICB) personal watercraft theft rates have been sinking. The latest NICB Vehicle Type Theft Report notes the number of PWC stolen in 2021 decreased by 13%, dropping from 5,310 in 2020 to 4,644 last year. Florida led the nation with the highest number of stolen watercraft with 791, followed by California with 671.
However the stats mean nothing when the vehicles are stolen from your shop or your customers! That is where Find It Now can offer some peace of mind. Stolen PWC tend to surface comparatively quickly—The NICB report indicates that 54% of PWC are recovered within one week of theft and 30% were recovered within a day courtesy of services like FIN.
Case in point: The successful recovery of 2 FIN-equipped Yamaha WaveRunners in Miami, which led to the recovery of 5 additional personal watercraft. The owner of the 2 WaveRunners stored them at a remote location. Upon receiving text notifications from FIN that both had moved, he immediately called the FIN GPS Security theft hotline. The FIN theft recovery team monitored the stolen Yamahas while the customer contacted local authorities.
While FIN tracked every move, data showed that the batteries were disconnected on each watercraft. It is common for thieves to disconnect the vehicle battery at an attempt to disable any potential security features. With its built-in backup battery, the FIN device continued sending vital speed, heading, and location data. This information was given to the local police, with the last location being a warehouse. Once the police arrived, they not only recovered the 2 WaveRunners, but 5 other personal watercraft as well.
Since 2008, FIN GPS Security has been the market leader in GPS-enabled Theft Protection & Recovery. FIN is also a veteran owned and operated company. For more peace of mind, check out: www.FindItNowUSA.com
