Ravelco - Heavy Equipment Page

Not one piece of Heavy Equipment has ever been stolen that was fitted with a Ravelco Anti Theft Device !

The Ravelco is simple to use. When your operator leaves their vehicle, all they have to do is remove the Ravelco plug from the Ravelco unit (that is flush mounted in the dash) and that vehicle becomes an impossible obstacle for even the most persistent thief . . . It cannot be Hot-Wired !

Please do not think for one minute, if your company has a GPS tracking system in your heavy equipment that you are protected. Many companies think that just because they have a GPS tracking system in their heavy equipment, in the event of a theft they will easily recover their heavy equipment in a matter of minutes. WRONG!

The real story is that heavy equipment companies cannot understand why their GPS tracking system that they paid big bucks for cannot do its job and locate their stolen heavy equipment. Tracking systems are virtually obsolete. Nowadays, all a heavy equipment thief has to do is plug a GPS Scrambler - aka-signal destroyer (shown below) in the vehicles power outlet (cigarette lighter) and absolutely no tracking will occur. Not even a cell phone will work within 50 feet of the scrambler.

These two types of signal destroyers are sold on the internet for less than $100.

When Ravelco first started in business back in 1976, they thought cars and light trucks were going to be the majority of their business. They rarely ever sold to Heavy Equipment and Construction companies. Today, protecting and securing Heavy Equipment is without a doubt one of the main outlets of Ravelco's primary business. They also sell to many national big rig trucking companies throughout the United States. The Ravelco Heavy Equipment business has been growing steadily since 1995. Having the Ravelco saving so many pieces of Heavy Equipment the word gets out quick through insurance companies and Heavy Equipment owners and of course that makes all parties involved wanting to protect their Equipment with the Ravelco.

TOP TEN STATES FOR HEAVY EQUIPMENT THEFT IN 2020

In 2020, only 18 percent of the heavy equipment stolen was recovered. That compares with a 57 percent recovery rate for all other motor vehicles. There were more Backhoes, Bobcats, Bulldozers, Cranes and Front End Loaders stolen in 2020 according to the National Insurance Crime Bureau. Heavy Equipment is being stolen and taken across the borders to other countries where our insurance companies will not even bother to look for them . . . and who pays for this? You do when your insurance cost's sky rocket!

Insurance companies are getting to the point that they don't even want to insure heavy equipment any longer because it is so easy to steal. Some national surveys have suggested that the total figure could be as much as Two Billion Dollars each year in losses and indirect costs, such as rentals, downtime, wasted management time and project overrun penalties. Perhaps the most worrying statistic for owners and insurers is that as little as 18 percent of stolen heavy equipment is ever recovered.

Why do thieves steal Heavy Equipment?

The answer is simple. The reward for the thief far outweighs the risk taken. Heavy equipment often has little physical machine or site security, is valuable and is easy to sell. The low recovery rate is a clear indication of the low risk for a thief. If an item is recovered, an arrest may not be made. Where an arrest is made, a conviction may not be secured. Even where a conviction is secured, the penalty is likely to be light.

What makes it so easy to steal Heavy Equipment?

The first problem in equipment recovery is the time lapse from theft to theft discovery. A car theft will be discovered hours, if not minutes, after the crime. A Heavy Equipment theft on a Friday night might not be discovered until Monday morning. Equipment owners with larger fleets or multi-site operations may not discover the theft for days, weeks or, in some cases, months. This gives the thief a ‘window’ of opportunity when any investigation by law enforcement will not find a theft report. This is a particular problem because suspicious activity such as moving equipment at a strange time of day or on ill-suited transport is most likely to occur during this ‘window’. The gap between autos and equipment widens further when the availability of data is considered.

If you like, we can (key) make every RAVELCO unit the same for all your equipment. This means you can use the same plug to start every vehicle in your fleet.

BUT PLEASE BEWARE – Years ago, we did this all the time, but in the last few years or so many of our larger customers have stopped doing this. The reason is, if you have 30 pieces of equipment and one disgruntled employee is fired or quits and tells you that they lost their Ravelco plug, this disgruntled former employee now has the Ravelco plug to start every vehicle in your fleet. When we tell some companies this, they reply “I don’t have to worry about that, all my employees are family!” We know that is worse, because in the past we had to go back and switch out Ravelcos on fleets of trucks and equipment for companies who had disgruntled family members. It is up to you.

Attention Future Ravelco customers, We had one of our cranes stolen. My corporate office researched many different theft prevention options. Ravelco was the most cost-effective and have proven their worth and reliability to us time and time again. After we had them installed in our south Florida fleet, there was an attempt to steal a tractor trailer from our yard the following year. The thieves had pulled the wiring from under the dash, attempting to hot wire the vehicle to no avail. We have installed Ravelco in 13 vehicles total, having successfully thwarted multiple theft attempts made on our vehicles. Our humble installer, Attila Kovacs (Ravelco of Florida), is very professional and happy to answer any questions and concerns you may have." - July 2021 Sincerely, Keith Gunter and Andre Huchet

"THANK YOU RAVELCO, We had all our tractors, backhoes and grease trucks fitted with your Ravelco system. Returning to work this morning we notice our front entrance service gate knocked completely down. Upon further investigation, we sadly learned that almost our entire fleet was damaged in some way trying to start and steal our vehicles. Thank God we had your Ravelco systems in all of our newer vehicles. Great Product." - August 2019, David Lee, Baytown Texas

"A few days after Christmas 2018, we brought two dozers and a backhoe to our ranch in George West, Texas. For the last 26 years we have always spent New Year's there to do a little hunting and to cut some roads in the brush. This year was a little different though, while we were in the main house sleeping one of our dozers was loaded up on a flatbed and taken to Mexico. WHILE WE WERE THERE! Thankfully, we had a Ravelco system on the other dozer and back hoe because they were the newer. We did not think someone would want a 23 year old Caterpillar Track Dozer. They tried for the newer equipment first but the Ravelco saved it! We feel bad about the loss of our old work horse because my son grew up driving that at our ranch. I guess some one is enjoying it now in Mexico. Thank you Ravelco, and as you know you are already scheduled to come out and install the Ravelco in the rest of our fleet early in February 2020." - John Blocker, Sugar Land, Texas

"Thanks to the Ravelco, for saving our three Bobcats and two CASE 580L front end loaders (backhoes). Having a rental company for the last nine years we have had all kinds of equipment stolen. In can honestly say that in the past year (since we installed the Ravelco) not one vehicle has been stolen from a jobsite. I am sure your Ravelco system has stopped the thefts." - D. S. Starchy, Dallas, Texas

"Thank you Ravelco for the wonderful product you make. I have to be honest, when your salesman came to visit us I was very leery about purchasing anything to keep our front end loader/backhoes from getting ripped off. Since I have been in the rental business we have had at least 11 stolen. I have been in this business for nearly 30 years and every single anti theft item we purchased was compromised and beaten in one way or another. Last Friday at 4 AM in the morning I received a call from the police saying that my companies fence was torn down. Half dressed I rushed to my business. As I arrived I was happy to see that all 3 of our newly purchased 580 Loader Backhoe's were still there. Their instrument panels key sockets were ripped out but thanks to your Ravelco they were still in our yard and not stolen and on their way to Mexico! I will be your best salesman now! What's my commission? Ha Ha" - Raoul Espinosa - San Antonio, Texas