Hello Everybody
My debut on the forum though I confess I read masses of posts before we bought our 420 recently. It was extremely helpful.
Its a 2017 model and our hope is to keep it for many years and explore the UK and Europe.
I'm toying with paying a lifetime fee for a tracker.
I know views are mixed and I'm not especially worried about security but it'll be virtually cost neutral given the reduced insurance premiums.
So I was hoping for thoughts on:
1. How attractive are Eribas to thieves? Does the lack of mod cons make them less attractive?
2. Has anyone experience (positive/negative) of trackers? I'm looking at the monitored service.
All contributions appreciated.
Martyn

Thefts of Eribas are rare as they are quite conspicuous by their style and relative rarity. Thieves tend to target the larger white-box caravans which are easier to sell on or used as statics by the traveling community.

I've installed a few monitored trackers for customers who keep their vans away from home on storage sites, but they do impose quite a current drain on the leisure battery, and unless a solar panel is fitted will drain the battery in a couple of weeks.

Obviously not a problem if the van's kept at home with electric hook-up available.

John - A very helpful response - many thanks.

And to the forum Martyn
Tom & Margaret

I have a cantrack for mine…..no drain on battery

To JohnE's point, Eribas are very rare in the UK. On our recent trip to Norfolk at Easter, we played count the caravans on our 125 mile journey. We lost count of the number of caravans, as there were lots out for their first trip of the year. We didn't see a single Eriba (other than ours). In fact, I have only seen one other Eriba this year, and that was parked in someone's front garden in a North Norfolk village. The owner will probably be reading this post at some point.

Although most sane people wouldn't be interested in something as small as an Eriba, they may know it's [relatively high] value, and that's what worries me a little.

In the same vein, because they're rare, they're easier to spot. It would have to be sold abroad which adds to the expense and complications for the theif..... hopefully.....

And generally caravan thieving seems to involve large twin axle jobs, rather than smaller vans. Though there'll always be a thief who isn't logical, or very bright who might chance their arm.

A lot of WWB owners on CT say they wouldn't want a van back after theft and also why they have insurance to cover any potential theft.

Many thanks for everyone's responses. I think I'm edging to the 'don't bother' end of the scale.
Just returned from our debut run in often torrential rain and I can see why people love them.
Roll on the summer.

That might have been our 540GT - Ringstead near Hunstanton??

There is a company called Van Bitz (located just outside Taunton, Somerset) who are well known for their Strikeback alarm systems on motorhomes. I spoke to them a couple of years ago about monitored alarm systems on caravans. They indicated they could make a bespoke system with door and tilt alarms and a tracking system providing lat/long information to a mobile phone for around £500 . Now while this is not an insurance recognised system at least you would get immediate notification that the van was being broken into and lat/lon information that could be relayed to the police. My only concern is were would they hide the 'magic box'. In my motorhome they took the dash out and hid it and wailing horns behind it. I'm planning to go and have a few days on their adjacent campsite to discus the above. I'll report back - unless someone does it before me!
Robin