Dealers Concerned About RV Thefts in Southeast

RV dealers in the Southeast have been victimized by thieves apparently posing as customers who return during the middle of the night to steal high end fifth wheel toy haulers, according to officials at Great American RV SuperStores, a 10-location dealership with stores in Louisiana, Alabama, Mississippi, Florida and Tennessee.

“At first, we thought it was isolated to us,” said Steve Deffenbaugh, vice president. “But we’ve heard a lot of dealers in our region have also been hit.”

The thieves did a lot of pre-planning, and they are “sophisticated in knowing what type of RV they’re looking for,” Deffenbaugh said. “They may be posing as customers -- online and/or in person -- so I’d suggest dealers monitor their CRM and customers’ IP addresses.”

Dealers should also check if anyone opened a security gate at night but did not close it, and if any trailers or other vehicles were parked out of security camera range.

Great American locations are all equipped with elaborate security fencing and cameras, which showed the thieves used a late-model dually pickup capable of hauling a large fifth wheel. One pickup was sliver and another was white, but, unfortunately, the cameras did not see the pickup’s license plate.

“They must have a universal key or a power source to bring the slide-outs in,” added Russ Rudolph, Great American’s chief legal officer.

Then, there’s the question of what happens to the trailers after they’re taken from a dealership. Because they cannot be titled, Deffenbaugh thinks they might be sold to someone “living off the grid.” He believes that’s the case because one of the trailers stolen from Great American was found “in the middle of nowhere” in central Alabama.

Great American has contacted police departments where the thefts occurred but because they occurred in several states, Deffenbaugh said the FBI most likely will become involved.

To report a stolen vehicle, email info@rvda.org. Please provide make, model, VIN and any relevant details.

If you have information regarding any of these vehicles, please contact local law enforcement.