New product similar to one in automobiles
The best of them are big, powerful and a bit flashy: two-wheeled works of art with massive engines and price tags around $20,000 to $30,000. For a true motorcycle fan, it’s well worth the investment to own a gorgeous Harley.
But thieves value motorcycles too, and they’ve gotten increasingly good at stealing them.
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Across the nation, 55,657 motorcycles were stolen in 2003, up 55 percent from 2002 and more than double the number reported in 1999, according to the National Insurance Crime Bureau.
Now LoJack, which for 18 years has been helping police to recover stolen cars and trucks, is looking to carve out a new niche with LoJack for Motorcycles, launched last month in Massachusetts, the company’s home state. This month it’s being rolled out in the Greater Miami-Ft. Lauderdale area, and Texas and California will follow later in the year.
“Quite simply, we believe this is the right product at the right time,” said Joseph F. Abely, CEO of the LoJack Corp. “Motorcycle riding is – once again – an increasingly popular pastime, as evidenced by skyrocketing bike sales, which are expected to rival those from the ‘Easy Rider’ days of the 1970s. At the same time, bike theft is also climbing at alarming rates, and there is a lack of effective theft-protection solutions available to consumers.”
The new product ties into the same Stolen Vehicle Recovery System used by police in 22 states. A small radio transmitter is hidden on the motorcycle, so thieves won’t know it’s there. If the bike is stolen, LoJack activates the transmitter, and police use the signal it emits to find the bike.
LoJack claims a 90 percent recovery rate for cars. Nationally, stolen-auto recovery rates are around 65 percent to 70 percent, according to the NICB; motorcycle recovery rates are much lower, 25 percent to 30 percent.
And motorcycles are very easy to steal, said Nick Sakelaris, operations manager for service and parts at Kelly’s House of Harley Davidson, in North Billerica, Mass., one of the first dealerships to get the new LoJack for Motorcycles.
“It’s a lot easier to steal a motorcycle than an automobile,” he said. “Two people can pull up with a flatbed, lift it up, and they’re gone.” Another common method, a LoJack spokesman said, is to steal a minivan, take out the seats, and load a motorcycle inside.
Far more than cars, motorcycles are often stripped for parts or rebuilt into new bikes, according to the NICB. In fact, the insurance group warns consumers against buying any motorcycles described as “assembled vehicles” or “all custom,” because they’re likely to have been built in a chop shop. The NICB specifically warns about reassembled Harley “clones.”
Sakelaris said several of his customers have had their bikes stolen. One lost his at Daytona, he said; thefts at Laconia happen “much more than people realize.”
The new LoJack will retail for $595, plus a one-time installation fee paid to the installer. It comes with a limited two-year warranty and money-back guarantee if a stolen bike is not received within 24 hours.
So far, Sakelaris said, his dealership has only sold “a couple,” but it’s the slow season, and LoJack still hasn’t provided any promotional materials. “We haven’t hit into our busy time,” he said. “We’re waiting for brochures, and I think once we get them, it’s going to take off.”
