WESTWOOD, MA - LoJack Corporation announces the results of its eighth annual Construction Equipment Theft Study in a report that provides valuable information on the ongoing issue of equipment theft-a problem that costs construction companies up to $1 billion per year in lost assets.* 

According to the study, which analyzed LoJack stolen vehicle recovery reports for the calendar year 2008, construction theft continued at a steady pace with organized crime driving theft and loaders being the number one theft target.  For the calendar year 2008, LoJack recovered more than $15.5 million in stolen construction equipment.  Since entering the construction market in 2000, the company has recovered more than $100 million in LoJack-equipped stolen construction assets-plus the value of other stolen non-LoJack equipped construction equipment police recovered in chop shops and theft rings.

"In today's down economy, construction equipment owners need to take extra precautions to protect their valuable equipment from opportunistic professional thieves who see this as a high reward, low risk form of theft," said Ronald V. Waters, LoJack's President and Chief Executive Officer.  "Unfortunately, the real cost of stolen equipment is far more than the value of the item stolen, since business owners typically pay the hefty price tag of business downtime, increases in insurance premiums and contract penalties.  Stolen vehicle recovery systems - such as the one offered by LoJack - provide business owners with the protection they need to safeguard their equipment and their business from financial losses due to theft."

Professional Theft Rings Continue to Fuel Theft
Poor on-site security, easy access to open cabs, one key fits all and lack of product identification numbers/records are all issues that make construction equipment easy targets for professional thieves.  In fact, according to a 2008 Cygnus Business Media Research Study commissioned by LoJack and the National Insurance Crime Bureau, a full 71 percent of equipment owners have experienced equipment theft.

This year's study once again showed the ongoing role organized crime plays in the problem of construction equipment theft, with law enforcement discovering nine theft rings and chop shops through tracking and recovering stolen equipment with the LoJack System. Through these discoveries, police recovered more than $2 million in additional stolen assets that were not LoJack-equipped.