Car Dealerships have stock to protect, alongside computer equipment and staff. Car Garages, too, have the equipment and staff protect but also, their customer’s cars.
Both car dealerships and car garages have high-value items to protect, so not putting in a robust security system could be significantly damaging to your business should the worse occur. You should look at how much it would cost to replace any stock, equipment, and other physical assets and the impact it would have on your business. When you start to look at the figures, it’s well worth putting in a security system to keep your site secure.
Additionally, not only does a good security system act as a theft deterrent, but it can also be used in the event of a health and safety issue or for controlling access to restricted areas. It is also important to note that should the unthinkable happen, you have done all you can to either prevent the occurrence or be able to provide images should they be needed.
A good security system should:
Notify you of an unauthorised entry – Record evidence of unsolicited activities – Allow quick access to when and where incidents have happened – Restrict access to unauthorised persons
Your security needs will depend on various factors such as assets and site size so please get in touch for a free site security audit.
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CCTV Systems for Car Dealerships and Car Garages
Car dealerships and car garages both have some significant assets to protect. If you have an IP CCTV system in place and someone gains unauthorised entry; you’ll be able to identify the culprit and provide evidence to the authorities.
Likewise, CCTV systems can be used for evidence on any health and safety incidents; this is particularly useful for car garages where you will have people in the workshop and an incident may occur. You may need to see what has occurred to see if there was any way to prevent it or evidence against a claim.
Essential CCTV System Features for Car Dealerships and Car Garages
The IP CCTV systems we install all have the following benefits;
- Mobile app –You’ll be able to view your CCTV footage live or in playback mode, remotely.
- Analytics / Notifications – You will be notified of any key events that are pre-determined e.g. anyone entering the car park. You can also use it to analyse how many visitors you had to your site. You may be able to identify any trends such as busier times and allocate appropriate resource.
- Smart Search – You are able to “draw a line” around a certain area and watch the activity for that specific area. It enables quick searching for any incidents; health and safety issues, break-ins, criminal damage or even bullying. For instance, if you have a customer who insists damage was done to their vehicle; you can use your CCTV system to prove what happened by selecting the right camera, select the area on the camera where car was located, select a time-frame and it will highlight ‘events’ which will show you anything that happened in that frame. You will be able to export the footage and send on as evidence.
Not only do you need to choose the right IP CCTV system but also the right cameras and features. There are three main types of cameras; Fisheye, Dome and Bullet. For car dealerships and car garages we would generally recommend bullet cameras to watch the property, externally and dome cameras for inside the building.
Bullet cameras tend to be a lot more noticeable because of their aesthetics however that actually helps deter opportunists. Typically, they are one of the better options for outside monitoring especially with their longer-range capabilities.
Dome Cameras can rotate 360-degrees and tend to be best for internal environments. They also tend to be known as “Vandal-proof,” because of their durable casing, they can withstand quite vigorous of activities.
These are the most useful CCTV features for car dealerships and car garages:
- Panoramic view (no blind spots)
- Tamper detection
- Weather protection
- Night-vision
- Intrusion detection
- Auto-tracking
- Infra-red
- Line crossing (if someone intrudes on a boundary such as a fence)
- Object removal detection
- Facial detection
- Self-learning video analytics
- Types of CCTV Cameras
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Intruder Alarms for Car Dealerships and Car Garages
An Intruder Alarm is there to detect any unauthorised entry into your business. A burglar is usually after a quick win so they are more likely to go after sites with less security.
Look at the potential monetary loss. For instance, you have cars to sell or fix at your site. How much are they worth? What impact would it have to your business if they were stolen? When you start to look at the figures, it’s well worth putting in an Intruder detection system.
There are three main types of intruder alarms; Bells only, Dialler and Smart.
- Bells only – When activated, the alarm will make a lot of noise but it will not notify you. You are relying on sound to deter the burglar from acting any further.
- Dialler - When activated it will automatically call a pre-specified phone number.
- Smart- Like the Dialler intruder alarm, it will contact you, or other specified contacts via your app.
Best type of Intruder Alarm for Car Dealerships and Car Garages
For a car dealership or a car garage, we recommend at least a Bells Only intruder alarm but ideally, the Dialler intruder alarm.
The Smart intruder alarm is very similar to the Dialler and therefore, it is a matter of how you want to be contacted.
The fire alarm you choose should, at least, have the following features:
- Motion detectors – detect movement within the area it can monitor
- Shock sensors – for any entry via windows
- Alarm – which alerts through sound and lights
- Panic buttons – if you are within the building and notice a break-in you can act on it
- App – keep an eye on the business when you’re not there.
Access Control in Car Dealerships and Car Garages
Both car dealerships and car garages have assets to protect, whether that be their staff, stock in the showrooms and warehouses or expensive tools and equipment used to fix client’s vehicles.
Access control offers a secure, convenient, flexible, and cost-effective way of controlling who has access to your building, when that access is allowed, and where.
Access Control suitable for Car Dealerships and Car Garages
There is a variety of available standard and biometric scanners available. Car Dealerships and Car Garages tend to use standard access control. Essentially, it means that you don’t require a higher level of security that requires personal characteristics of a person to access it, therefore you don’t need to install biometric scanners.
Pin Code
A device is attached to an entry point which is programmed with a PIN code. Authorised staff members will be given the code (either a unique code to them or a universal code), which will allow them entry to that protected space.
It’s more cost-effective than the pass or fob but it does rely on people’s memory and trusting them not to share the code with another.
Access Pass or Fob
Similar to the PIN Code access control, except the device associated with it is programmed to accept a pass or fob. The physical pass can be standardised across the whole business so that everyone looks the same.
There are a few downsides to the access pass; they are used continuously so they can be subject to wear and tear and they can be cloned, lost, stolen or shared.
Intercom
A video intercom means you are able to confirm a visitor’s identity verbally and visually before allowing access to the building.
Fire Alarms and Detection for Car Dealerships and Car Garages
UK Fire Alarm regulations don’t specify the exact type of fire alarm you should have, it should just be ‘appropriate’ for your business. There are three main types of Fire Alarms; Conventional, Addressable and Wireless.
The deciding factor should be how effectively the alarm alerts people on your premises to danger and protects their safety.
Which Fire Alarm is suitable for a Car Dealership and Car Garage?
For a car dealership, a conventional fire alarm would be a suitable option, if you have a larger site, that perhaps has elevators, we recommend the addressable fire alarm because it would deactivate them for you.
For a car garage, a conventional fire alarm would be a suitable option unless you have equipment that would need to be automatically deactivated in the event of a fire, then we would recommend a compatible addressable fire alarm.
Conventional Fire Alarms work on zones, so it divides your business area into different areas. When a fire happens, the fire alarm panel will show you the zone but not the exact location.
The Addressable Fire Alarm tells you exactly where the fire is, whether there is smoke, heat or even if there is a fault. Addressable Fire Alarms can be integrated to activate a selection of fire safety features such as shutting down equipment or deactivating elevators.
Security Barriers for Car Dealerships and Car Garages
Car dealerships and garages need to look at the whole site security, not just the main office building because a lot of the time, their assets are external to the building.
The security that you put in place should make it difficult for opportunists to access as much of your site as possible, putting every obstacle in their way so they deem it too risky to attempt a break-in. For car dealerships, though, it’s a fine line of securing the site and not obstructing possible customers from seeing available stock, outside of working hours.
Security Barriers for Car Dealerships
These are the types of security gates and barriers used in car dealerships:
Drop Arm Barrier
A Drop arm barrier is typically found at entrances to your car park or where you have stock cordoned off so the barrier arm is down until access is granted and then it is automatically raised.
Bollards
In car dealerships, bollards are useful for pedestrian safety and preventing accidental and intentional damage to the building. They also tend to have collapsible bollards so they can protect their stock of cars but also move them around when needed.
Palisade Fencing
Palisade fencing is a good solution for car dealerships that want to protect their stock of cars, without obstructing the view of potential customers. The shape of the area that is needed to be protected also doesn’t matter when you use palisade fencing; whether it’s regular in shape or not.
Palisade fencing acts naturally as a deterrent because of the height, lack of footholds to climb and the points at the top and it can be integrated with the right intruder alarm.
Security Barriers for Car Garages
There are many different types of security barriers but the most popular types that are used in car garages are drop arm barriers and palisade fencing.
In car garages, drop arm barriers are good to help protect your customer’s cars at night when you don’t have room to lock them down in the garage. Palisade fencing is a solid choice to further protect the cars when parked.