With the rise of people purchasing RVs and trailers for their weekend camping trips and for hauling equipment for their businesses comes the steep tradeoff of increased asset theft. While locks and alarms are standard precautions to take for these things, they unfortunately often fall short when it matters most.
If you own an RV or trailer in 2025, GPS tracking isn’t just a smart choice, it’s a necessity. You must have a layer of protection that can make the difference between total loss and a successful recovery.
The scale of RV theft is often underestimated. In 2022, approximately 28,000 RVs were stolen across the U.S., leading to an approximate loss exceeding $600 million. This trended upwards in 2024, with over 30,000 reported stolen. This steady increase is attributed to the growing popularity of RV travel and the high resale value of RVs.
Towable RVs, like travel trailers, or pull-behinds as some call them, make up approximately 82% of these incidents. Their portability is a double-edged sword. Easy to hitch and move, these RVs can disappear in less than a minute. Once stolen, they are often re-titled, stripped, and sold across state lines, far out of reach of the original owner.
Some of the more common theft locations include:
The states with the highest rates of RV theft include California, Florida, and Texas. This is partially due to the ability for year-round use that is uncommon in other states, which unfortunately leaves them a little more exposed.
Given the challenges present in recovering stolen RVs, specifically travel trailers, or pull-behinds as they are sometimes called, prioritizing effective RV theft prevention methods, like GPS tracking, has become increasingly more important for owners looking to protect their investments.
In addition to RV theft, trailer theft is just as prevalent, if not more so. While exact figures are hard to track down in 2025, earlier reports have estimated that over 100,000 trailers are stolen annually in the U.S., resulting in combined losses exceeding $1 billion. This figure does include items that may be left inside trailers, such as tools, machines, or other high-value equipment, emphasizing the significant risk trailer owners face and showing the importance of proactive theft prevention measures.
There are some reasons that trailers are such attractive targets, and that is due to how easy they are to steal, modify, and resell without detection. In certain states, they are not required to be registered or have license plates, and serial numbers can be removed or altered easily. Once they are stolen, trailers can be sold as “homemade” or even stripped for parts with almost no paper trail. Without any kind of digital footprint or tracking device, recovering a stolen trailer becomes nearly impossible.
Most owners rely on locks, chains, or alarms to deter theft. While these methods can deter more casual thieves, professional criminals often work quickly and undetected. That’s why more and more owners are turning to trailer GPS tracking for a proactive defense against theft.
Unlike more passive deterrents, GPS tracking lets you:
GPS tracking has become an essential part of modern trailer and RV security. When theft occurs, having location data available can help law enforcement identify where the asset has traveled and increase the chances of recovery. For owners, it adds a layer of oversight that traditional deterrents, like locks or alarms, simply can’t provide on their own.
The financial losses that occur from RV and trailer theft are only part of the story. For small business owners, a stolen trailer could mean halted operations, missed deadlines, and even damaged customer relationships. For RV owners, it may cancel travel plans or even ruin a long-planned family vacation.
The emotional toll can run even deeper. When a trailer or RV disappears, it often can include sentimental belongings, camping gear, tools, expensive construction material, or other business assets. The experience can be very disorienting and expensive to recover from.
These are all reasons that more and more people who own trailers and RVs are asking the question, “How can I protect my RV or trailer?” The answer isn’t to stop using it, or to sell it, it is to make sure you have protection for your assets, and an RV GPS tracker, or trailer GPS tracker, are essential to that protection.
The theft of RVs and trailers is still a major issue and will continue to be. Traditional trailer anti-theft devices like locks and alarms offer some protection, but unfortunately, they aren’t enough on their own.
Moving forward, your RV & trailer theft protection must include digital tools that provide you with visibility to your assets. GPS tracking offers those benefits and more, from location history to geofencing, and the ability to provide location data to law enforcement.
Whether you’re traveling cross-country or parking your trailer at home, having the right security measures in place helps protect your investment, your time, and even your peace of mind.
