Each year, insurers and owners across the nation suffer an estimated $1 billion in losses due to theft of heavy equipment such as backhoe loaders and tractors, and associated fraud and claims-handling costs.

Reports to the Insurance Services Office have shown an increase of up to 20 percent in the value of equipment thefts every year since 1996 and show theft as the most common cause of loss for heavy equipment—more than 50 percent.

The National Equipment Register (NER) has published its 2003 Equipment Theft Report detailing the theft and recovery of heavy equipment using a database of more than 30,000 thefts. Although thefts were reported to NER in every state, the top five states (Texas, North Carolina, Florida, California and Georgia) accounted for 33 percent of the total number of thefts. Alabama ranked 16th and Mississippi was 24th in the nation for the most heavy equipment thefts.

Hundreds of millions of dollars of equipment are stolen each year due to the frequent lack of vehicle security on farms and at remote work sites. Because of the complex nature of identifying heavy equipment and a lack of accurate data on missing and stolen equipment for law enforcement, as little as 10 percent of this equipment is ever recovered.

Heavy equipment is very valuable and easy to sell in the used-equipment market. The machine can be disassembled and sold for parts or the thief can ship the parts to another country. Investigators have found that in most circumstances, the money is used to support drug habits, and even if an item is recovered and a conviction is secured, the penalty is likely to be light.

The following are tips compiled from the NER and Alabama Department of Agriculture and Industries to reduce heavy equipment theft: