Inventory is hard to get, expensive to hold, and even harder to replace. And now thieves know it, too.

Used vehicle prices are climbing fast. According to the Manheim Used Vehicle Value Index, wholesale values are up nearly 10 percent over last year. As CBT News explains, the cars already on your lot are appreciating, not depreciating, and criminals know it.

When Vehicle Values Spike, Theft Does Too

Here’s the hard truth: every 92 seconds, a dealership somewhere in the U.S. loses a car to theft.

The logic is simple. As car prices go up, so does the payout for stealing them. Thieves aren’t just looking for luxury models, they’re targeting whatever’s easiest to get to and quick to move. Trade-ins near the gate, unsupervised keys, running cars, or anything that can be stripped and sold fast.

Statewide Insurance summed it up: your lot is a target.

And with 4 out of 10 stolen vehicles coming from dealer lots, this isn’t rare. It’s happening coast to coast. Organized crews are targeting high-value inventory, disabling security systems, and moving cars before most standard security setups even notice they’re gone. In this market, your vehicles aren’t just more valuable to buyers, they’re more valuable to criminals too.

One Stolen Car Is Never Just One Stolen Car

Losing a vehicle isn’t just a line item. It’s a mess.

You’re on the phone with insurance, sorting paperwork, fielding follow-up calls. Your premiums are about to increase, but your inventory just shrank. The salesperson who had that car lined up for a test drive is scrambling. The customer is frustrated, or already on their way to a competitor.

And this wasn’t just any car. It was a one-owner, five-year-old unit in pristine condition. Low miles, clean history, priced right—and you had two buyers lined up. Now it’s gone.

That one stolen car didn’t just walk off the lot. It took gross, time, trust, and momentum with it.

And the worst part? You never saw it coming.

Smarter Thieves Call for a Smarter System

Criminals have evolved.

They don’t just look for weak spots, they create them. They’ve figured out how to cut power to your lot, disable camera systems, jam alarms, and walk off with keys and inventory before anyone even knows something’s wrong. Some work fast, others work quiet. Either way, by the time your security footage loads, the car’s long gone.

You need more than a recording of what went wrong, you need to stop it before the car disappears.

Ikon gives you alerts when something’s wrong, not after the car is already gone. It’s what your security cameras can’t do:

• Get notified when a vehicle leaves your lot
• Know immediately if a device is tampered with or removed
• Trigger stolen mode and send a live vehicle location link to police
• Our average recovery time is just 22 minutes

That’s not future-proofing. That’s today-proofing.

Don’t Wait to Learn This the Hard Way

If your inventory’s worth more, it’s also worth more to steal. So what’s your plan when someone tries?

Don’t wait to find out your system doesn’t do what you thought it did and get stuck navigating downtime, lost customer confidence, increasing premiums, and an inventory gap.

Because hoping for the best isn’t a strategy. It’s a liability.