The lot is fully exposed for twelve hours a day
A dealership keeps its most valuable, most portable inventory outdoors, unattended, in a lit area that is easy to survey from a public street. Every night the sales floor closes and the inventory stays.
Cameras that only record turn a theft into paperwork. Monitored cameras turn the same event into a person walking back off the lot with nothing.
Four loss patterns that repeat
Each of these takes long enough that a live agent has time to intervene. That is why verification and voice-down matter more than resolution or storage.
- Catalytic converter cuts — minutes per vehicle, often several vehicles in one visit
- Wheels and tires — cars left on blocks in the front row
- Key and fob theft from the building, followed by a vehicle driven off the lot
- Overnight joyrides and vandalism — keyed panels, broken glass, damaged bodywork
Where cameras belong on a dealership lot
- Street-facing front rows and the sidewalk approach
- Rear and back-lot inventory rows, where converter cuts concentrate
- Service drive, service lot, and customer vehicles left overnight
- Parts department doors and any key storage area
- Gates, driveways, and every vehicle entry and exit path
- Detail and wash bays, plus tool and equipment storage
What happens when someone crosses the fence line
Detection classifies a person or vehicle in a monitored zone after hours. An agent verifies the event, then issues a voice-down naming the row they are standing in, what they are wearing, and what they are carrying.
If they stay, escalation runs: repeated warnings, strobes and sirens where installed, then law enforcement called with a live description. Time-stamped clips follow, which is what your insurer and the responding officer both need.
Monitoring versus a lot guard
| Option | Typical monthly cost | What you get |
|---|---|---|
| Overnight guard (one post) | $5,000-$9,000+ | One person, one location at a time, on a walked route |
| Cameras with recording only | Hardware only | Footage of the loss, after the loss |
| Monitored cameras (12-hour overnight) | $24.99 per camera | Every row watched at once, with live intervention |
Starting without new hardware
Most dealerships already have adequate camera coverage and simply have nobody watching it. We are compatible with most existing IP cameras and NVRs, so the usual addition is a speaker over the lot for voice-down.
Monitoring is $24.99 per camera, per month for 12-hour overnight coverage. Ten monitored cameras is $249.90 per month. 24-hour continuous coverage is quoted per site.