Content derived from Used Car Week 2025 Panel “Stopping Vehicle Theft & Fraud Before It Starts: A New Playbook for Dealers, Lenders & Transporters” consisting of Casey Harmon SVP at RunBuggy, Jeff Bulthuis Senior Assistant Director of Remarketing at Bridgecrest, and Tom Larson Sr. Manager TMCC Remarketing at Toyota Financial Services.
Vehicle transport is the backbone of remarketing, repossession, retail, fleet, and mobility operations. Yet, in the last 12 months, transport-related fraud and theft is spiking the industry—making headlines, disrupting operations, and eroding the trust that holds this ecosystem together.
If you’ve been hit, you’re not alone. If you haven’t yet, the data suggests it is only a matter of time.
To tackle this head-on, RunBuggy’s joined with leaders from Toyota Financial Services and Bridgecrest to break down the problem. We outlined a practical, real-world playbook for stopping it. Here is the distilled version—what is really happening, why it is getting worse, and what every stakeholder needs to tighten up.
The Problem: Theft Is No Longer a One-Off Event
Transport theft used to be an occasional annoyance. Today, it’s a coordinated, organized, multi-layered attack surface. To understand the severity, we have to look at the financial impact on your bottom line.
The Cost of Stolen Inventory:
- Dealers: Running on 10–15% margins, a dealer needs 10–30 additional sales just to make up for one stolen unit.
- Lenders: Operating at 3–5% margins, lenders may need 20–50 loans to replace the loss.
- Operations: Multi-day investigations self-inflicted by a missing vehicle crush productivity and distract teams from real work.
This isn’t petty crime anymore. It is a professional operation involving digital probing and coordinated pickup attempts that hit in 48–72 hour “flurries.”
It’s Not Usually Hacking—It’s People
Despite the fear of high-tech breaches, the biggest failure points are painfully simple. Most theft occurs because someone trusted the wrong person or skipped the validation process.
Common Human Failure Points:
- The Confidence Trick: Someone walks up and says, “I’m here for the black one,” and the keys change hands without verification.
- Impersonation: A consumer pretending to be an employee inserts themselves into the process.
- Gate Drops: A vehicle gets dropped outside an auction gate with the keys left inside.
- Paperwork Fraud: Dealers or auctions accept a paper drive-off slip that can be printed by anyone with a laptop.
Technology helps you prove what happened, but it doesn’t stop a bad handoff. Only disciplined process does that.
Vulnerability vs. Security: A Comparison
To stop these bad actors, we must move away from the “Old Way” of doing things. Here is how modernizing your process protects your assets:
| Feature | The Vulnerable “Old Way” | The Secure RunBuggy Way |
| Verification | Verbal confirmation / Paper slips | Digital QR Codes & App Verification |
| Chain of Custody | Broken / Unclear | Unbroken Digital Audit Trail |
| Identity | Trusting the person on site | Vetted Driver Network |
| Incident Response | Days/Weeks of investigation | Instant Digital Evidence |
The Playbook: How to Protect Your Vehicles
Based on our panel with Toyota and Bridgecrest, here are the five steps you must take to secure your transport operations.
1. Build a Real Cybersecurity Foundation
Your transport partner needs actual InfoSec talent—not just a checklist. You need active monitoring, attack detection, credentialed security leadership, and hardened access controls. If your partner can’t show you attack logs, you are flying blind.
2. Go Fully Digital—No Paper, No Exceptions
Paper is the enemy. It is easy to forge and impossible to trace.
- Move to mobile app–based verification.
- Utilize QR code drive-off passes.
- Require digital-only release approvals.
3. Maintain an Unbroken Digital Chain of Custody
Every vehicle move should be documented with pickup photos, drop-off photos, timestamped handoff events, and GPS-logged milestones. When something goes wrong, you instantly know where, when, and who. This is the single fastest way to resolve claims and disputes.
4. Train Your People—Constantly
Employees are the softest target. Training isn’t optional. You must train for social engineering awareness, fraud recognition, and release verification.
Tip: Toyota runs internal phishing tests to catch people and make a point. It reduces risk effectively.
5. Communicate With Your Partners
The transport chain breaks when people stop talking. Auctions need to know your exact process, dealers must understand your validation rules, and lenders must align on handoff protocols.
Frequently Asked Questions
Is transport theft mostly caused by hacking?
No. While digital probing exists, the majority of theft is social engineering—manipulating people into handing over keys or accepting fake paperwork.
Why is paper paperwork a security risk?
Paper gate passes and Bills of Lading can be easily forged by anyone with a printer. Digital verification, such as QR codes inside a secure app, cannot be faked easily.
What is a “Digital Chain of Custody”?
This refers to a continuous digital record of the vehicle’s journey, including GPS stamps, photos at pickup/delivery, and digital signatures, ensuring accountability at every step.
The Bottom Line
The last year has exposed a hard truth: trust without process is a liability. The industry can’t solve this with hope. It needs discipline, digital verification, and partners who treat security as a daily priority.
Ready to Secure Your Transport Operations?
RunBuggy is building the most secure, transparent, process-driven transport platform in the industry. If you want a partner that closes the gaps—not creates them—let’s talk.
Learn more about RunBuggy’s security efforts today at runbuggy.com/security.
