They Don't Steal the Mower. They Steal the Trailer It's Sitting On.

Infographic: pay once, cry once. Riding mowers and garden tractors were 41 percent of stolen equipment in 2016, and only 21 percent of stolen equipment was recovered, according to the NER and NICB 2016 Equipment Theft Report.

It is 5:50 on a Thursday evening in late October. The last crew backs the trailer into its spot at the yard and drops it on the tongue jack. The zero-turn is still strapped to the deck. Four backpack blowers and two trimmers are still hanging on the rack. Tomorrow starts early, so nobody unloads.

That trailer is the easiest thing in the yard to steal. A thief does not need to start the mower, find a ramp, or make four trips. He needs a hitch ball and about as long as it takes to back up to it.

Thieves don't steal mowers. They steal the trailer the mower is sitting on, and everything else that came along for the ride.

Here is what the national theft data says about that rig, what it is worth when you add it all up, and why the cheapest way to protect all of it is to track the one thing everything else is sitting on.

Mowers Are the Most Stolen Equipment in America

The most recent national equipment theft report from the National Equipment Register (NER) and the National Insurance Crime Bureau (NICB) covers 2016. That year, 11,574 equipment thefts were reported to the FBI's National Crime Information Center, and the single largest category was riding mowers and garden tractors, at 41% of all stolen equipment (NER/NICB 2016 Equipment Theft Report).

The report explains why. It says two factors decide what thieves take: "value and mobility." Value comes first, "except for items too large to move on a small trailer." A commercial mower is valuable and fits on a small trailer. That is the whole problem in one sentence.

The same report gives one piece of advice that most landscaping yards break every night of the season: equipment "should also never be left on trailers."

Add Up the Whole Rig

Most owners think about theft one machine at a time. Thieves do not. When a loaded trailer leaves the yard, everything on it leaves too.

Here is an example, not survey data or a price quote. Plug in your own numbers:

Commercial zero-turn mower: about $14,000
16 to 20 foot open landscape trailer: about $5,000 to $8,000
Handhelds (backpack blowers, trimmers, edgers): about $3,000 to $5,000

That is roughly $22,000 to $27,000 on one trailer, before you count the fuel cans, the hand tools, and the day of work the crew cannot do. For comparison, NER and NICB put the average estimated value of a single stolen machine at $29,258 in 2016 (NER/NICB 2016 Equipment Theft Report). A loaded landscape trailer lands right in that range.

Getting It Back Is the Hard Part

Of the 11,574 thefts reported in 2016, police recorded 2,442 recoveries. That is a recovery rate of about 21% (NER/NICB 2016 Equipment Theft Report).

Mowers do worse than average. Riding mowers and garden tractors were 41% of stolen equipment, but only 24% of recovered equipment in the same report. They are the most stolen category and among the least likely to come back.

The report lists the reasons recovery rates are so low. The first is "delays in discovery of thefts and subsequent delays between time of the occurrence and reporting." A trailer taken Thursday night and noticed Friday morning has already had an eight hour head start.

Track the Trailer, Not Just the Mower

The trailer is the one thing every other piece of equipment leaves on. Put a tracker on the trailer and you are watching the mower, the blowers, the trimmers, and the trailer itself, all at once. If the mower is unloaded at a job site, a second tracker on the mower covers it there.

Four steps cost almost nothing and close most of the gap:

1. Unload the mower at night when you can. The NER advice is blunt: equipment should never be left on trailers. When you cannot, chain the mower to the trailer frame so it is not a drive-off.

2. Lock the coupler. A trailer sitting on its jack with an open coupler is an invitation. A coupler lock makes the thief bring tools and spend time.

3. Keep a serial number list. NER lists "equipment owners' inaccurate or nonexistent ownership records" as another reason for low recovery. Photograph the serial plate on every machine and the trailer VIN, and keep the list somewhere other than the truck.

4. Know the minute it moves. Shrinking the discovery delay is the one thing on the NER list you control. An alert at 11 PM gives police a fresh location instead of a cold report the next morning.

Where Alertrax Fits

Alertrax is built for the things that do not have a battery of their own, like the trailer the whole rig rides on.

After-Hours Movement Alerts: Set the hours your trailers should be parked. If one moves outside them, you get a notification on your phone instead of finding an empty spot in the morning.
Geofence Alerts: Draw a boundary around your yard and get notified when a tracked trailer or mower crosses it.
Live Fleet Map: Every tracked trailer and mower on one map in the Alertrax Fleet Portal, with location updates every 2 minutes.
Shareable Tracking Link: Generate a live link from the fleet portal or the app and hand it to the responding officer.
One-Year Battery, No Wiring Required: Alertrax runs on two AA cells, so it goes on a trailer with no lights to tap into and nothing to charge.
100% Waterproof, Covert Magnetic Mounting: Mounts to a steel trailer frame in seconds, where it is not the first thing a thief sees.
iOS and Android App: Alerts, the map, and history on your phone.

Pricing

You can equip your fleet with Alertrax for a low monthly rate, no long-term contracts, no hidden fees.

(Want to own it outright? We offer a $599 Lifetime option for permanent, subscription-free tracking.)

Pay once, cry once. Every Alertrax order also comes with a 30 day money-back guarantee.

Sources

National Equipment Register (NER) and National Insurance Crime Bureau (NICB), "2016 Equipment Theft Report," published 2017, retrieved October 2026: 11,574 equipment thefts reported to NCIC in 2016; 2,442 recoveries (21% recovery rate); riding mowers and garden tractors 41% of stolen equipment and 24% of recovered equipment; average estimated value of a stolen machine of $29,258; "value and mobility" as the factors that decide what thieves steal; the recommendation that equipment "should also never be left on trailers"; and the listed factors in low recovery rates, including delays in discovery and reporting and inaccurate or nonexistent ownership records. This is the most recent edition listed on NER's annual theft report page as of October 2026, and its figures are a decade old

This article is provided for general informational purposes and is not insurance, legal, or security advice. National theft statistics describe reported thefts and may not reflect your area or your risk. The equipment and trailer values above are an illustration, not survey data or price quotes; your costs will differ. No tracking device can guarantee recovery of stolen property.

Protect the Whole Rig

You already locked the gate. Make sure that if the trailer leaves anyway, you are the first to know, not the last.

Visit www.buyalertrax.com today and put one tracker on the trailer that carries everything.