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Our story

 

Our Story

How did the Vanmate brand start?

 It’s a long story but the straw that broke the camels back, was a close friend of mine bought a newer VW transporter and that same week he got his van broken into twice, on the second time he got his door peeled.

 That evening, after he called me and told me about what happened I was in the gym and I was just thinking this really needs to stop. There are of course very expensive alarm systems out there but there isn’t currently an easy way for people to increase their van security. 

 

Is that the only reason?

Well, I have personally had my van broken into twice when I was a heating engineer back in the day.

I remember only too well the emotional pain it caused me, the first time it happened, I was around 23 (2008), it was my first van, I just got going self employed and was just finding my feet out in the real world.

I was still living at my mums at this point, I woke in the morning, had my coffee, walked outside to see the driveway covered in glass.

I went back in feeling utterly depressed and did not get up off of the sofa all day, I remember feeling apathetic, like what is the point I might as well work for McDonald’s. I just about mustered up the motivation to make a call to the company I was sub-contracting to but that was it, all day.

I remember my dad asking me what I was going to do with the smashed window, and honestly I was so fed up, I just did not care. Bless him, he patched it over for me that night with some bags. 

The 2nd time my van got broken into was around 2011, I was parked outside my house on a busy street, I woke up again to a smashed window. Oddly nothing stolen, they must have got disturbed, I thought I got away luckily, until I saw all of my paperwork missing, which was in fact service reports and gas safe certs, which I needed to get paid. That missing paperwork cost me over £1000.

This time instead of feeling apathetic and depressed, I felt anger, real raw anger, the sort of anger that could have got me into trouble had the timing been wrong.

Anyway, I think I have gone on a bit! That’s enough depressing stories for now, if you’re reading this, I’m sure you’re fully aware of the pain getting your van broken into causes, it’s not bloody nice!

What is your mission?

Something I personally had for a long time after my tools were stolen; is that niggling, low level anxiety late at night just before turning the lights off to go to bed worrying if my van would be safe. We want to put a stop to that feeling.

Our mission is to provide high quality van security products that are easily accessible to all tradesman and van owners in price and usability that don’t require a degree in engineering to install yourself.

What are your future plans?

We’re working on some unique, innovative products built from scratch, starting from sketches on a piece of paper to defeat thieves and provide van owner’s security once and for all. We’re a small business with big ambition! To stamp out tool theft, for good, for everyone.

Oh, before I forget, to prove our point, we created a new app, it's 100% free,  which will help everyone who uses it protect their tools, it's a bit like neighbourhood watch for Van owners & tradesman you can download it here - Download Vanmate App

 

 

Quality

Installed in over 18,000 vans in the UK. The feedback has been excellent! 

Fast shipping

We're a UK company, that means we ship from the UK and use Royal Mail tracked. 

Support

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