Auto Dealership Surveillance

The Challenge

A family-owned auto dealership on South Memorial Drive in Tulsa was losing money to inventory damage and theft. Over the previous 12 months, the dealership had experienced two catalytic converter thefts from vehicles on the back lot, one break-in to the parts department, and multiple instances of vandalism to vehicles parked near the street. Their existing camera system — a six-camera analog setup installed nearly a decade ago — produced grainy footage that was essentially useless for identifying suspects or filing insurance claims.

The general manager needed a system that could cover over 2.5 acres of outdoor lot space, the indoor showroom, the service bay area, and the parts department. Critically, the footage needed to be sharp enough for license plate identification at the lot entrances and clear enough at night to capture faces under the overhead lighting.

Our Solution

Witness Security designed a 16-camera 4K surveillance system built for the specific demands of an automotive dealership environment — large open lots, mixed indoor/outdoor zones, and the need for forensic-quality footage around the clock.

• 10 exterior bullet cameras — 4K resolution with motorized varifocal lenses, positioned to cover every row of the front and rear lots with overlapping fields of view
• 2 license plate recognition (LPR) cameras — mounted at the two lot entrances, capable of capturing plate numbers on vehicles entering and exiting at speeds up to 45 mph
• 2 interior dome cameras — covering the showroom floor and customer lounge with wide-angle lenses
• 2 service bay cameras — vandal-resistant housings rated for the heat, dust, and vibration of a working shop environment
• 64-channel NVR — with 16TB of storage providing 30+ days of continuous recording across all 16 cameras at full 4K resolution
• Remote access — the owner and GM can view any camera live from their phones or office desktops, pull footage, and export clips directly

We mounted cameras on 20-foot poles at the lot perimeter for maximum coverage and used existing conduit runs where possible to keep installation costs down. The entire system was installed over a weekend to avoid disrupting business operations.

The Results

The new system paid for itself within the first quarter. Two weeks after installation, the LPR cameras captured a vehicle that returned to the lot after hours — security was alerted and the individual was identified before any damage occurred.

• 100% lot coverage — zero blind spots across the entire 2.5-acre property, day and night
• License plate capture rate of 98%+ at both entrances, providing a searchable log of every vehicle on the property
• Insurance premium reduced by 15% after the insurer reviewed the upgraded system specifications
• Zero theft or vandalism incidents in the six months following installation
• 30+ days of 4K footage retention — more than enough for any investigation or insurance claim

The dealership’s GM summed it up: “We went from squinting at blurry footage to having crystal-clear video of every corner of this lot. Witness Security built exactly what we needed — no upselling, no fluff, just a system that works.”