Vehicle Tracking Devices

martin1018

Can anyone advise of their experience with, or recommendation of, any tracking devices for vehicles.

I don't want to fork out the initial cost and subsequent subscription for the original 'Tracker' brand, but I have found a 'snooper' device which costs £150 and works by sending a text message of its GPS location when requested by the owner. Cheaper ones are available from fleebay (usually from China) but this one seems ideal to me but wondered if anyone had any experiences.

Many thanks.

INT1

I would avoid anything to do with China in my opinion.

Go for the likes of RAC Trackstar.

Sometimes the system sets off a false reading and you might get the odd phone call seeing if the vehicle has been moved without your authority but touchwood never had to use for them to trace a vehicle.

The higher end systems use a mix of both GPS and GSM based tracking.

catflea

Register a PAYG mobile phone with a GSM tracking service and hide it somewhere within the car (if you can wire in a permanent charger then even better!) :j I've done that with one of my cars. Stripped the phone right down to the circuit board, & hidden a charger then taped it behind the glovebox liner.....

Cheap and simples :rotfl:

sebdangerfield

Hi, From my experience only the tracker brand are fitted to Police vehicles. Other brands may be cheaper but when you have the car stolen and know where it is, the Police will be far slower to react to your directions than they would if they were recieving the information directly into the Police car or helicopter from tracker. I know of many frustrated owners of the trackstar and other devices who have had very bad experiences of anything other than tracker.

I'm also aware of a case I worked on where the client's car was stolen and had tracker. He had the cheapest version which didn't have a subscription fee. When he called tracker to 'activate' the tracking the call centre wouldn't start tracking the car until they had a crime number from the Police. For some reason, the other, more expensive ones from tracker don't require this. The delay in getting the activation code meant the Police's interest dwindled. Obviously, if the activation had happened immediately then the signal could have been boosted and the chances of a result would be far higher.

My advice would be to be very careful about the system you go for.

dacouch

I work for an Insurance broker and we sometimes have discussions over trackers and the like (Tracker is definately the best). Basically in some circumstances you may not want your car back so think about it before you buy one.

I've seen a few clients where their pride and joy car was stolen and then recovered thanks to tracking devices. The thieves had ragged the cars rotten, the Insurers fixed the dents etc etc. But the owners were not happy as the treatment their cars had received meant they had niggles with say the gear box or the engine. It's often difficult to prove these problems and the Insurers don't accept always accept them. The owners I have seen no their cars are not right and often sell them shortly after often taking a hit as they are selling the car earlier than expected and it is stolen recovered.

Don't get me wrong on the right cars trackers are invaluable and you often can't get insurance without them. But I have seen a fair few cases where the owner wished the car never came back

Hintza

aldo wrote: »

I would avoid anything to do with China in my opinion.

Most stuff is now made in China.....;)

But I would agree about buying direct.