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Vehicle stolen - Tracker company want £600 to trace it
Hi all,
My car was stolen over the weekend and I subsequently found-out that it had a tracker on it. I wasn't paying a subscription to the tracker company, but they said that they could trace/locate it on a "no refund" basis, for £600. They have sent out a signal to the tracker and it did 'ping' yesterday, so the tracker is active and potentially can be used to locate the vehicle.
I spoke to them just now and they've sent out another signal, and if that comes back, I was going to pay the amount... Unless someone can suggest an alternative to this?
The company I'm speaking to is called "Tracker" (0800 911900.) Does anyone have any experience with them and/or are there any other company that can trace the tracker instead of them?
Any help would be massively appreciated.
R
My car was stolen over the weekend and I subsequently found-out that it had a tracker on it. I wasn't paying a subscription to the tracker company, but they said that they could trace/locate it on a "no refund" basis, for £600. They have sent out a signal to the tracker and it did 'ping' yesterday, so the tracker is active and potentially can be used to locate the vehicle.
I spoke to them just now and they've sent out another signal, and if that comes back, I was going to pay the amount... Unless someone can suggest an alternative to this?
The company I'm speaking to is called "Tracker" (0800 911900.) Does anyone have any experience with them and/or are there any other company that can trace the tracker instead of them?
Any help would be massively appreciated.
R
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Comments
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Is the car worth more than £600? yes? then pay it
What would happen if the insurance discovered that you had the means to find the car but decided not to?'Just because its on the internet don't believe it 100%'. Abraham Lincoln.
I have opinions, you have opinions. All of our opinions are valid whether they are based on fact or feeling. Respect other peoples opinions, stop forcing your opinions on other people and the world will be a happier place.0 -
Exemplar said:What would happen if the insurance discovered that you had the means to find the car but decided not to?
What I'm really interested to learn is, is this tracker uniquely accessible to the company I'm in contact with, or are other 3rd parties able to access it equally easily? Can I save anything on the potential £600 outlay? The car is worth more than £600, but if someone can do it for less, I'd be interested...
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RakeshS said:Exemplar said:What would happen if the insurance discovered that you had the means to find the car but decided not to?
What I'm really interested to learn is, is this tracker uniquely accessible to the company I'm in contact with, or are other 3rd parties able to access it equally easily? Can I save anything on the potential £600 outlay? The car is worth more than £600, but if someone can do it for less, I'd be interested...
Nope, just Tracker.
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What will you do if you pay £600, go to the revealed location and find nothing? Or find just a tracker lying on a pavement. Or find some unpleasant men who don't consider legalities such as car ownership.
This is surely a Police and/or Insurance matter.
How much is the car worth?
I presume that the car is insured and that you have reported the theft to the insurance company.
You could inform the insurance company and leave it to them to pay or not pay. That is what I would probably do.
Have you informed the Police? They will probably do nothing but they might be able to encourage the tracker company to act as otherwise they could in theory be charged with withholding information about a crime.
I am probably delving into the world of fantasy there.A man walked into a car showroom.
He said to the salesman, “My wife would like to talk to you about the Volkswagen Golf in the showroom window.”
Salesman said, “We haven't got a Volkswagen Golf in the showroom window.”
The man replied, “You have now mate".4 -
In 2004 I paid a one off £300 to transfer the tracker membership for my car when I bought it, the other option was something like £100 a year. The £600 sounds reasonable in today's money0
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An option would seem to be to tell the insurance company about the tracker - and leave it to them how to act. As pointed out above, what would you do with the location yourself? Fine if joyriders abandoned it in the next town, but very many options I wouldn't want to act on alone.
But a banker, engaged at enormous expense,Had the whole of their cash in his care.
Lewis Carroll1 -
I'm curious to know how you found out about the tracker. And the company did they contact you out of the blue?? Are you sure it's not a scam pretending to be a legit company?
I wouldn't be paying money out to a company I didn't know about for a service I'm not sure will result in a reasonable outcome.
Thinking at best you pay £600 to get a location where the vehicle was when they were pinged but is no longer there. Not so best you get there and it's a burnt out wreck. Or as someone else has suggested has some nasty people sitting in it drinking beer and eating big macs. (other fast food is available).I’m a Forum Ambassador and I support the Forum Team on Debt Free Wannabe and Old Style Money Saving boards. If you need any help on these boards, do let me know. Please note that Ambassadors are not moderators. Any posts you spot in breach of the Forum Rules should be reported via the report button, or by emailing forumteam@moneysavingexpert.com. All views are my own and not the official line of MoneySavingExpert.
"Never retract, never explain, never apologise; get things done and let them howl.” Nellie McClung
⭐️🏅😇4 -
I have seen on the police TV shows if they get a ping from tracker and are asked to investigate, they have specialist kit to triangulate the location once they get close - the tracker ping may be in a city or at least area of a city so could be a real pain to locate without specialists - why not get your insurance company to do this? Depending on the car though, they might be taking it for parts as much as wanting to sell it so you might find the tracker eventually but not much car left
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Deleted_User said:I have seen on the police TV shows if they get a ping from tracker and are asked to investigate, they have specialist kit to triangulate the location once they get close - the tracker ping may be in a city or at least area of a city so could be a real pain to locate without specialists - why not get your insurance company to do this? Depending on the car though, they might be taking it for parts as much as wanting to sell it so you might find the tracker eventually but not much car left
To the OP - if you are claiming on your car insurance then speak to them about the tracker before paying it yourself, depending on vehicle value etc they may decide they are willing to pay for reactivation and may well have better corporate rates for doing so.
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RakeshS said:Hi all,
My car was stolen over the weekend and I subsequently found-out that it had a tracker on it. I wasn't paying a subscription to the tracker company, but they said that they could trace/locate it on a "no refund" basis, for £600. They have sent out a signal to the tracker and it did 'ping' yesterday, so the tracker is active and potentially can be used to locate the vehicle.
I spoke to them just now and they've sent out another signal, and if that comes back, I was going to pay the amount... Unless someone can suggest an alternative to this?
The company I'm speaking to is called "Tracker" (0800 911900.) Does anyone have any experience with them and/or are there any other company that can trace the tracker instead of them?
Any help would be massively appreciated.
R
I never thought if the "scam" idea until @Brie mentioned it. If you do decide to call Tracker, use the contact details on the website:
https://www.tracker.co.uk/contact-us
That does not give a free-phone number, but they may have one. It seems unlikely that a scammer would have a free-phone number as "911 emergency" as the number quoted.
As others suggested, it is really for the insurance company / Police to track the vehicle.
You've not mentioned what the car is. Is it plausible that a previous owner would have fitted a Tracker device? Quite likely on a Range Rover, less so on an Aygo.0
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