Car Trackers

Is this not what insurance is for?

Ah yeah, I saw a film about this.

You get a special type that can be fired out of a sniper rifle, and you sit in a hedge across the road and shoot it on to the back of the car. You'll know it worked because the red light will start blinking.

Then you can track the car with your colleagues in the big control room, on one of those green screens.

It's all very clever.

Genuine question, why would you want one?
As above, if my car was robbed then it the insurance companies problem and not mine.

We had trackers fitted to the vans at work. No experience before but they were all disabled pretty easily within a few minutes.

Well it's a comparatively nice car that would be quite hard to find again in the same spec, or would be expensive to modify a standard car up to the same spec, it's probably quite high on the "stolen to order" lists and generally I just enjoy driving it and would like to continue driving it. A tracker is starting to be mandatory for insurance on the newer models too so maybe no choice down the road.

Apparently a much higher incidence of arrests made when there's a tracker involved which is a definite attraction. But on the other hand I've read that despite a nicked car being returned as a result of having a tracker it may be recorded as stolen/recovered on the HPI/MIB database and subsequently be more expensive to insure and worth less. If that's the case then absolutely let the insurance take on all the risk.

@TheFlyingOx what car is it? Just being nosey.

I’m largely in the wouldn’t want it back camp, unless it’s donating special.

I’ve put a DIY in the camper because I really would quite like it back if anyone took it and didn’t destroy it. I know there’s a high chance they’ll find it and disable it straight away but it’s better than nothing.

It's a Mustang. Nothing extra special but it's got a few modifications that would cost a quite a few £k to put on a standard one to get it up to the same spec as mine.

Seems like all the Porsche, Aston, RS Audi owners say they wouldn't be without a tracker, whereas anyone with a more sensible car (and presumably no tracker) gives the kind of answer seen above. I'm just trying to work out if they are actually worth it.

there’s a high chance they’ll find it

How easy are they to find?

I'm thinking that, for the likes of a camper, there are so many wires around the vehicle that another would be hard to spot. Or is there a RF that can be scanned?

It’s a Mustang

Most likely to be stolen for a joyride than a crime then as oppose say an RS4 .

Would you really want it back after that?

I'd be wanting an immobiliser (ghost) or tbh id probably just get a less likely to be nicked car.

Mate had a tracker on a bike, scrotes tried to cut it out with an angle grinder - but he did get it back despite nearly being written off by insurance. Parked outside house in London so tracker was obligatory for insurance.

Your car doesn’t have on as standard? How quaint.

Well no, otherwise I wouldn't be asking would I?

Plus it's a Ford. Didn't even come with a spare wheel as standard 😄

Edit - I have just been reliably informed that it does indeed have a tracker already installed, I just need to register something with Ford and download an app. What a time to be alive!

Your car doesn’t have on as standard? How quaint.

Lolz. And you think your standard immobiliser actually protects you from these people.

Most people's cars are protected mostly by the fact that no one actually wants to steal them.

Is this not what insurance is for?

indeed.

To @drac ‘s comment. I expect Elon knows exactly where my car is. Though whether he’d tell the insurers 🤷🏻‍♂️

I have 3 technically on our T6!

1. Is the diesel heater which has an annual £35 subscription for tracking and remote triggering
2. Is cheap ebay tracker hidden and wired into leisure battery
3. Is proper thatcham tracker with https://globaltelemetrics.com/

My hope is if they find one or even 2 they won’t get all three.

Wouldn’t necessarily recommend global telemetrics. App is a bit rubbish but insurance company insisted and they could do a quick install.

Lolz. And you think your standard immobiliser actually protects you from these people.

Well no. As if they want to steal it they will, but I get a message if my alarm goes off and it can be tracked. Still at least a third party means they can’t possibly steal the car.

Yes, Ford were one of the early implementers of it.

Seen a few of the Automatrics Mtrack vids on youtube.
They don't only show successes but also failures.
If the tea leaves want it, it's impressive how quickly they can totally rip apart a car. Once they've done that, you'll be wanting the insurance payout, not the pile of car bit back.

Used to have one on a vehicle, but would avoid where possible. Most cars stolen to keep get whipped away quickly to somewhere with no signal (multi-storey car park for starters) but plenty of more secure locations too. The. They’re left for a while until they can be removed safely/tracker removed etc.

Mine got disconnected during a recall to the manufacturer and I didn’t get told by the monitoring company for 6 months.

Boss had a tracker fitted a couple of months back to his new RS4, unfortunately it seems this might have buggered up some of the electronic systems. As soon as Audi learned he'd had a tracker fitted, 'sorry, warranty void' and the tracker company are denying responsibility too. He'd spent the last 4 years driving a RR sport so though he'd finally seen the back of recovery trucks.

How easy are they to find

Not a car theif, but it's quite easy to spot extra wiring on a new car. Dead giveaway is an extra ground wire screwed to the bodywork.
Because of complicated canbus systems, it'll be wherever an easy switched/un switched 12v is.

The immobiliser wiring on mine is fairly easy to find, but is bloody awkward to get at, especially as some savage didn't mind cutting cable ties at angles.
Fortunately the car is quite good at immobilising itself.

We had a tracker fitted to our car which got stolen off the drive in April. The scrotes just drove it to a remote location, found it and ripped it out. Never to be seen again. We just have a big yellow steering wheel lock on the replacement. Probably a better deterrent and apparently very hard to remove.

especially as some savage didn’t mind cutting cable ties at angles.

Never mind vehicle theft - that there should be an offence punishable by dismemberment.

I’ve never bothered with a tracker. Heard many conflicting stories, most of them being about how trackers have failed to track and recover vehicles. I use a great big Stoplok Pro steering lock on my van, hoping they’ll just move along to the next one instead. You don’t have to be the fastest swimmer in the shark-infested water, only faster than the other swimmer…

Yep we have stoplok’s too. Big visible deterrent.

I have a Car Lock tracker. Think it was £50 from Amazon then about £60 a year for the subscription. All app based. Dead easy to use and very accurate. Pings a notification to my phone if it senses vibrations or if the engine is started. The tracking is very accurate. I have a fairly high risk vehicle in terms of theft target so having the piece of mind that if it does get stolen I can track its exact whereabouts is pretty reassuring. For those that say "isn't that what insurance is for" I'm guessing you've never tried to claim for a stolen or written off vehicle and argued with an insurer about its value

If you're going for a system choose both GPS and VHF, which might mean two installations
VHF systems will work inside buildings whereas GPS is less effective. VHF signals need to be detected by a unit that's sited within a few miles, GPS signals work internationally.
Both systems are only as good as their battery, disconnect the battery or run it flat and the thief can take their time to find and remove the system
The system is the last ditch in your defences, consider strengthening the outer ditches first??

I've always wondered about this for my campervan. Even fully insured it would be a huge kick in the nuts to get the payout and be faced with the huge task of starting from scratch (with all the other things in life it took me about 2 years to convert my van, and similar for the first one)

Faced with never seeing it again or the chance of being able to track it to where it's been stashed behind a barn for a few days is a no brainer for me.

Going really basic, how effective would a concealed smartphone wired into the leisure batteries with Google maps location and a cheap SIM be?

I've got a Mustang too, are you a member of the owners club or Simply Mustangs - we can chat cars and bikes sometime!

It's not a tracker but I've heard good things about the Ghost immobiliser.

Isn’t that what airtags are for?

My dad left his iPad in the car when it was stolen from a leisure centre. He logged into findmyiphone using the computer in reception and was able to give the police live updates on where the car was going.

The pursuit was stood down but the car was found abandoned a short time later after he directed them to the exact location.

So just leave expensive electronics in the boot and you'll be fine. Also leave an expensive musical instrument and some other stuff as well and don't bother to use the lockers in the changing room.

I’ve got a Mustang too, are you a member of the owners club or Simply Mustangs

Nice. I've joined SMUK and the Scottish owner's club but that's all.

re: the tracker I'm instead going for a Ghost immobiliser. Seems more likely to prevent actual theft as it still allows scrotes to start the car (which I will definitely hear), they just can't actually drive it off.

If you are after a theft recovery device rather than a tracking device - which will record every journey.

You want a battery powered device which is asleep for most of the time - these can be found by using a scanner and as they don't require any power from the vehicle they can be placed in harder to find locations. These ofen report in once a day - but can be triggered to a more frequent process in the case of a theft.

Most of my work was with business to business for Plant vegicles ( diggers etc.. ) for theft recovery.

If your after a tracker which is insurance rated - they are a very different items... but can still be found and removed.

Kinda, we wired in Victron kit into vehicles for filming, might be discreet hidden amongst all the other batteries and chargers in a campervan, not sure it would work so well in a mustang.