Car Tracking Systens

[Branchman]

How many members Have or would have a Tracker fitted to their car
As I note most of the insurance companies do not seem to offer discounts for car fitted with these devices. Any thoughts on make / style would be gratefully received

 

[SLKGirl]

I have Tracker "Locate" fitted, only because a lot of insurance companies seem to be mandating it now... to be honest I think the insurance companies make the rules up as they go along and move the goal posts to suit.

They won't insure you without one, but then out the price up as it means they have to fix it if its recovered, or if you park on your drive the risk of having house broken into to get keys goes up.... damned if you do , damned if you dont...

 

[ivan1983]

The SL has a tracker but I have no idea where it is in the car and I haven't carried on the subscription from the previous owner. It does however like to drain the battery if left to its own devices for sometime!

 

[HughSurrey]

The SL has a tracker but I have no idea where it is in the car and I haven't carried on the subscription from the previous owner. It does however like to drain the battery if left to its own devices for sometime!

Same here, on the car when I bought it and never bothered renewing. I have a cheap Nokia 6310 hard wired into my boat and use a mobile tracker website to check it is where it should be, cheap and cheerful, but seems to work.

 

[GP801]

The CLK and SLK both have Trackers fitted. At the time 2003 and 2005 the insurance companies insisted on it. Fortunately we took out the lifetime subscription option so I reckon its been pretty good value. I know they still work because Tracker phoned recently when the SLK was in for service and was moved without the key in the ignition.

 

[Lee C63]

Tracker locate on mine which saved a couple of hundred pounds on insurance.....also its cool how i can log on, and see where the car is, where it has been and at what speed when it is in getting any work done etc.

 

[V8 Supercharger]

I told Elephant insurance my car has a tracker and they put the premiums up, claiming it was a modification from the manufacturers spec!!!

So much for a discount.

Like its been said, insurance companys make up the rules as they go along. Most will use any excuse not to pay out.

 

[the prince]

Have had a Skytag tracker on Landrover Defender for about 5 years, but nobody ever touched it so stopped subs last year as at around £80 it seemed a waste. No insurer ever offered any discount or requested one fitted.

 

[TheFoX]

I had a Tracker on my old CLK, but money I saved on premiums was lost to installation and subscription.

I have nothing fitted to my CLS other than the manufacturer alarm.

I suppose it is what you have and where you live that counts. I live in the middle of nowhere, where car crime is zero, while lawnmower crime is high.

 

[the prince]

In my experience it's where you live that counts for insurance premiums.

I have a tracker on my Land Rover 110. But a year ago I stopped subscriptions. I bought the car 7 years ago and fitted the tracker soon after purchase, due to so many scare stories about Landies going missing in the night, even behind locked gates and in garages etc. My insurers never showed any interest in the tracker and have never offered a discount. Last year I stopped my subs as at £80 a year it just seemed a waste, as nobody has ever touched it even though it's parked out on the street in the car crime capital of South Yorks. I did enjoy getting the monthly check emails which occasionally said that the battery needed charging, when it had been stood for a while.

 

[GLK]

I just fitted a GPS tracker to my A200 C169 - mostly for fun, to be honest. There's no subscription, and it costs £3 - £5 per month for PAYG tariff with 2G (GPRS) data.
Registered on a free tracking site, that also offers email alerts, geofencing, etc. There's also a free iPhone app, and pretty slick one at that, with excellent maps:

The car is going to a bodyshop next week, and apparently they need a test drive after replacing a wing and treating a rust spot / painting the door ... fair enough, but I will know where they'll take it, and if they go over 70mph

 

[Halcyon Days]

I just fitted a GPS tracker to my A200 C169 - mostly for fun, to be honest. There's no subscription, and it costs £3 - £5 per month for PAYG tariff with 2G (GPRS) data.
Registered on a free tracking site, that also offers email alerts, geofencing, etc. There's also a free iPhone app, and pretty slick one at that, with excellent maps:

What model is that, please? I've seen a few devices on eBay etc and wondered what the cost/benefit was like with them. thanks

 

[GLK]

Oh, it's only a tiny bit cheaper than official Tracker ... cost me £9.60 delivered :bannana:

It's gone up in price recently though (US$ price is still the same), so just under a tenner now: GT02A GPS Tracker

 

[Halcyon Days]

Oh, it's only a tiny bit cheaper than official Tracker ... cost me £9.60 delivered :bannana:

It's gone up in price recently though (US$ price is still the same), so just under a tenner now: GT02A GPS Tracker

Now THAT'S cheap! I take it that it just needs a permanent live and a ground and you're done?

 

[Mercland]

I have trackers on all my cars.

I have Smartrack Trackers on most. Very good people to deal with.

I also have a couple of Tracker Locates... They are also good but I got stung when I forgot to turn on my car battery conditioner once. Car battery went dead over winter. So did the battery in the tracker... I had to pay £99 for this battery to be replaced...
Thought it was a bit of a con that this battery isnt rechargable.

 

[GLK]

Now THAT'S cheap! I take it that it just needs a permanent live and a ground and you're done?

He-he ... I have been known to hunt an occasional bargain

Yes, it comes with a hard-wiring kit, with a quality splash-proof mini-fuse and two-pin connector for the tracker. Then it's basically up to you - whether to hook it up to a permanent live or a switched power supply. I decided to put it on a switched one for a time being, so not to risk draining the battery, if car is left for a longer period. I am now considering a rechargeable battery for the tracker and dashcams as a backup system. However, generally GPS trackers are not that great, when stationary - they hop from satellite to satellite and may show up to 10 metres false movements, so perhaps leaving it on a switched supply is fine, after all.

Also, I run it non-stop for a few days, to check for overheating - not even warm enough to notice. Great. Therefore decided to lose the case, put a small plastic tray/cover to still give some shielding to the capacitor, and wrapped the unit with tessa tape - result: thin enough to fit between the top of headlining and black obscuration band at the top of windscreen. I do know where it is, and even I can't see it, neither from inside the car nor from the outside (just don't forget to turn off the LED indicators).

Considerably thinner:

And just narrow enough to fit entirely behind the obscuration band without touching metal roof (which would obstruct the GPS signal, of course). Obviously, the GPS antennae must point upwards

 

[350e]

I have connected my car via the Connect Me homepage and when completing the registration process I noticed that I had agreed to a number of conditions and one among them was I had agreed to a tracker !

Have I just agreed to a tracker service that is of the type the insurance company would be interested in ?

 

[zipdip]

I think Trackers are a good idea,but as long as they put them in various different places on cars,a few years ago the Trackers were fitted into the tailgate door on Range Rovers so thieves used to steal the car and then remove the door sometimes leaving it in a lock up garage,so the police thought the thieves would come back for the whole car when it was only the tailgate

 

[mapleleaf]

I have an e63 on order for deliver end of feb and my insurance company wont insure it without a Cat 5 tracker ! Any thoughts on the best one to choose ? They all seem to be around £900 + Vat for fitting & a 2 year subscription. Tracker offer vhf as well as gsm and gps so was thinking that would be the best to go for . Is it true that the police can only find a car in a container if its tracker is sending a vhf signal? TIA

 

[flango]

Trackers are a very good waste of money a professional thief of high end cars can disable them in seconds.