Tracker options

[Davich]

Hi, looking to put a tracker on my C63 but have no idea which is the best/appropriate option.... any suggestions?
Thanks
Dave

 

[jaymanek]

I have trackers with smarttrack and tracker. Get the ones that allow you to log in and see where the cars are at any time. Not only is it useful but it gives you confidence that its still working.

Also got much better deals by ringing them and asking for best deals on both unit and subscription.

If its simply to satisfy insurance just pick the cheapest one, if you plan to keep the car some time then go for something like the tracker locate or smarttrack trident.... From memory..,

 

[Davidkn]

I have tracker locate, which is the middle one, my insurance with direct line required it, but I got a decent discount when I mentioned I was with direct line.

It's bloody brilliant, the online stuff is very good, can see where the car is on google maps at any time, tracks every journey, you can get home, immediately log on and all the data is there including the route, mileage, fuel cost, co2 used, all the timings. It's great for doing my expenses, and seeing the monthly mileage you're doing.

You can run reports too around dates etc. when I was out of the country, I'd periodically check to make sure the car was in the car park still. The only disconcerting thing is that it shows you a pie chart of which types of roads you overspeed on......

It's basically the tracking package someone like a courier would use, but they have now given it to private car customers.

I'd thoroughly recommend it, definite piece of mind, and great for checking on your mileage and for doing expenses, especially if you need to prove here you've been too.

 

[RMS]

For a c63 id go for tracker cat 5 plus or cobratrak 5 web

Both have fobs you can keep in your wallet that have to be with the car when you start it. If not you know your cars been nicked (or that youve left your wallet) as you will receive a phone call.

Cobratrak 5 is the same as porsches vts and there's a web version so you can track the car online

Tracker's added bonus is that despite there being no web option, they have VHF (very high frequency) signals so the cars can be tracked when nicked and stored underground or if put in shipping containers to be taken abroad.


It also depends how much you want to spend on each car. i have tracker cat5 to replace the porsche vts as the subscription is cheaper and also tracker monitor on the other cars. Tracker monitor means you have to ring up tracker when you realise its nicked. In Jan our c350 was nicked with the keys from the house at 3am, we realised at 8am and the car was found within half an hour. With the other systems we would have been phoned instantly and perhaps the thieves caught red handed.

 

[Davidkn]

Tracker do have an online thing, it's called tracker locate.

And you get notified when the car is stolen if it wasn't moved with the keys, so as long as its not stolen with the keys, they'll inform you.

But you can combat that by setting up exclusion zones so that if the car leaves a certain area or enters a certain area they alert you, so you can set it to alert if the car leaves a mile radius of your house during the night. If the cat5 version doesn't come with the web tracking then the locate product is definitely the one to go for.

The key fob thing, surely, most people keep their wallet with their keys?

 

[RMS]

i dont keep my keys and wallet together and id find it a lot harder to drive my car with my wallet and no keys than vice versa. Also nowadays cars are rarely stolen without keys so you are going have to report it with a possible delay between the theft and you realising.

If you are going to let the police track it once activated (once you've realised and notified the police and tracker) then there isn't much point to web tracking unless you are going to guide the police, chase it yourself or tell tracker what they can already see.

 

[Davidkn]

You don't use the web to track the stolen car, although I guess there's nothing to stop you, it's more to help with costings and route info/ expenses and like I said, if I'm away I can make sure the car is still where I left it.

I don't have a wallet personally, so I would have to keep the fob on my keys.........

Anyway, to get to my keys, a thief wouldn't be able to get them without me knowing, so that situation is never gong to happen tbh.

For me personally, the web stuff is more use to me, and like I said, I just set an exclusion zone, so IMO, that's better than having a fob as they could steal the fob too if they took your wallet.

Also, if you left your car (not you specifically, but anyone who needs a fob) with an airport service, you'd have to give them the fob too, and hope they don't lose it, and actually use it rather than accidently setting it off, and you say you can't track it online, so while away, you then can't keep track of it and see if they are using it for the cake run........

 

[RMS]

Anyway, to get to my keys, a thief wouldn't be able to get them without me knowing, so that situation is never gong to happen tbh.

For me personally, the web stuff is more use to me, and like I said, I just set an exclusion zone, so IMO, that's better than having a fob as they could steal the fob too if they took your wallet.

that's quite brave of you if you sleep with your keys.

Personally i'd rather let them have the keys from downstairs and stay away from my family than come upstairs and beat us for them. Its not possible to put fobs on keyrings, they are flat plastic squares with no holes. There's no reason for thieves to suspect you have a fob and hunt for a wallet. It's the keys they want . If they did take the fob then it turns it into a normal tracker like monitor or locate where you have to realise and notify.

 

[Davidkn]

i don't sleep with my keys, i just don't have a downstairs and sleep near the front door in an apartment, they've got several doors to get to me before they get to me, and the car is locked away underground behind the building, and they'd be lucky to start it without me hearing.

but like i keep saying, i don't need a fob, i set a zone and if the car leaves that zone between set hours i get alerted, i don't to alert them, the game has moved on, its all about the web now, carrying an extra fob is old fashioned.........

Like i need something else to carry around with me and try to keep with me at all times, but not worry about losing, if it was on my car key chain i wouldn't worry about losing it.........

so if you ever have to leave your car with airport parking for example where you drop it off, you can't without worrying as you'd have to give them the fob separately.

anyway, we aren't going anywhere here, you like your product, i like mine, depends what the op thinks is more important really.

 

[RMS]

i guess tracker and thatcham must be moving backwards then

 

[Davidkn]

locate is the new product.

 

[bigmacplease]

Does seem a little odd to have a fob to carry around as well as your keys. Just another thing to loose.

 

[Davidkn]

taken from the tracker website...

TRACKER Locate

Our top of the range Stolen Vehicle Recovery solution is the most advanced on the market. The unit is hidden in your vehicle by one of our approved engineers and activated in the event of a theft allowing your vehicle to be tracked. With TRACKER Locate you are protected from even the most professional criminals to ensure fast recovery, often within 24 hours of activation.

its also cheaper than the fob one.

 

[RMS]

locate is the new product.

that is incorrect. tracker locate was around 2 years ago. I know because I waited for cat 5s release this year when advised by installers that a new tracker was about to be released. The blurb on your link hasn't been updated.

It wouldn't make sense to make a newer superior product and charge less for it.

TRACKER Cat 5 Plus - Insurance Approved Vehicle Tracking Systems

Selectively cutting and pasting is easy.......

'Offering exceptional levels of security for high value, premium and luxury vehicles TRACKER Cat 5 Plus is unrivalled in the industry. Using a combination of our unique VHF technology together with GSM and GPS and creating alerts when a theft occurs even if your keys have been used, TRACKER Cat 5 Plus enables early detection of theft, fast tracking and the technology to overcome even the most professional and determined thieves....exceeds all the insurance requirements of the Category 5 standard.

 

[Davich]

Guys, really appreciate your input, I like the thought of the web option but as you say, theft of keys and the car is the most common for of theft. Thinking .....

 

[whitenemesis]

Guys, really appreciate your input, I like the thought of the web option but as you say, theft of keys and the car is the most common for of theft. Thinking .....

Is the only way as far as Mercs are concerned, without a low loader?

 

[Mr. B]

Tracker - don't waste your money (unless it's a condition of your insurance).

If your C63 gets stolen odds on it will be stolen to order.

As soon as it's stolen the thieves will find your tracker and rip it out.

It will shortly afterwards be stripped in a garage and parts sold on e-bay / autotrader.

If not stripped it will be in a container out of the country within days.

If the Police locate it before it's stripped or 'moved on' a pursuit will take place where your C63 will be thrashed and will get damaged.

Do you really want your C63 back after it's been stolen - no thanks.

I would invest in GAP insurance rather than a Tracker BUT that's just me .

 

[RMS]

Tracker - don't waste your money (unless it's a condition of your insurance).

If your C63 gets stolen odds on it will be stolen to order.

As soon as it's stolen the thieves will find your tracker and rip it out.

not always true- i was lucky with my tracker monitor- car was stolen at 3am, we woke up and realised at 8am and the car was located in less than an hour parked up on a residential street on the other side of the city. if i had a cat 5 system I would have had been alerted there and then and the thieves caught red handed. not having such a system on that car meant that I got the car back but no one got caught. they generally park it up and wait before collecting it. a cat 5 system would mean being alerted the moment the car moves, they wont have had time to locate and rip it out.

If not stripped it will be in a container out of the country within days

vhf- works in containers and underground- the cars can be on containers for some time- i know of cases where a colleague had both cars stolen at the same time and both located over a month later on a container- no trackers.

If the Police locate it before it's stripped or 'moved on' a pursuit will take place where your C63 will be thrashed and will get damaged.

i think the cobratrak 5 has remote shutdown, both cat 5 systems would let you know as soon as the car is moved but of course damage in a pursuit is entirely possible, hence insurance incl gap is useful

Do you really want your C63 back after it's been stolen - no thanks

likelihood is you would be ok once you have it cleaned up from my personal experience. if you dont take it back and then buy a banger, then the thieves have won and one would not get the same pleasure from an inferior car. if you buy an equivalent car then the likelihood of theft is still present.

..

 

[RMS]

I like the thought of the web option but as you say, theft of keys and the car is the most common for of theft. Thinking .....

I think what you need to ask yourself is do you want to be alerted there and then- if so you will have to put up with a fob, as i suppose its the only way of being alerted instantly. fob is with car- all is well, fob is not in car, you get a phone call.

If this isn't what you want then there is the web option of locate, which requires you to notify when stolen, unless you set a safe zone and time...from what i understood of that statement, the car has to be stolen at a particular time and leave a certain zone in order for you to be notified.

As our friend said, you can play with the web based 'my tracker' so you can see where your car is anytime. apparently you can 'Plan routes with live traffic information and compare journeys to Google Maps, view detailed driving reports, set up security alerts and reminders and lots more' and assess cost??

Personally i think if u have a v8 amg, the cost of your journey is unlikely to be such a high priority....also there must be other ways of planning journeys esp with comand and online?

If you want a system that you just leave and forget about then the others are more suited.

The last option is the most basic- monitor- where you have to notify.

 

[Davidkn]

i don't get why people always think someone with an AMG won't care about petrol costs, of course i do, if i did 50 miles a week, then maybe not, but when i do 16k a year, then i do think about it, hence why i bought an SLK rather then the C63 as i have the cylinder shutoff which makes a big difference, and i like to see how much its costing me compared to how much I'm claiming back on the mileage, so its absolutely a good and useful thing for me.

As for command and online, thats fine if you aren't one of the 50% of people who have an iPhone....... and its completely different, command is to plan a route, the web based reports on tracker are to see where you have been, every last metre is tracked on the site and you can see exactly how many miles, how many minutes and the exact times of start, finish and way points, useful if you ever need to prove where you were, or were questioned at work etc.

Different people have different priorities and requirements, hence why there are different models, my preference is to have all the web stuff, not have to carry and remember an extra fob to take with me everywhere, what happens if you lose it, what happens if you need to take the car to an airport parting place, what happens if your wife is less caring and loses it, all these extra things to worry about. For me a fob wouldn't help, id know they were stealing the keys as they did it, for RMS it was top of his priority list.

Like has already been said, just need to work out what your personal priorities are.