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GPS tracking device and service - share your experience

4K views 18 replies 7 participants last post by  p3mek 
#1 · (Edited)
Thought about all this relay theft saga...These new cars are « inviting » thieves to the « pray » with their connected services.

The press reports today about Honda Canada refusing to provide the owner and the police with the stolen car’s location without having already bought a subscription to HondaLink or without a warrant. By the time the owner bought that subscription car was long gone... Good luck obtaining a warrant in matter of hours....

Which brings me to ... GPS tracking and taking this in my own hands.

Could anybody here recommend a GPS tracking device/service based on previous experience?
 
#2 ·
Like you said, it's gone in a matter of hours. Paying xx$ for monitoring service is only good if you owned a fleet of vehicles. But for 1 or 2, that's what insurance is for.

If the car is equipped with cell service, then use an old device and install find my device and keep it out of site. But then again, it's like paying for monitoring services.

If it's stolen, I don't want it back.
 
#6 ·
there are obd2 gps tracking you can get but their is probably a monthly subscription for those. You can also buy a cheap phone that has the find my device capability, gps location, and buy a cheap 4 dollar sim card with 200-400mb data a month. GPS trackers don't use that much data.
I somehow hate the idea of an OBD port mounted tracking device. It defeats the purpose because is easily detectable and removable.

I tried with an old phone/cheap phone service. It’s just not reliable (battery draining fast, charging cable disconnecting from vibration, glitching Android, signal fluctuations, etc.). Wasn’t a successful experience for me.

I would probably go with a proven reliable solution at a reasonable subscription price, even if the device is bit pricey but good quality.
 
#4 ·
Before thinking about a GPS locator, what can you do to prevent your vehicle from being taken. Just because you know the location of your vehicle does not mean anyone is gonna do anything about it unless you are gonna confront or steal it back.
 
#5 ·
Install a lock on the driver’s door, just like Mr Bean on his Mini Morris.

I usually take all the common steps to protect my asset. Still, I find it not enough given new technology threats. That’s why I’m thinking about GPS tracking. Plus, my insurer is directly interested in me being able to track the car in case of a theft.

I wouldn’t unsteal my car, but I would contribute at breaking car theft rings if I could.
 
#8 ·
For me, I am a... install-&-forget type of person. Unless it is routine maintenance I prefer not to do it, more so if I need to pay a subscription fee. The phone idea is valid and my way to approach it would have to be to get a old but decent smart phone, hook it up to a big portable charger, hooked up to the battery where, wired from the engine to the trunk, then 3M VHB taped somewhere that is hard to find. I forget if I read or saw a video on it but LoJacking your vehicle is probably one of the higher end "subscriptions" of keeping track of your vehicle.

Still... it is a bit amusing see two sides of paranoia in that "certain" users here who may buy a brand new Tacoma is gonna want to rip out anything related to GPS or cellular signal while the other side would like to use it to not deter but to catch potential car jackers. The main thing in the end, whether it is by using a seemingly useless car club to adding on a GPS tracker is that if someone wants your vehicle that much... Nothing is gonna stop them.

I keep a brake pedal to steering wheel car club in my trunk for if I am gonna leave my car somewhere for a long period of time (I park in a parking garage). It's relatively small so it does not take up much space.

The real key is just watch the news and keep track of local crime activity and if you are lucky you will get a heads up.

On that note... you could always unhook the battery every night to prevent any car jackers from using an smart key range extender... along with removing certain important fuses and relays...
 
#9 ·
i just don't trust third party gps devices. Spytec has gps trackers but how do you know that they aren't tracking you? At least with an iphone, apple for the most part respects your privacy and will not let the government create any backdoors to your device, so you have more control over it. Google android is fine but when it comes to privacy, i tend to go with apple even though I'm a Windows guy. But if you don't care about that, amazon gps trackers are inexpensive and the data plans go from 5-15 dollars a month. Or you can add a battery pack to the phone, 21000mah should last for a week or two.
 
#11 ·
Unless you live in high crime area, I would not pay for it especially if you have full coverage insurance and don't get at least 20% discount.

Never had it and considered it never existed before.

Are you buying because you need it or want it? :=)
 
#13 ·
I wanted to thank you all for taking the time to bring your opinion here.

You’re maybe right. Probably I’m just too concerned about this... The car is fully covered...

For now, when I leave the car somewhere in a parking lot, I’ll just use my Sprint Booster to cut off the throttle signal. This may deter a thief if he manages to get past the car’s security.

Oh... and I’ll also put some stickers with « GPS tracked asset » on it ;)
 
#15 ·
I wanted to thank you all for taking the time to bring your opinion here.

You’re maybe right. Probably I’m just too concerned about this... The car is fully covered...

For now, when I leave the car somewhere in a parking lot, I’ll just use my Sprint Booster to cut off the throttle signal. This may deter a thief if he manages to get past the car’s security.

Oh... and I’ll also put some stickers with « GPS tracked asset » on it ;)
You could also add a kill switch.

I heard recently, and will try to find the article that thieves are using bt signals to locate electronics inside vehicles in parking lots. Either it's a smash and grab, or the entire vehicle is taken.

FYI.
 
#18 ·
Thought about all this relay theft saga...These new cars are « inviting » thieves to the « pray » with their connected services.

The press reports today about Honda Canada refusing to provide the owner and the police with the stolen car’s location without having already bought a subscription to HondaLink or without a warrant. By the time the owner bought that subscription car was long gone... Good luck obtaining a warrant in matter of hours....

Which brings me to ... GPS tracking and taking this in my own hands.

Could anybody here recommend a GPS tracking device/service based on previous experience?
SPOT Trace works good and is user friendly. I buried mine in the dash of my F350 and it still gets the signal out.
 
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