Car tracker advice

[Chris S 1245]

Hi guys as the thread title suggests my parents audi s3 is in need of a tracker. The reason for this is in my area theres been a few high performance car thefts including an M4 not too far away from us. Thankfully the M4 was found because of the tracker in a carpark in a secluded spot. What Trackers do you guys suggest we buy ? We need 2 as we have also have An E63 Amg which is the family car. Thanks guys any advice appreciated including theft prevention to make our cars harder to steal.

 

[azibux1]

Welcome! Nice pair of cars!

By all means get one if you want... Some here have them... But I think the general consensus on trackers here is that the cheap ones aren't worth the money (easily jammed with some £5 electronics from eBay) and the expensive ones aren't worth it (ongoing subscription costs etc..) compared to GAP insurance

There was a "security musts" thread here just a few days ago I'm sure, but I can't find it now even using the search. It may have been too revealing to potential thieves and therefore deleted.

 

[Chris S 1245]

Welcome! Nice pair of cars!

By all means get one if you want... Some here have them... But I think the general consensus on trackers here is that the cheap ones aren't worth the money (easily jammed with some £5 electronics from eBay) and the expensive ones aren't worth it (ongoing subscription costs etc..) compared to GAP insurance

There was a "security musts" thread here just a few days ago I'm sure, but I can't find it now even using the search. It may have been too revealing to potential thieves and therefore deleted.

Ok cheers mate for the advice any particular brands and where to buy from? Defo gonna get them now id hate anything bad to happen to any of our cars especially our E63 amg as sad as it might seem ive made an emotional attachment to that car as weve had it since late 2013 and that was the car that took me and my date to year 11 prom. So good memories were made

 

[azibux1]

Ok cheers mate for the advice any particular brands and where to buy from? Defo gonna get them now id hate anything bad to happen to any of our cars especially our E63 amg as sad as it might seem ive made an emotional attachment to that car as weve had it since late 2013 and that was the car that took me and my date to year 11 prom. So good memories were made

Ha

With regards to specific brands I'll let someone else who has one come along and advise

Not a tracker as such, but check out the autowatch ghost! Very impressive piece of kit from the videos I've seen!

 

[Svenedin]

I have mixed feelings about trackers. Yes it might help you get the car back but would you want it back if it had been pinched for a joyride? I'm not sure I'd want my car back full of sick, blood, drugs or whatever after it had been thrashed and probably crashed (assuming if was repairable). For very high value, rare, classic or one-off cars they do make sense but for an S3 the annual subscription is quite expensive and not necessarily offset by reduced insurance costs.

 

[mikemod]

I bought THIS for about £10
Stick a PayAndGo SIM in it and hide it in the car somewhere.
Just send it a text message and it replies with the GPS co-ordinates of it's location

 

[jimdonovan01]

One word - GOHST

A system that only lets you start and drive the car after you have entered a code (combination of buttons on steering wheel etc) the car is completely dead till entered.
I've seen some to have another mode that detects if you have been car jacked (literally pulled out of your car and then stolen) where it will flash the engine management light after a mile of driving and you then have to enter your code, if not the car will just shut down and can't be started.

I think you're look at about £300/£400

Well worth it, I've been looking into getting it on my S3!!


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

 

[azibux1]

I bought THIS for about £10
Stick a PayAndGo SIM in it and hide it in the car somewhere.
Just send it a text message and it replies with the GPS co-ordinates of it's location

Sorry to say that probably falls in the category I mentioned in post #2, in that it can be easily jammed with some very cheap electronics that probably cost less than £10 themselves

But sure it is great for foiling an amateur, but an amateur probably isn't the type of person to take a car of this nature

 

[mikemod]

Professional scum will steal you car no matter what you have in it so at least I have only wasted £10

 

[azibux1]

Professional scum will steal you car no matter what you have in it so at least I have only wasted £10

Ha there is that

Same for the autowatch ghost really... So much money but it still doesn't stop someone with a knife to your throat getting you to tell them the pass code to start the car!

 

[S32B]

Not a tracker as such, but check out the autowatch ghost! Very impressive piece of kit from the videos I've seen!

Plus one on that, looks a great bit of kit. If I'd seen it when I first got mine I'd have bought one.

 

[azibux1]

Plus one on that, looks a great bit of kit. If I'd seen it when I first got mine I'd have bought one.

See post above for the downside though lol

 

[Svenedin]

Ha there is that

Same for the autowatch ghost really... So much money but it still doesn't stop someone with a knife to your throat getting you to tell them the pass code to start the car!

Very true.

 

[davc]

I'd start by making your house as difficult to break in as possible and gap cover for both cars

If you must have a tracking device then Tracker would be my choice as it also broadcasts in VHF.

www.trackerdirect.co.uk

 

[RAF_S7]

^+1 on the original Tracker. It's not cheap, but then neither are expensive cars!

They have recently also launched The "Tracker Touch" app (iPhone & Android) for some of their products, allowing you to check up on your car remotely.

I know a lot of people say they wouldn't want their car back if stolen, well that's their personal choice. I have Gap insurance, but I still want my car back!

 

[S32B]

See post above for the downside though lol

"someone with a knife to your throat", without going into details, I'd be interested to see how close they could get to my throat But I know what you're saying

 

[Bells]

Agree with a few comments on here about about not seeing the point of a tracker. As much as I love my car if someone was going to steal it I would rather not get it back that's what I purchased GAP insurance for. Plus you've got the additional costs of the tracker purchase / installation and when I briefly looked at the savings on my car insurance it barely made a difference having one fitted.

Maybe I'd feel differently if the worse happened and my car had been stolen but for now I'm happy with the protection my GAP and car insurance offers

 

[Rideen]

I bought a cheap eBay one for about 10USD, modified its config file to send data to my own web server which I wrote in .NET so I don't have to pay subscription and it works like a charm. Took a bit of tinkering and software development to get it to work properly but if you can code at least a bit, go that route.

 

[Chris S 1245]

Cheers for the great responses guys will consider the options carefully.