Anyone had any experience of TRACKER?

I suppose this is a bit of a dumb question if you've had a car stolen recovered thanks to Tracker, but I'm interested in whether anyone has had their Octy or Fabia done and what the reasons for doing so?

i dont have experience but im moving near to north yorkshire in march and middlesbrough is the car crime capital of the UK at the mo so definatley considering it

We had a Tracker fitted to the Scooby as it was a requirement for the insurance. We just opted for a passive one (aka the cheapest) which you had ring up to activate when the car was stolen. Tbh, I don't think I'd bother with one unless it was an insurance requirement as I wouldn't especially want the car back if it had been nicked/trashed.

Fortunately never had to test it.

Chris

I had a Tracker on my ST200. It was the monitor version so they ring you if the car is nicked. I rang them up after 3 years to see if it was possible to test that it still worked.

"OK sir, if you move the car a mile or so without turning off the immobiliser then we can tell"

It that point I realised I shouldn't have bothered.

I guess the question is would you want the car back if some scrote has trashed it?

how comes they dont use sat nav technology for tracking cars instaed of the polce driving around with a hedgehog on the roof and bars and arrows on a screen?....thought it wouldve been easier to use sat comms to pinpoint a location!.....just a thought and am sure somebody will put me right as to why they dont:)

k:)

how comes they dont use sat nav technology for tracking cars instaed of the polce driving around with a hedgehog on the roof and bars and arrows on a screen?....thought it wouldve been easier to use sat comms to pinpoint a location!.....just a thought and am sure somebody will put me right as to why they dont:)

k:)

Simple answer to that - the tracker unit can be hidden away, but a GPS unit to get a position fix must have an aerial in a clear position with a view of the sky. It would be too easy for a thief to spot and disable.

We had a Tracker fitted to the Scooby as it was a requirement for the insurance. We just opted for a passive one (aka the cheapest) which you had ring up to activate when the car was stolen. Tbh, I don't think I'd bother with one unless it was an insurance requirement as I wouldn't especially want the car back if it had been nicked/trashed.

Fortunately never had to test it.

Chris

Spot on, I feel the same way, I had to have one fitted when I had my Blobeye on the insistance of the insurance. Out of choice, no I would not have one fitted, because of the extra cost and because of the reasons Chris lists above.

arnt the civvy ones as good as the military ones?.....the ones ive used dont need a big aerial and can be hidden under a car and then tracked on a portable laptop....

k:)

Got one on mine

Every time the cars been trailored its worked, I always get a phone call.

I fitted it because the car is worth more than the insurance value due to all the mods. Its also worth having if you carry a lot of un insured stuff in the car

The GPS unit still needs to receive a signal from the satellite network to calculate it's position. That doesn't necessarily mean it needs a clear view of the sky (MFD2 retro fit antenna stuck under the dash).

The GPS system is totally passive so it can only receive info about it's co-ordinates. It has to relay that info for monitoring purposes via a radio transmitter, GSM network or similar

I had one on my Scooby which was an RAC Trackstar. GPS and GSM as described above.

yep those are the ones im talking about......i know you can get them in the states very easily and companies monitor their exact location......a guy i know has one on his suped up corvette and he can monitor it himself on his laptop.......right down to the street....no aerial in sight:)

the ones ive used have a small black box that can be fitted under a car, its about the size of two cig packets taped together.....

k:)

the last place i worked for had gps tracking in all vehicles, it worked by sending a text to the mobile hidden away in the van which was connected to some kind of gps device which sent a text back and showed the vehicles postiion, speed, direction of travel and onto a map of the uk so you could see all company vechles and where they are.. Also was able to record the top speed, time on the road and many other things too.

Phil's was recovered due to tracker I think. Probably worth dropping him a PM

There's one on my new Octy, so basically the general consensus is not to bother with it?

The other thing to consider is that at least with a tracker your stolen car can be recovered quite quickly. If your car is knicked without one you can be waiting quite a while before the insurer will officially decide it ahs gone and will not be recovered - the uncertainty is a real pain.

GSM based Tracker systems can be overcome with a simple phone jammer for less than £100 from eBay (or similar). The most common way of stealing the better protected cars these days is with the keys, either through burglary or jacking, meaning the immobilisor will not have been by-passed anyway.

The older RF systems are probably the more reliable units, but as they rely on you to report the car stolen the thief may have a good amount of time to locate and disable the system, and there are only a few places they can be hidden.

The best line of defense IMHO is a good alarm and immobilisor, a Clifford BlackJax, Disklok and maybe a Dipol/Barrier Deadlock. If they get the keys then the alarm/immob and the physical locks will be overcome, but the BJ will hopefully save it. Without the keys they would need to tow/lift it.

As others have said, I wouldn't want a car back if possible after the scrotes have abused it.