btrbill

I am at the point where I was thinking about installing a tracking system in the car in case it would ever get stolen. I want to mount it where it can have power but also be hidden from easy view. Does anyone have any expeirance with this? Work? Waste of time and money?


Thanks in advance?
Bill

zeeke

Having livedin New York, just outside the city my whole 48 years I've seen and heard of many cars stolen. My brother had a car stolen with ON Star (total crap), they never found the car. My sister had a car stolen with Lo Jack. Towing company picked up the car when the police got it as a stolen car. Lo Jack did nothing. So choose wisely and remember it would need to be hidden real good and have it's own power source otherwise a professional thief would disable it immediately.

The old saying is " the only way to guarantee your car is never stolen is to not own one".

oldcutlass

Bill, I believe in a quality insurance policy that will payout in case of a loss. My only hope is when thieves do steal the car they are successful and leave no large parts behind.

Alarms keep honest people honest. If a professional wants the car its gone, period.

Happy Trails

For me personally, life's too short to worry about these types of things. I've never had a car stolen, but about 20 years ago my wife and I bought our first new car for her. We bought it on a Saturday. My father-in-law told me to get under it and put a dent in it somewhere so I'm not so upset when it gets it's first dent. My wife drove to work on Monday and while she was at work someone took their key and put a scratch in one side from the front of the car to the back of the car. At first we were pretty upset since we only had it a couple days, but we got over it quickly. We had insurance, but decided to not get it fixed. These things happen and you move on. The scratch was pretty deep, but only into the primer. We owned the car for about 8 years in MN and the scratch never rusted! The car was red and the scratch was always white the whole time we owned it. We donated the car to charity after the 8 years, and then I felt bad that someone else was going to have to drive the car with the scratch, but better than nothing.

Insurance can help make you whole financially, and the emotional pain is fast, and then you move on to the next new chapter.

Fun71

That's similar to off-roading here in the desert. "Arizona pin striping" is common from branches along the trails, and then there is rock damage to fenders/quarter panels/doors/under carriage from all the boulders.

Happy Trails

That is too funny! I was just down in AZ for spring break. My uncle lives down there and was telling me about the Arizona pin striping when he takes his truck off the road. We drove a portion of the Apache Trail, but managed to avoid adding more detail work to his truck.

Fun71

Apache Trail is a nice scenic drive, but while it is a dirt road it is also a state highway, and as such is graded and passable by any car on the planet. Motor homes, Cadillacs, SUVs pulling boats, and such use it routinely. Next time you are down try Bulldog Canyon or something in the Box Canyon (east) or Table Mesa (north) areas. That is where the real off-roading exists.

Happy Trails

I agree the Apache Trail isn't "offroading", but it has terrible washboarding. Three cars in the two weeks prior to our arrival went over the side into the river. The day after we got there the local news had a segment on the most recent car to go over the side. We were pulling his pontoon to fish Apache Lake, and he warned me the road is treacherous mostly due to the washboarding. His truck was all over the road even with the heavy pontoon in tow, and I don't think we could go over 20 mph. Most dirt roads in MN around here you can drive 55, maybe 45 if they are bad. I think the AZ news said local officials are going to look into putting guardrails up. Probably a good idea.

Thanks for the advice on off-road locations down there. I will ask him about the locations you mentioned the next time I'm down there. My uncle is about 70 now, so his body doesn't like the off-roading too much any more. My kids enjoy it though, and he has ATVs he doesn't use anymore, so I'm hoping we can visit those locations on the next trip.

Fun71

Yeah, I saw that on the news. At least one was a Suburban full of teens during spring break, at night, so draw your own conclusions from that. You drove it so you know that it's not a high speed roadway even in the daytime, and much less so at night.

allyolds68

back to the OP's subject

I've been looking for something too. I spent a bunch of time looking at these new proximity GPS trackers that are just basically a chip ("the Tile" is one of them.). The problem with them is they require the device to come within like 60' of someone with the "Tile" app on their phone to register. I think once these GPS tracking companies get together and pool their tracking abilities they will greatly improve. These will work much better in urban areas. For now I just leave my iPhone tucked under the carpet when I leave the car in a public place. I figure I can borrow a phone and use the "find my phone" app to find it quickly. Of course then I don't have my phone when I'm out of the car.

Happy Trails

I was thinking about those SPOT devices, and it kind of occurred to me that they might work for you. I went to their website, and they now have tracker products. Before it was only search and rescue type stuff from what I recall.

Anyway, the unit is about $100 at Cabela's and the basic service plan is about $100 per year. The included lithium AAA batteries last about 18 months, but they do also have a DC power cable option. The device is tiny at 3 oz, so I'd just go with the batteries since it sends alerts when the batteries get low.

Device:
http://www.findmespot.com/en/index.php?cid=128

Service Plan:
http://www.findmespot.com/en/index.php?cid=129

Link to Cabela's

btrbill

Thanks for all the input, including where to drive in the dessert!


Bill

Rustbucket2

MY friend did this. He bought a cell phone for emergences only ( cost is very low) hooked it into his lighter in back of dash, so phone will stay charged. so if his car was stolen, the police could have his phone pinged , and know where car was. Plus if thief's on hooked battery, phone will stay charged for days.

RocketRonnie

X2

You can not go wrong with good ol' Lojack.
When dealing with pros, hire pros.

jerry63

Hello Happy Tails, I was wondering if you had installed this tracking device and how it is working for you.Thanks Jerry.