Tracker

Hi,

My insurance will soon be coming up for renewal. Should I get a tracker device fitted to my Testarosa. It seems to be condition for many policies. Should I be worried about damage to the car when its fitted or is everyone happy with how it has been installed.

Regards
Casper

 

Are you so sure you'll need one - I'd keep looking til I found one without - anyway the price difference is often much less than a tracker costs - if you have to have one I think they've been around long enough for folk to know how fit them (even if they can drain the batteries on older cars)

 

I think most definitely you should have one fitted.

 

I'd fit one if you can afford it.
Go for the genuine "Tracker" as most of the alternatives use GPS and can be jammed with a simple device that's freely available on ebay.

Also it has a battery backup so will still work if the car battery is disconnected.

If your car is stolen with this fitted you will almost certainly get it back within a few hours.

 

But in what condition after it's been driven round the local rough housing estate in 1st gear at 10,000+rpm? I think greyboxer speaks sense.

 

Well yes you do have a point there....

The more expensive versions of Tracker have a remote immobiliser, you send a code and it cuts the engine.

This may be useful if you see the car being stolen, or the Police catch up with it. We used this to stop the thieves who stole our Land Rover, of course being a diesel Defender it's not going to come to so much harm being driven flat out.

The police cought up with it on the motorway and after a short chase at 90mph the code was sent, the engine cut out and the thieves were both caught. One ran across the motorway and got hit by a van, breaking both legs and other more minor injuries.

Fortunately there was no damage to the van.

 

SWEET JUSTICE ...... The police cought up with it on the motorway and after a short chase at 90mph the code was sent, the engine cut out and the thieves were both caught. One ran across the motorway and got hit by a van, breaking both legs and other more minor injuries.

Fortunately there was no damage to the van.[/QUOTE]

 

Don't you just love it when that happens

 

Poor fella

 

Great news about the van!

 

If you have had a tracker before they a doing a deal to supply it for free, just the subs and fitting to pay.

 

I found the costs of tracker annual subscription excessive compaired to the £40 premium if I did not have one fitted. I took mine out.

 

The subscriptions are quite dear....about £130 per year I think, minus an average of about 10% off your insurance (a bit mean really I think you should get a bit more than that) There are other devices available which cost less, or nothing, but being GPS based they are not as secure.

However it's not dear if your car is pinched! We'd never have seen our Defender again had it not been for the tracking device.

Depends on how much of a risk you think it is. The Defender is a very high risk as they are stolen a lot. My Ferrari has a tracker but I may cancel it as the risks are lower.

 

I think the posts here give you a good guide to the gains and losses of fitting a top-end tracking device.

If the fitting and service charge outweigh the insurance extra of not having one fitted, then you're probably better off not doing so. As Martin says, Ferraris are less likely to be stolen if only because the stick out anywhere they're driven. Other than for reckless joyriders, who will simply abandon the car anyway, thieves know that they will be highly visible while on the road.

I've been with LV for a number of years and their premium is reasonable, given a number of restrictions. They never discussed whether or not I had a tracker (I don't).

 

Here's a cheap alternative (doubt that it's proved by insurance companies though) - worth a look: http://www.chinavasion.com/product_info.php/pName/gps-car-tracker/

This I would fit to any car in the household... You'll need a SIM card (GSM) and you're going to get SMS if your car is moved.


As you may know, if someone professional wants your car, they're gonna get it no matter how much security you have. I doubt however that a Testarossa is the typical car to be ordered from some lowlifes in Eastern Europe... But if amateur thieves and dirtbag joyriders steal your car, you get a better chance of catching them.

 

Yeah those are the subscription free ones and they do work, in fact you can track the car yourself with these.
They are easy to jam but better than nothing.

 

Interesting fact regarding gps tracker , if true.

I remember reading somewhere about the police being able to trace a a car through the cars own gps sat nav but customers need to remove the head unit or sat nav unit and make a note of the unique id number and serial numbers etc.

So if it was to be purchased to make sure the car was returned there maybe a free option ( if the article was true ).

But as stated before with regards to a stolen Ferrari if it was stolen by professionals for export order, then nothing is safe but there is the chance of it coming back in one piece. However if local smack heads find keys when they are looking for £100 's worth of drug money, then it may be better to never see it again.