Tracking device in case car is moved.

The thread that just popped up reminded me of a relatively new product on the market, it is called "Spot.....Trace." It is about the size of a pack of cigarettes and is self contained, so you can hide it somewhere in your car.

What it does is it fixes the position of the car via satellite, and if it moves you get a text or email immediately, telling you that has happened. Then, you can track the movement of the car and locate it's real time position.

I learned of it because I work in the boating industry and customers are calling saying their insurance company will not give them a policy unless they install one of these on the boat. Evidently, the insurance companies think this is a very good way to keep down theft.

It requires about a hundred buck a year service policy that connects your unit to their system, and the unit costs about $ 100. Just thought I would put this out there for anyone who is looking for a way to protect their car, boat, trailer, rv, etc.

Here is a link:

http://www.findmespot.com/en/index....=direct&utm_medium=website&utm_campaign=trace

Don

 

So on that.

 

And there's one wee bit of a reason it is needed for boats-for, unfortunately, I lived there a few and worked on boats while there so I have witnessed this many many times. A key was always, always, somewhere not too well hidden on the back deck. Be it in a hatch some where, it was there. Under a life vest, in a cup cozzy, etc. Knowing this, I could have made off with many a yacht- oddly enough, usually small vessels didn't have a hidden key, I had to get that from the docks office. Anything larger than 50'- take your pick!

Still, this is a great thing to have and it beats Lojack.

 

Several of my sailboat friends have that on their boats and you can go to a page and see their progress. Only thing is that sometimes they don't seem to update well.

For a lot of guys I think that their "outdated" smart phone with the scratched face and a hidden dedicated battery with a diode in the charging line to prevent discharge to the main system would be the best ten dollar a month answer. The phone could be easily hidden in a spot that wouldn't be checked. and a small battery like a dirt bike battery could be tucked away to provide power for quite a while. Most phone systems have setups to add family member phones for around 10 bucks a month and maybe a gps fee.

 

thanks Don...and Mr 48 Chevy....good stuff....

 

I think this is good info. You could hid it in your teenagers car and se if they were where they were supposed to be

 

As easy as old cars are to steal,something like this is a no brainer. I've been considering this one for my new hot rod build. It can be moved from one car to another easily. I'll have to read Don's link carefully to compare the two.

http://www.arrowtrackfromeclipse.com/

 

The hard thing about this and most anti-theft devices, is some people love to brag about it. Even here, on the HAMB, people have talked about what they have and how it works. As the police will confirm, most thefts are committed by someone you know.

 

You are right, Fred. Once the cat is out of the bag it would be easy for a thief to find the unit and toss it out.

I bet car insurance rates might be better if you had something like this on board too.

Don

 

Thanks for the new info , Don . Small change to keep your hotrod around . I've always thought the cellphone idea seems like a good one too .

 

Wonder if there's a way to disable it when you want to just drive your car and not get warnings or texts the whole time you're cruising around? And then hopefully not forget to enable it again afterwards!

 

Or better yet, to use it when it gets used by your teen........many a day I would have loved this with my three teenage girls....

 

Do you know if these work if your car is moved inside a large building? will they lose signal like a cell phone?

 

Teenage girls are angels - pure as the driven snow ? Not !

 

They are for high end boats originally........don't know if they factored in metal buildings or not...even in dry dock most large boats are still stored outdoors.

 

Isn't technology great. This tracking device and a .45 and you have a complete theft recovery system!!!!!

 

Another similar product called "tiles". 1.5 x 1.5 inches and has it's own battery. GPS tracking with a smart phone, iPad. $20 each and there is no subscription service. Within 100 feet it uses wifi and further than that it uses the cell phone network using the app on anyone's phone that comes within wifi range.

 

I wonder if having one of these devices will get you a discount on your insurance through the various classic auto insurers? That may help to offset the cost. Still money well spent in any case I would think.

 

you got a GPS tracker for the car for approx $15 on Epay. A small thing to hide away, and could locate car later.

 

Sounds like what my company put in there trucks I can find out the name of the system its for cars it gives you warnings if a car moves and its not supposed to it also tells you how fast its going its very accurate , someone stolen one of our work trucks and we were able to track it to behind a publix ,cool system , but this gos both ways these thieves are getting very high tech who's to say they can't use the system agents you to locate high end easy to steal cars then its like saying come get me I'm right here all day

 

This system also looks pretty good....$100 to start, $5.99/month
http://www.accutracking.com/

 

Same concept as LoJack.

 

Ok, I called the company that makes the Spot and have a little more info. How it works is that the little box has to have a clear shot at the sky, which means it will shoot through fiberglass, glass, or fabric, but NOT STEEL. So on a metal car you would have to hide it somewhere like in the rear package tray or dash or somewhere like that. I know that seems like it would be found by thieves, but we car builders are creative and could make some sort of fiberglass cover or something else to disguise it .

The unit turns on initially and then shuts itself down to a sleep mode. It will not do anything until the car is moved, then it activates and immediately sends you an email. You will then get updates showing where the car is being moved to so you can alert the cops or go after it yourself. It doesn't matter if you keep the car in a garage or outside, it will not activate until it moves.

The girl I spoke with wasn't totally knowledgeable about it, so I will call from work tomorrow and get one of the tech guys my company uses for answers and will try to learn more.

Hope this helps a little.

Don

 

thanks for the update , Don .

 

I have to wonder if a savvy car thief would have a counter such as a hand held WiFi type analyzer that would tell him if the car had the system or a Lojack and then be able to disarm it once it once the car was stolen? Essentially, a receiver such as what law enforcement uses. The way Smart phones have become so prolific, there's probably an app. (or a thief would write one).

There is a teen tracking device for cars, but since many teens have smart phones, many Parents use an app such as 'find my phone' to check on the kids. Of course, it wouldn't do much good on a boat, if it left the coastline and got out of cell range.

 

So if the car is stolen and put in an enclosed trailer or cargo container you're out of luck? At least until it comes out someplace, hopefully outside.

 

Just get the lawmakers to change the penalty for grand theft auto, 10 for years first offence, won't stop all of it, but would slow it down !

 

Our prisons are already 3x over-full.

 

We have something like this on our heavy equipment. It will notify you if it is started or moved. You can allso check the service on the machines. Tells you when oil changes or needed. And other things. It will allso tell you how much time was spent at ideling and working.

 

My missus works for a heavy equipment company with the same technology. She can 'ping' a piece of equipment and get all the information instantly. Not sure if it shows location, I'll find out.