Tracking Devices - can anyone help with some info?

[ALISON B]

My son is looking for a Lotus Elise. His insurance company insists that he fits a satellite tracking device to the car as a condition of insurance. I have been surfing the web to try to find prices etc, but the only sites I can find fail to mention price. I guess this is because they want you to ring them so that they can try to talk you into buying their particular product. Can anyone help with advise and info on a reasonably priced system?

[julianhj]

The main players:

RAC Trackstar
Tracker

[Graham]

I put a smartnav system in my dicovery which gives you a sat nav system for 500 quid and the satellite tracking system for another 100 quid. plus a monthly rental.

www.smartnav.com

its all part of the rac trackstar/ traffic master network..

G

[dragstar]

or instead of monthly payments, an annual subscription is about £400 i think

[Nicholas Blair]

Got one fitted a couple of years ago via an offer with The AA insurance scheme. Don't know if it is still running or not.

[kenny320]

The Scoob needed a Tracker for the insurance. I think the device itself was around £300 (vague estimate) and the yearly subscription is £100. Money well spent.

[steff]

You don't need a tracker for the Lotus Elise if you got the quote through tescos ask them to speak to the underwriters and they'll tell them that its not needed.

I think this is the same for direct line etc.

[Draft]

Check out globalpositioningsysytems.co.uk - I know nothing about them myself but a friend of mine recommended this..

[john_p]

Alison, what there is to offer depends on exactly what your son wants.

The most basic system on the market, Tracker Retrieve, is passive only. This means if the car gets stolen you have to ring Tracker, they switch on the unit which transmits a radio signal which the police can follow and hopefully find the car.

Slightly more advanced is the Tracker Monitor which is active - it monitors if the car is moved without the ignition on, and they call you if the car is moved. From then it's the same as the Retrieve. For some insurers, this is now the minimum requirement if the car is worth over £40k.

Then you have Tracker Horizon, which is the most expensive. It does what Tracker Monitor does, plus uses GPS to locate the car. So even if the radio signal is blocked, the monitoring station still knows where the car last was, even if the car wasn't reported stolen at the time.

www.tracker-network.co.uk/svt/carpricing.html

You cannot move Tracker devices between cars but you can sell them on with the car. Obviously none of the Trackers stop the car being stolen with the keys. The biggest selling point for Tracker is that a lot of police cars and helicopters have the unit required to find a Tracker equipped car.

Then you have a number of other units which do not use radio, but only work using GPS/GSM, similar to the Tracker Horizon unit;

NavTrak - a bit more expensive (£600 IIRC) but can be moved between cars (£200). NavTrak ADR - costs about £900 but if the car is moved without the driver holding a special card, the alarm is automatically triggered (best option if you're worried about carjacking/theft with keys)
http://195.217.252.87/navtrak/whats_nav.asp

RAC Trackstar - again can be moved between cars and if you get the more expensive "Protector" you get a button you have to press before you start the car, without which the car reports itself as stolen. It can also be linked in with the RAC in case of breakdowns whilst lost!

www.rac.co.uk/travelservices/raclive/trackstar

There are others as well - TrakM8 2, Dantrak, but I'm not sure on those at all. They all have their pluses and minuses but if your son is getting the Tracker just to get insurance, I'd get the lowest Tracker they accept and save the money!

>> Edited by john_p on Friday 30th January 11:35

[domster]

Thank you for an informative post john - I have experience of trackstar and tracker, but have never seen such clear info all in one place comparing the systems

[DennisTheMenace]

Graham said:

I put a smartnav system in my dicovery which gives you a sat nav system for 500 quid and the satellite tracking system for another 100 quid. plus a monthly rental. www.smartnav.com its all part of the rac trackstar/ traffic master network.. G

A tracking unit should be covert , using a smartnav to act as a tracker is a waste of time , once they see the button they will rip it out

[Bee_Jay]

Don;t know about the others I have RAC Trackstar, though have not had to use it thank God. Got it for my own piece of mind as Elephant don't load for tracking devices...

They were doing a deal where you got the unit and lifetime cover for £23.50/mnth for 3 years (0% finance) and it got the best reviews at the time.

Got it after friend had his scooby nicked with this fitted (standard on all P1s) and they got it back within an hour (they found it in 1 minute, just let the idiots drive it around for a bit instead of the police chasing it and poss having an accident then nicked them when they stopped). It was valeted and returned to him - nice... Incidentally the thief got a greater penalty for doing over 90 in a 30 which
they proved from the GPS trace than for nicking the car - mad eh???

My only tip is if you do get one, get them to occasionally check it - the garage let my battery go flat when changing gearboxes and jump starting it fried the box which I found out when I got Trackstar to check it after I got it back from the garage (they recommend this). Trackstar came out and replaced the unit - no questions.

Edited to add that it is now £27.47/month for the product...


>> Edited by Bee_Jay on Friday 30th January 20:35

[mikef]

I asked the same question on a trafpol forum, they were in favour of Tracker - another thread there today on the same subject
www.5ive-o.com/web/viewtopic.php?t=3715

[mikef]

ps: the other reason I went for tracker is that I live near the tunnel and travel regularly to France. French plod now use the same system, only they call it (wait for it) traqueur

[alarmist]

if your having a tracker of any description fitted make sure it will be on the new thatcham list.they have set out a new criteria and it looks doubtful for a few old names.

[ALISON B]

Thanks to all of you for you help on this one. My son has found his 'dream' Lotus Elise and is picking it up on Friday. Direct Line have agreed to insure it without the Tracker but not against theft until such time as it is fitted. Needless to say fitting the Tracker will be a priority, and now I can get down to sorting one out - thanks to you all.
Ali B
ps. particular thanks to John_P for his extensive reply and also Bee_Jay!