BMW Trackstar and M cars
Discussion
Probably not wholly specific to M cars but I imagine these carry more trackers than the rest of the BMW range so thought best to ask in here.
I have a X5M on order and with a few cars disappearing locally I wouldn't mind exploring the cost of the BMW trackstar option.
Does anyone have any experience good and bad or are there better options out there ?
I have a X5M on order and with a few cars disappearing locally I wouldn't mind exploring the cost of the BMW trackstar option.
Does anyone have any experience good and bad or are there better options out there ?
I am with Trackstar. I hope never to use their services, of course. It was a negligible amount of money for their services... think about £300 or so. You get an App for your smart device/phone etc.
It seems OK to me but I am not an expert.
It seems OK to me but I am not an expert.
Edited by nbetts on Tuesday 20th February 12:49
I've always been intrigued by trackers...
From a personal point of view if my car was stolen I'm not sure I'd necessarily want it back as you won't know what's been done to it. When the gearbox explodes 10000 miles later you won't have a leg to stand on with the insurance company.
My Vantage had one that I could have activated, but when I got insurance quotes the insurance went *up* with the tracker, as well as me having to pay for the service.
So all in all, not convinced! Certainly get an insurance quote with and without the tracker.
From a personal point of view if my car was stolen I'm not sure I'd necessarily want it back as you won't know what's been done to it. When the gearbox explodes 10000 miles later you won't have a leg to stand on with the insurance company.
My Vantage had one that I could have activated, but when I got insurance quotes the insurance went *up* with the tracker, as well as me having to pay for the service.
So all in all, not convinced! Certainly get an insurance quote with and without the tracker.
No expert on how good they actually are c/w other tracker systems but I have had a BMW Trackstar fitted by main dealer each time I’ve bought my last few cars E60 M5, F10 M5 and now M6 GCP. I think there are different versions with better thatchum category approval. For example my current one on the M6 has a separate tag that has to be in the vicinity of car or the ignition is completely imobilised and won’t start until there is an audible beep that sounds on pressing the cars start button, previous ones didnt have that but still tracked the car and would alert at a break in I believe. Very occasionally the tag doesn’t seem to pair up and car won’t start so you ring them up and they can override from their control centre until you change battery or get a new tag. Always seems to happen when I’m in a hurry.
Definitely works because after I sold my E60 M5 about a year later I was phoned at 2am to say the car had signalled some sort of alert and was being tracked on the M2 heading towards Dover! They still had me as the registers owner as the 3 year subscription i has taken out was still in date and I forgot to cancel. As I was no longer the owner and they had no subscription with the new owner I don’t know what happened or if they still passed onto police, always feelt sorry for the poor new owner whose car seemed to have been in the process of being actively stolen and was heading overseas by the sound of it!.
Just renewed my subscription as the 3 years taken out when my current car was new is now expired. It was £180 for 12 m or a bit cheaper if you took out another 3 year subscription. Certainly cheaper than the navtrac set up in my F12/599 have been and no less functionality I think.
I believe you will find a car of the value of X5M will be difficult to insure unless it has a tracker fitter I seem to recall. Could be wrong on that, I’m sure others can advise. I know they say these cars can still end up in containers and the tracker is useless but I wouldn’t risk not having one, especially if I didn’t have gap insurance on the cost differential between what I had just paid/owed and what i’d likely get on an insurance payout shortfall if it got nicked and not recovered.
Definitely works because after I sold my E60 M5 about a year later I was phoned at 2am to say the car had signalled some sort of alert and was being tracked on the M2 heading towards Dover! They still had me as the registers owner as the 3 year subscription i has taken out was still in date and I forgot to cancel. As I was no longer the owner and they had no subscription with the new owner I don’t know what happened or if they still passed onto police, always feelt sorry for the poor new owner whose car seemed to have been in the process of being actively stolen and was heading overseas by the sound of it!.
Just renewed my subscription as the 3 years taken out when my current car was new is now expired. It was £180 for 12 m or a bit cheaper if you took out another 3 year subscription. Certainly cheaper than the navtrac set up in my F12/599 have been and no less functionality I think.
I believe you will find a car of the value of X5M will be difficult to insure unless it has a tracker fitter I seem to recall. Could be wrong on that, I’m sure others can advise. I know they say these cars can still end up in containers and the tracker is useless but I wouldn’t risk not having one, especially if I didn’t have gap insurance on the cost differential between what I had just paid/owed and what i’d likely get on an insurance payout shortfall if it got nicked and not recovered.
My cynicism make me click into this as I thought this might have been a different question.
BMW were refusing warranty claims on cars found to have ventured out on track. Not sure if this is still the case but what information could BMW gather from this system if they know where you are at any time and could it have unforeseen consequences if such a scenario happened? Maybe a little far fetched I know.
BMW were refusing warranty claims on cars found to have ventured out on track. Not sure if this is still the case but what information could BMW gather from this system if they know where you are at any time and could it have unforeseen consequences if such a scenario happened? Maybe a little far fetched I know.
Mark83 said:
My cynicism make me click into this as I thought this might have been a different question.
BMW were refusing warranty claims on cars found to have ventured out on track. Not sure if this is still the case but what information could BMW gather from this system if they know where you are at any time and could it have unforeseen consequences if such a scenario happened? Maybe a little far fetched I know.
I suppose on track or not the ecu will record the engine data which they'll be able to hold against you BMW were refusing warranty claims on cars found to have ventured out on track. Not sure if this is still the case but what information could BMW gather from this system if they know where you are at any time and could it have unforeseen consequences if such a scenario happened? Maybe a little far fetched I know.
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