Any opinions on Tracker?

[rigsby]

Heard Tracker mentioned on another thread and didn't want to hijack.

I have to have Tracker as stipulation of insurance. It's Monitor.Have subscribed for last 2 years.

Am seriously thinking about not bothering this time and finding an insurer that doesn't.Have heard through a friend in the trade (main BMW) that all the thieves know where they are anyway and just cut them out. Also they don't work inside a container.

[Pickled Piper]

Hmmm,

your choice ultimately but I made the decision not to renew my subscription. Primarily because it was not a stipulation by any of the insurance companies and also none of them were offering a discount if I had it voluntarily. Secondly, I decided that if some scrote made it of with my P&J, I'd be more distraught at having it returned with damaged locks, wheels etc then I would be if it disappeared altogether.

pp

[nem351s]

Someone please confirm, but am I right that if your car is recovered it is then classed as "Stolen Recovered".

Therefore, not only do you get a "tainted" car returned, but also take a hit come resale time.

[rigsby]

Good point pp.
I wouldn't want it back either come to think of it. Never mind locks, wheels. What about engine, gearbox, diff and everything else. Makes me shudder.

[pdV6]

rigsby said:

Have heard through a friend in the trade (main BMW) that all the thieves know where they are anyway and just cut them out.

Now that depends. The unit itself is very small and can, to all intents and purposes, be just about anywhere on the car. There are obviously some practical limitations to this.

The real issue is that dealer-fitted units tend to be in one of a very few select places that the dealers are willing to use (for ease of access and to simplify training the technicians that do it is my guess).

If you get one fitted by a 3rd party, it may well be in a spot that Porsche (or whoever) don't usually use.

The fitter is supposed not to tell the customer where the unit is but it does need to be recorded at Tracker for maintenance if anything goes wrong.

rigsby said:

Also they don't work inside a container.

I'm glad to say that this is probably just scaremongering.

Edited by pdV6 on Wednesday 14th June 16:06

[a993lad]

Are they actually any good.

A girl I know go carjacked on the M25 near South Mimms, losing her nearly new X5. She contacted the police pretty quickly, but despite the car having a tracker it wasn't recoved until 6mths later when it turned up in Spain.

They never got a signal from the Tracker.

[domster]

I have had a car returned thanks to tracker, and so have people I know recently. As much as I hate the subs at renewal time, the feeling of satisfaction knowing the police have foiled the scrote's plans is immense.

Most car thieves can't be ar5ed hunting for a tracker if not in a really obvious place like under seat, behind glovebox etc. They simply leave the car for a few days and see if it gets collected. You stand a fair chance of getting an unmolested car back with a tracker etc.

[gmk666]

I'd normally recommend them, but they're in my bad books at the moment. I sold my car last month and sent off the transfer notification but surprise surprise, they collected my yearly subscription last week. Four phone calls later, about twenty minutes on hold each time, and I'm still waiting to get the money reimbursed. Odd, since I got through to sales straight away...

Apologies if this contravenes name/shame regulations

[domster]

You're right to be annoyed. They also don't transfer 'lifetime' subs with the car, which I think is out of order.

[PetrolTed]

gmk666 said:

I'd normally recommend them, but they're in my bad books at the moment. I sold my car last month and sent off the transfer notification but surprise surprise, they collected my yearly subscription last week. Four phone calls later, about twenty minutes on hold each time, and I'm still waiting to get the money reimbursed. Odd, since I got through to sales straight away...

Apologies if this contravenes name/shame regulations

They recently changed hands (now owned by RBS) and have undergone lots of restructuring. Not an excuse but might explain some foul ups on the admin side.

[PetrolTed]

rigsby said:

Have heard through a friend in the trade (main BMW) that all the thieves know where they are anyway and just cut them out.

Some may do, most just park the car up and wait to see if it's collected.

rigsby said:

Also they don't work inside a container.

Simply not true. Cars have been tracked into containers deep within a dock storage area.

[PetrolTed]

nem351s said:

Someone please confirm, but am I right that if your car is recovered it is then classed as "Stolen Recovered".

Not so sure about that. My Alpina was stolen a couple of weeks ago and found a few miles away within 20 minutes of the Tracker being activated. It was undamaged.

I had to pay to get the locks changed (annoying), but as it wasn't worth claiming on the insurance, the insurance company weren't interested in recording any details.

Our Audi will get recorded though as we've had to claim for some bits and bobs to be repaired on it. I guess some people might be fearful of buying it when we come to sell if they find that out. It's easily explained though.

All in all, in my experience (and all experiences of theft will vary), I was glad to have my car back in a few days unharmed, rather than have to claim on the insurance, argue the toss about value and then try the difficult task of finding an equivalent or comparable car.

[pdV6]

domster said:

You're right to be annoyed. They also don't transfer 'lifetime' subs with the car, which I think is out of order.

That is a right con IMO. Its the one thing that prevented me from buying the lifetime package when I got the car (fully expected to shift it on in a year or two, so it didn't make sense to pay the extra). Now that I've had the car 5+ years, it would have paid for itself easily by now and I wouldn't have to pay the annual sub. Trouble is, the renewal comes in shortly after Christmas, right when I can't afford to shell out for the lifetime cover every year, so its still on annual

[agent006]

nem351s said:

Someone please confirm, but am I right that if your car is recovered it is then classed as "Stolen Recovered".

Only if the insurance company pay out before it's recovered.

[PetrolTed]

Interesting. Never knew that.

[kgb1]

gmk666 said:

I'd normally recommend them, but they're in my bad books at the moment. I sold my car last month and sent off the transfer notification but surprise surprise, they collected my yearly subscription last week. Four phone calls later, about twenty minutes on hold each time, and I'm still waiting to get the money reimbursed. Odd, since I got through to sales straight away...

Apologies if this contravenes name/shame regulations

Get used to it , this has happened to me 3 times. It also seems that when you change car and keep the plate it confuses them.
I was under the impression most insurance companies would not touch a Porsche without tracker being fitted....then I find it strange that many used Porches do not have a tracker, as it cannot be transferred to another car???
I am sure there is an extra income for dealers going on here. I subscribe due to insurance but I don't really like the way they do business.

[supermono]

My tracker failed to go off when the car was recovered to the OPC for its new clutch. It took me a full two weeks of waiting forever on the telephone, logging "call me back" on their website and finally sending an email before I was able to tell anyone.

That's a long time for the car to be un-tracked.

Someone turned up yesterday at my home to "service" the unit, but the wife had to leave him to it. When she got back he'd left and there's no sign of a note, bill, telephone call so I still don't know if it's even working now!

So if I don't hear in a couple of days' time I'll have to start the Quest to Speak to Tracker again.

I can't help wondering if they're shite when I need to speak to them, are they just as shite when the car's being nicked.

Without wishing to go on too much, it's also annoying that when I paid my subscription I wanted them to tell me where the car was just so I was confident about it working, and they reassured me that it "probably was". Actually it wasn't but I only discovered that when it was taken away, thankfully by my arrangement! I could have paid for a whole year of monitoring nothing otherwise which is a scam.

SM

[PetrolTed]

It does seem that testing of units could be done in a manner that is more confidence inspiring to owners.

[jeremyc]

PetrolTed said:

It does seem that testing of units could be done in a manner that is more confidence inspiring to owners.

RAC Trackstar carry out a test before transferring/starting a subscription. Which is nice.

I have a TRACKER on another car and have no idea if it is still working.

[pdV6]

PetrolTed said:

It does seem that testing of units could be done in a manner that is more confidence inspiring to owners.

They have told me in the past that they can remotely verify whether the Tracker unit itself is working or not (how??) but can't test to see if the Monitor will fire.