Tracker Advice

[Big Ry]

A few of my neighbours seem to have been victims of car theft recently (main meaty German stuff and keyless etc), however it's got me thinking a bit about how fked off I'd be if somebody borrowed the V12S.....mainly as it's not replaceable (7sp Roadster).

Can anyone suggest what they think is the best tracker option out there and why ? I also like the idea of being able to track it myself too if that's possible, just so I can see it's where it should be

[anonymous-user]

Big Ry said:

A few of my neighbours seem to have been victims of car theft recently (main meaty German stuff and keyless etc), however it's got me thinking a bit about how fked off I'd be if somebody borrowed the V12S.....mainly as it's not replaceable (7sp Roadster).

Can anyone suggest what they think is the best tracker option out there and why ? I also like the idea of being able to track it myself too if that's possible, just so I can see it's where it should be

It should have come with a tracker fitted at the factory I thought? Either Cobra or Vodafone IIRC. £215 subscription per year, comes with 2 fobs, the tracking company will contact you if they register car movement without the fob present.

[Big Ry]

I know it has got one fitted, i'm just not sure if that's the "best" tracker option that's all.

[dbs2000]

Speak to Aston Installations, they've had a fair few rare and interesting cars pass through and have alarms and trackers fitted.

[AMVSVNick]

Big Ry said:

I know it has got one fitted, i'm just not sure if that's the "best" tracker option that's all.

Mine has the Vodafone system and the minute it moves without a fob they are on the phone. Can't watch it "live" though.

[David Ramsbotham]

My V8V has the early Eurowatch tracker, while my son in laws Rapide has the Vodaphone later version, which is the one I suspect you have. Both, I believe offer good protection, the eurowatch subscription being slightly higher at £250 per annum.
Have noticed some people have had concerns over trackers drawing down current while vehicle at rest but a good intelligent battery conditioner should sort that.
I have a 2007 car which I purchased late last year. Eurowatch confirmed it had a tracker but it had never been activated however it was a simple process to set it up. I am sure if you contact Vodaphone you will find it equally straight forward and well worth the piece of mind!

[anonymous-user]

Look at cantrack.

Originally for plant but a self contained unit with a battery that lasts for around 7 years.

Because its self contained it doesn't drain your battery or need a connection so can be hidden anywhere you like.

Live tracking if required but also a dedicated investigation team that physically fo looking for your vehicle and coordinate with the police to recover.

I no longer have one but it worked seamlessly.
Not expensive either.
And no, I have no connection with them.

[Big Ry]

Thanks all, I'll look into the various suggestions.

[ripley500]

I have the GTP Global Telemetrics tracker - via an iphone app I can get real time location and status of cars and if using the full website you can see complete history of where the car has been and what speeds. I think they are about £350 install then an annual fee of circa £150 per year. They can also be installed with other tracker as my McLaren has the factory one fitted and I also added the GTP tracker as well.

[Aston Installations]

Big Ry said:

A few of my neighbours seem to have been victims of car theft recently (main meaty German stuff and keyless etc), however it's got me thinking a bit about how fked off I'd be if somebody borrowed the V12S.....mainly as it's not replaceable (7sp Roadster).

Can anyone suggest what they think is the best tracker option out there and why ? I also like the idea of being able to track it myself too if that's possible, just so I can see it's where it should be

Hello Big Ry,

It depends on the age of the car. Early DB9's had a tracker Horizon fitted from the factory. When Vantage was launched they both went over to the Autotext box, monitored by Eurowatch (where the name comes from), now part of the Teletrac Navman group of companies. These were line fitted to all UK cars up to 2013 when Aston changed over to Vodafone/Cobra, largely (I think) down to reliability issues with the Autotext units. These units breakdown internally and cause 3 different issues, normally one after the other... Firstly, the SIM gets disconnected because the owner doesn't need a tracker and they can't be reconnected. Secondly the internal components in the unit go faulty not allowing the tracker and consequently the car (they're linked via the CAN network to enable immobilisation in cases of theft) to go to sleep and lastly they fail completely (rare) and the car won't start, due to the CAN connection mentioned. From 2017 Trackers are now a tick box option on new cars or special editions (we've done V600's, LHD GT12's, DB4GT's, oh and a Vulcan (which was an arse!).

If you send me an email with your chassis number I can check with both Trackstar (Eurowatch) and Vodafone (depending on how old your V12 is) to see if it is live and make sure you have the relevant driver ID tags or ADR tags required. The older Autotext unit had Bluetooth and you could pair your phone to it rather than having separate tags, pretty handy but no one else does it now.

As for a replacement, there are a myriad of choices out there, we use Trackstar TM470 S5 because we can transfer any outstanding subscriptions from the old Autotext/Eurowatch account over to the new one. We also fit Vodafone kit as some of our clients want that instead. Both have a smartphone app to monitor location of vehicles, not live as this costs money, but historic. You can also geofence (put an electronic ring around the car, alerts when it moves outside of that ring) on the car from the app.

I guess being a 7Speed, it'll be a Vodafone device if it were fitted from the factory.

If people are changing the tracker out it is worth getting the old one disconnected with AMDS so it doesn't cause issues in the future, if you just unplug it, the car won't start....

[PantsFire]

I got a Cobra Cat 5 system from Vodafone Automotive fitted by trackingmycar.co.uk last year. The phone app is great, tells me where my car is an what it's doing, lots of features, excellent bit of kit, cost to fit with one year tracking was about £900 if I remember correctly. And you reminded me I needed to renew it for a second year so I've just done that for £217.

[V8LM]

Have Tracker Cat 5 systems on three of my cars and a Smartrack system on the DBSS. Both are very good. Would go for the latter if I was to have the choice again just because the Tracker sales team are useless. Support, for both, has been excellent.

[Old Chimer]

Interesting topic. My Vantage has the Vodafone tracker fitted.

Subscription cost per annum - £217.00

Reduction in annual insurance cost if tracker active - £7.71

Go figure

[LTP]

My V8V has the OE Vodafone Cobra and I must say I'm impressed with the call centre staff on the couple of occasions I've forgotten my fob . I also like that the system sends me a message when the fob battery is going flat (the batteries are good for about 9 months when permanently switched on).

The Vodafone people will tell the police where your car is if you report it missing, but they won't tell you where it is if you lose it in a carpark

[ReformedPistonhead]

Quick one; I am waiting to hear back from an email to AM but does anyone know how to get a tracker activated if it never was from new?

My 2018 V12VSM has one, but I never switched it on. Now NFU like most insurers are demanding a tracker so I need to turn it on.

Not sure who to call; from reading the above it will be the Vodafone unit and I have the two little dongles.

[AdamV12V]

ReformedPistonhead said:

Quick one; I am waiting to hear back from an email to AM but does anyone know how to get a tracker activated if it never was from new?

My 2018 V12VSM has one, but I never switched it on. Now NFU like most insurers are demanding a tracker so I need to turn it on.

Not sure who to call; from reading the above it will be the Vodafone unit and I have the two little dongles.

Call the voda activation team, during normal office hours Mon-Fri. I think you just need to quote the cars registration.

0333 2220799 - I think (if Ive kept my contacts up to date!)

[ReformedPistonhead]

AdamV12V said:

ReformedPistonhead said:

Quick one; I am waiting to hear back from an email to AM but does anyone know how to get a tracker activated if it never was from new?

My 2018 V12VSM has one, but I never switched it on. Now NFU like most insurers are demanding a tracker so I need to turn it on.

Not sure who to call; from reading the above it will be the Vodafone unit and I have the two little dongles.

Call the voda activation team, during normal office hours Mon-Fri. I think you just need to quote the cars registration.

0333 2220799 - I think (if Ive kept my contacts up to date!)

Genius will do thank you!

[ReformedPistonhead]

For anyone else in the future, the number above is the lost/stolen line.

To activate you call 0333 222 0003

Then they tell you to send in a V5 to [e-mail]

Then they check it and you call them back….

Thanks again for the help!

Edited by ReformedPistonhead on Thursday 9th December 13:07

[Dewi 2]

ReformedPistonhead said:

Now NFU like most insurers are demanding a tracker so I need to turn it on.

I am surprised that any Aston Martin owner is still with the NFU. They clearly do not want to have AMs on their book any more.

In year 2 they reduced my already low premium, which included no charge breakdown assistance.
In my 3rd year with them, which if they looked at MoT records, would see only 200 miles driven that year, the renewal premium trebled.
Several other AM PHers reported similar treatment.

Went back to Aviva at an even lower premium. They don't insist on a tracker, but I wonder whether that might be dependent on location.

[ReformedPistonhead]

Dewi 2 said:

ReformedPistonhead said:

Now NFU like most insurers are demanding a tracker so I need to turn it on.

I am surprised that any Aston Martin owner is still with the NFU. They clearly do not want to have AMs on their book any more.

In year 2 they reduced my already low premium, which included no charge breakdown assistance.
In my 3rd year with them, which if they looked at MoT records, would see only 200 miles driven that year, the renewal premium trebled.
Several other AM PHers reported similar treatment.

Went back to Aviva at an even lower premium. They don't insist on a tracker, but I wonder whether that might be dependent on location.

The price on the AM has gone up but I live rurally and it lives in a unit, totally secure; NFU told me it's a more than £75k rule from their underwriters.

I was tempted to go elsewhere, but I have 7 vehicles at home with them and tried to get some competing prices only to find I am paying £1,000 less in aggregate than I would be if I went elsewhere. I likely could shop them 1 by 1 around and beat it (£2,000 for 7 cars is not bad with 4 drivers and all of them are powerful). They also are extremely accommodating when I call and say please add friend X to the policy for a weekend, "that will be £12 sir" is usually the response.

The only car I don't do with them is the Tesla, they wanted £2,500 for that alone plus a tracker fitted (what, it comes with one built in??). I went with Novo who give you fully comp driving ANY car (so long as it isn't yours and has an active insurance policy elsewhere) included. Extremely handy but still pricy at £800.

Oh, and they don't want young drivers, my kids are insured on a brand new Polo R-Line for £450 (18 and 20), NFU wanted £4,500