Vodafone Tracker
Discussion
I thought it might be good to be positive about a service, given our (often justified) tendency to complain about service providers on this forum. Being used to paying a lot and not getting much back from most insurance and security related providers, I'm giving a shout to Vodafone.
I am obliged by my insurance to keep a tracker on my Panamera and I opted for the three year package from Vodafone. I was sceptical but had no choice.
Anyway, three years fire and forget, and forget I did until an episode last year and then again today.
I am UK-based but in Italy at the moment and my Panamera has just dumped a load of oil onto the road and gone into, alternately, "gearbox kaput" and "engine b*ggered" mode and I've had to had to have it recovered.
Not five minutes after waving goodbye to the truck, I received a call from Vodafone alerting me to the fact that my vehicle had been lifted and was on the move. This also happened last year as I was being taken through the Kandersteg tunnel on the railway ferry, again within a minute or two of boarding. And yet, as I'm not called every five minutes, the system clearly distinguishes between my hooning round the steeply gradiented mountain roads here and an uplift onto a flatbed.
No fuss, no drama, just a call, some verification questions and some quick arrangements to maintain the car's security over the next few days (obvs not going into the details...).
All for less than £500 for three years IIRC.
Clearly, there are limitations with a phone based tracker service if thieves are really motivated but for cars at my level, as opposed to £250k collectibles, I think the cost and cover is probably appropriate.
If anybody is considering a paid tracker service and is ambivalent, count this post in the plus ledger.
Peter
I am obliged by my insurance to keep a tracker on my Panamera and I opted for the three year package from Vodafone. I was sceptical but had no choice.
Anyway, three years fire and forget, and forget I did until an episode last year and then again today.
I am UK-based but in Italy at the moment and my Panamera has just dumped a load of oil onto the road and gone into, alternately, "gearbox kaput" and "engine b*ggered" mode and I've had to had to have it recovered.
Not five minutes after waving goodbye to the truck, I received a call from Vodafone alerting me to the fact that my vehicle had been lifted and was on the move. This also happened last year as I was being taken through the Kandersteg tunnel on the railway ferry, again within a minute or two of boarding. And yet, as I'm not called every five minutes, the system clearly distinguishes between my hooning round the steeply gradiented mountain roads here and an uplift onto a flatbed.
No fuss, no drama, just a call, some verification questions and some quick arrangements to maintain the car's security over the next few days (obvs not going into the details...).
All for less than £500 for three years IIRC.
Clearly, there are limitations with a phone based tracker service if thieves are really motivated but for cars at my level, as opposed to £250k collectibles, I think the cost and cover is probably appropriate.
If anybody is considering a paid tracker service and is ambivalent, count this post in the plus ledger.
Peter
Yup, I agree.
Vodafone Navtrak called me within 5 minutes after I somehow managed to set the alarm off by opening the bonnet on my 458 (still don't know how it happened). Was very reassuring to get a phone call in such a short space of time.
They were also great when I complained about how short the batteries were lasting in the fobs (they were the ones to tell me that they had detected that they were low in the first place), sending me two new fobs gratis.
Vodafone Navtrak called me within 5 minutes after I somehow managed to set the alarm off by opening the bonnet on my 458 (still don't know how it happened). Was very reassuring to get a phone call in such a short space of time.
They were also great when I complained about how short the batteries were lasting in the fobs (they were the ones to tell me that they had detected that they were low in the first place), sending me two new fobs gratis.
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