Car tracker advice

[victorialynn2]

Does anyone have advice on installing a car tracker? I keep reading about classic cars being stolen and thought it might be good to install one?

 

Thanks, Victoria

[nick8086]

https://www.lojack.com/blog/tag/classic-car/

 

 

 

A Kaiser  Darrin in L.A has one..

 

 

I just have security camera watching my car sent to my I phone..

Edited February 1, 2021 by nick8086 (see edit history)

[edinmass]

I looked into it. If you car is safe in your garage.......just leave your tablet in the trunk on full charge while using the car. You can then track it for free using your phone. Since I have three tablets at work, I place one in the truck, one in the trailer, and one in the old car. I charge them up every three days.....works like a charm. Also helps when you have been drinking and can’t remember the name of you hotel........so they tell me.😎

Edited February 1, 2021 by edinmass (see edit history)

[TAKerry]

Not sure a tablet would be the same as lojack. If it is a legit. thief I would think the second he sees a tablet its gone! I havent looked into them but I would imagine there are a number of gps trackers that are made for such a thing.  I had an employee that had his truck stolen off the job site (across the street from the town PD).  After about of week they gave up looking for it. By coincidence he was doing a follow up at the Police station and there happened to be a county sheriff present. He asked if the truck had a lojack, which it did, but the owner didnt think to bring it up. Sherriff ran the thing and they found the truck the next day. ,

[Digger914]

Lojak will keep tabs on your car, but so will a $50 five day battery, $5 a month world wide GPS dog collar and for a few dollars more you can get a rechargeable.  Reasonable price, small size and you can use it on the dog when you know your car is safe in the garage. 

[padgett]

Problem is range when in a building or container. Does it keep track of where it was detected last ?

[lump]

I have had two trailers stolen at work. Believe it or not, one of them was found and recovered about 3 years later. 

 

Like anyone, I HATE being ripped off, and the last time involved a thief cutting a steel cable and lock. So I considered tracking devices like LoJack. But since I have several enclosed work trailers, I would need several of these. With a monthly fee at roughly $50 apiece, it would quickly get very expensive. Plus, the salespersons offering these devices said they don't work very well if the thief puts the trailer with its tracker device inside a barn or garage with a metal roof. 

 

I would really like to learn more about that dog collar idea. Will it work long distances? Will it work inside of a car or trailer, under the metal roof? Can it work if a thief hides the stolen property and tracker inside a building? 

 

Right now, most of my trailers have big graphics and business names on the sides, which naturally discourages theft. Additionally, when they are parked for a while I remove the wheel(s) from one side, resting the trailer on a jack stand which is purposely too low for mounting another rim. Thus thieves would have to take the time to jack it up, and bring their own wheel(s) and lug nuts. I know they can do that easily enough, but I am hopeful that they won't take that much time. 

 

Looking forward to further info on that dog collar idea. 

[TAKerry]

At one time there were I think they were called 'tiles'. They were small and you could stick them to tools if need be. Again, I havent looked into gps tracking for a car but would think something like this would work as well. I had a sea container with a $50 lock. Could not break the lock with dynamite. Thieves cut the hinge off the door and cleaned it out. I too have had more things stolen than I care to think about.

[AL1630]

28 minutes ago, TAKerry said:

At one time there were I think they were called 'tiles'. They were small and you could stick them to tools if need be. Again, I havent looked into gps tracking for a car but would think something like this would work as well. I had a sea container with a $50 lock. Could not break the lock with dynamite. Thieves cut the hinge off the door and cleaned it out. I too have had more things stolen than I care to think about.

Those 'Tile' chips are still around, I'm not sure of battery life though. I believe Apple is coming out with something similar, those might be worth looking at if you use their products already.

[edinmass]

There are a lot of commercial options.....I put the iPad in the trunk under the spare.......no problem with a signal, and you can even run a charging cord to it from the cabin to the trunk area. I travel with our rig a lot.......and never had an issue using the iPad. There are little boxes that you can place on a trailer that only activate with motion, and give an update every thirty seconds while moving. they are reasonable, and send a text message to your phone. I place two locks on my trailer, have a cable to run through the wheels, and when possiible we block each other in. I'm more concerned having a door pried open in a hotel lot at night than a stolen trailer. 

Edited February 1, 2021 by edinmass (see edit history)

[TAKerry]

When I travelled/travel with motorcycles in a trailer, I always park for the night with it backed up to something to prevent the door from being opened.  On the lighter side, we went to Daytona bike week a few years back and about the time we crossed the FLA line, someone asked if they brought the keys to the trailer. Between the 3 of us, none were smart enough to do so. One of the first stops was home depot for a pair of bolt cutters. As we were standing on the side of the road cutting the locks off the back door not a single person seemed to notice.

[maok]

The tablet needs to have 2/3/4G capability for it to be detected. That is how dedicated trackers work, via the cell network, so it needs an active sim card in them to send a sms/txt message back to your phone with gps coordinates.

[Digger914]

6 hours ago, lump said:

I have had two trailers stolen at work. Believe it or not, one of them was found and recovered about 3 years later. 

 

Like anyone, I HATE being ripped off, and the last time involved a thief cutting a steel cable and lock. So I considered tracking devices like LoJack. But since I have several enclosed work trailers, I would need several of these. With a monthly fee at roughly $50 apiece, it would quickly get very expensive. Plus, the salespersons offering these devices said they don't work very well if the thief puts the trailer with its tracker device inside a barn or garage with a metal roof. 

 

I would really like to learn more about that dog collar idea. Will it work long distances? Will it work inside of a car or trailer, under the metal roof? Can it work if a thief hides the stolen property and tracker inside a building? 

 

Right now, most of my trailers have big graphics and business names on the sides, which naturally discourages theft. Additionally, when they are parked for a while I remove the wheel(s) from one side, resting the trailer on a jack stand which is purposely too low for mounting another rim. Thus thieves would have to take the time to jack it up, and bring their own wheel(s) and lug nuts. I know they can do that easily enough, but I am hopeful that they won't take that much time. 

 

Looking forward to further info on that dog collar idea. 

https://tractive.com/en-us/pd/gps-tracker-dog?shopCountry=US&launch-lte&gclid=EAIaIQobChMI6Imy8O_J7gIVTvDACh01bwLoEAQYDSABEgLpH_D_BwE

 

[nick8086]

Once I get the dog tracker I can find out where he took my car to..

[Dave39MD]

I have been using one of these for a little peace of mind with a new teenage driver; https://helpcenter.spytec.com/hc/en-us/articles/360039730752-GL300-User-Manual

 

I have to retrieve it from the car and recharge it once a week or so. I have the magnetic hard case and stick it on the frame. I believe some models can be wired into the vehicles electrical system so you don't have to charge.   

 

It sends real time position info on a map with 60 second updates for about $24 a month.

 

Dave

Edited February 2, 2021 by Dave39MD (see edit history)

[Larry Schramm]

24 minutes ago, Dave39MD said:

I have been using one of these for a little piece of mind with a new teenage driver; https://helpcenter.spytec.com/hc/en-us/articles/360039730752-GL300-User-Manual

It sends real time position info on a map with 60 second updates for about $24 a month.

 

Dave

 

Dave,

Can you tell me if you can have it monitored for a month or two?  Or is it required to have like an annual subscription?

[Dave39MD]

My understanding is I can end it at anytime but would expect they would get me for one more month at the end. I did not sign a long term contract (that I know of).

 

So far it has been a very good experience.

 

Dave

[zeke01]

I’m glad these weren’t available in the early 1970’s. I would have been an orphan. Mom: what did you do last night? Me: Nothing. (Except get thrown in jail). Mom:Are you dating anyone? Me: “Not since the last girlfriend was indicted.” Etc, etc.

[BearsFan315]

a nice simple device made specifically for vehicles...

https://www.optimustracker.com/products

 

can buy them on amazon and elsewhere, cheap device, and basic service is like $20 a month, battery CAN last for a month or so, depending on if you have it sending LOCATION info every minute, 5 minutes, 25 minutes, etc... also goes to sleep when vehicle is NOT moving, but still reports last location. and you can manually ping it from your phone or pc and get location. you can see maps of where it has gone based on ping rate (ie every minute) you can set geofences, so if the vehicles goes outside of an area or in an area it will text you. you can set your property as a geofence and when the car leave that are the gps will text you, email you etc, and when it returns to the are do the same, and you can set up several geofences. they are not large, so could easily hid it without an issue, and if you wanted to stow it under the car you can get the waterproof case. they also make a hardwire kit, so no worry about battery charge. can run reports, with speed & location of report, how long moving, how long parked (not moving) etc. very cool interface and very easy to use. if you have more than one device you can NAME them in the interface so you know which one is which. see them on one map or each one individually.

 

great device, super service, and reasonable price. i can attest to these as we have used them for a few company vehicles to track where they are, speed, etc... know when they leave the yard, when they return. 

 

if you have a question, i can answer, we love them, and have several of them currently. on the daily drivers have to charge them every few weeks, usually a few hours, on less driven vehicle, maybe once a month if that.

 

you can stop service and reactivate any time, no fees or penalties. 

Edited February 4, 2021 by BearsFan315 (see edit history)

[capngrog]

While not exactly a tracker, it is a multi-function system that will ensure that your vehicle is not stolen.  The only catch is that the protected vehicle must have a trunk.

 

The link to vehicle security: 

 

I know, it's an old concept but no less relevant in these troubled times.

 

Cheers,

Grog

[Trulyvintage]

And this is how folks learned Sparky

wasn’t waving .... 👋

 

He had just tossed his tracker collar 

 

 

Jim

 

[MikeC5]

There is Optimus.  Another you might look into is Brickhouse security.

[George Cole]

On 2/1/2021 at 12:45 PM, lump said:

I have had two trailers stolen at work. Believe it or not, one of them was found and recovered about 3 years later. 

 

Like anyone, I HATE being ripped off, and the last time involved a thief cutting a steel cable and lock. So I considered tracking devices like LoJack. But since I have several enclosed work trailers, I would need several of these. With a monthly fee at roughly $50 apiece, it would quickly get very expensive. Plus, the salespersons offering these devices said they don't work very well if the thief puts the trailer with its tracker device inside a barn or garage with a metal roof. 

 

I would really like to learn more about that dog collar idea. Will it work long distances? Will it work inside of a car or trailer, under the metal roof? Can it work if a thief hides the stolen property and tracker inside a building? 

 

Right now, most of my trailers have big graphics and business names on the sides, which naturally discourages theft. Additionally, when they are parked for a while I remove the wheel(s) from one side, resting the trailer on a jack stand which is purposely too low for mounting another rim. Thus thieves would have to take the time to jack it up, and bring their own wheel(s) and lug nuts. I know they can do that easily enough, but I am hopeful that they won't take that much time. 

 

Looking forward to further info on that dog collar idea. 

I did the same thing, removing wheels, and got a letter from city zoning Gestapo threatening fines for having a disassembled vehicle.

[lump]

12 minutes ago, George Cole said:

I did the same thing, removing wheels, and got a letter from city zoning Gestapo threatening fines for having a disassembled vehicle.

Oh, wow. I would have been, er, disappointed about a letter like that. And, I'm rather confident that I would have found it necessary to share my feelings with them. 

[TAKerry]

There was a trailer locally that was stolen a couple of years ago. They had one of those locks that goes into the ball socket and wraps around the tongue. The thieves hooked the trailer up to their hitch using the safety chains only, pulling it away! If someone wants something they will take it! We have a policy for tools. If we want to have it tomorrow, take it home tonight!

[George Cole]

14 minutes ago, lump said:

Oh, wow. I would have been, er, disappointed about a letter like that. And, I'm rather confident that I would have found it necessary to share my feelings with them. 

They don't care. I try to keep a low profile with all the cars, trailers, etc. I've had neighbors tell me the zoning Gestapo come up my driveway, pull car covers off to check for license plates, and walk away leaving covers laying in the ground. Real axxholes.

[TAKerry]

George, I hate to sidetrack but there was an article about a police chase involving a stolen motorcycle. The guy pulled into his lane and put a cover over the bike. The officer pulled the cover off and arrested the guy. Thrown out of court because of illegal search. I believe the ruling was under cover was no different than being placed in a garage. Without proper warrant they have no 'rights' to look under the cover anymore than going into your garage.

BUT, I can certainly see them doing those things.  

[George Cole]

31 minutes ago, TAKerry said:

George, I hate to sidetrack but there was an article about a police chase involving a stolen motorcycle. The guy pulled into his lane and put a cover over the bike. The officer pulled the cover off and arrested the guy. Thrown out of court because of illegal search. I believe the ruling was under cover was no different than being placed in a garage. Without proper warrant they have no 'rights' to look under the cover anymore than going into your garage.

BUT, I can certainly see them doing those things.  

Police and zoning are completely different issues. Cities pass ordinances allowing zoning inspectors to enter private property, whereas police would need a warrant. It's been to court several times and zoning always wins.