To GPS or to not GPS

[_R_J_K_]

What i can't get my head around is if the tracker is "on" and being driven around wont you get messages from it all the time?? That would be annoying and sort of useless. It would be like tracking yourself 99.9% of the time?

Usually you log into some kind of website or platform or app to view its location data, basically the same as Maps location data when location services on your phone are turned on. The more basic trackers (or phones) don't "know" when they've been stolen necessarily, they just report location data back to whatever platform it uses, no messages or anything but you know where the car is. Like Norti says, you could probably setup something a little more complex with these, but would need to link a bunch of stuff together with automation and API calls.

There are more encompassing systems where you can setup designated areas and boundaries, view car parameters like speed and ignition status, alarm status also. You may also be able to setup device proximity alerts where you're alerted if the car moves and your phone or something isn't close. Keep in mind though, if you're parked in public and your car is easily able to be started without the key (or they've stolen the key), by the time you have an alert that the car is started or has reached a boundary, the car is going to be long gone by the time you get back to where you left it. It's why the messages are kind of moot in some cases and a location services type map can be just as helpful.

Unless you're being specifically targeted by a group with a tilt tray, it's easy to protect against basic opportunists and joy riders so before going down the rabbit hole of GPS trackers I'd look at the basics - look at what deterrents are already in your car first. I assume this is in relation to your VK, in which case I assume you already have an immobiliser. Most immobiliser installs are hot garbage, even professional ones. Realistically, an immobiliser should be a dash out job to hide it in a hard to get to place behind the dash - this is where most people I know who have installed their own (myself included) put it. If your immobiliser module is easily accessible by hand (so many are just cable tied to the steering column), then it's pretty much worthless as thieves can easily pull the casing apart and bridge the immobiliser circuits.

 

[_R_J_K_]

Would it not be better if it could be remotely activated to switch it on when you need to rather it be on all the time? That way if someone had a jammer it would not detect the tracker unless it was "on"??

I take it you're talking about GPS jammers? Or the car remote ones? Wouldn't they just use the "jammer" when they've stolen the car anyway? GPS and phone signals are everywhere, they can't really pick and block one signal from the other, they just jam everything within a radius. There's no signature of a device specifically for GPS tracking, it'll largely just look like a phone using a sim card.

You're never going to be able to cover all bases like that, but the problem with this kind of thinking is that you give equal credibility to marginal scenarios - i.e. your VK is just as likely to be stolen by a professional car thieves that also steal BMWs, Mercedes, Ferraris, Bugattis etc... and they have the latest defeat devices that have been publicised on ACA, as it is some random dero off the street hotwiring it. It's a possibility sure, but it's just not going to happen.

The majority of car crime is opportunistic, and most car criminals bar the very "elite" are not looking to steal cars for financial gain, much less invest the time, money, and most importantly learning for those kinds of devices. My guess would be the same for somebody stealing a Commodore to strip. It's really about managing the 99% of car thieves, because the unlikely 1% (both the "elite" and the scum) will find some way, even if it's just by threatening you (or worse) which no amount of car security will negate.

 

[losh1971]

Agree about opportunists^^^^^. A lot of the time cars are stolen to do crime. A career crim won't be looking for a Commodore unless it's easy to grab, or is a special addition like a Brock VL.

 

[NORTI]

Agree about opportunists^^^^^. A lot of the time cars are stolen to do crime. A career crim won't be looking for a Commodore unless it's easy to grab, or is a special addition like a Brock VL.

had a car trailer pinched. Was stolen using a stolen car.
Our working theory was step 1 - steal car, step 2 - steal trailer, step 3 - go after real target........

we got the trailer back, like to think it saved someone's special toy from going that night.

 

[losh1971]

had a car trailer pinched. Was stolen using a stolen car.
Our working theory was step 1 - steal car, step 2 - steal trailer, step 3 - go after real target........

we got the trailer back, like to think it saved someone's special toy from going that night.

There has been an increase in trailers campers and caravans getting stolen lately.

 

[vc commodore]

had a car trailer pinched. Was stolen using a stolen car.
Our working theory was step 1 - steal car, step 2 - steal trailer, step 3 - go after real target........

we got the trailer back, like to think it saved someone's special toy from going that night.

Car trailers are common to be stolen....Being pricey to buy new and 2nd hand and being so useful for various reasons, they get stolen...

I used to hear about it in the burnout/speedway scene, where people would ask others to keep ears and eyes open for trailers that have been nicked.

Glad yours was found and returned

 

[_R_J_K_]

It's easy to register box and car trailers without a lot of paper work given that they're more of an object on wheels than a vehicle, and their chassis numbers are literally hammer stamped on a steel plate that you can just cut off. Taking the trailer for a new chassis number with no existing one is also not uncommon and doesn't raise eyebrows.

 

[losh1971]

It's easy to register box and car trailers without a lot of paper work given that they're more of an object on wheels than a vehicle, and their chassis numbers are literally hammer stamped on a steel plate that you can just cut off. Taking the trailer for a new chassis number with no existing one is also not uncommon and doesn't raise eyebrows.

Different in Tasmania, it was a lot of work to get mine registered and I had interstate rego. I was told that with no interstate rego and no chassis number there was no way it was going to pass. From what I understand it is a whole lot harder to do now than it was in years gone by, and basically for the reasons you mentioned above. Now the authorities are making it very difficult.
Also to do it now you need a JP signed stat Dec. The JP won't do anything without having concrete evidence of ownership. A hand written receipt is not evidence enough like it used to be.

 

[NORTI]

Car trailers are common to be stolen....Being pricey to buy new and 2nd hand and being so useful for various reasons, they get stolen...

I used to hear about it in the burnout/speedway scene, where people would ask others to keep ears and eyes open for trailers that have been nicked.

Glad yours was found and returned

this is why my trailer is bright green. Cops said likely that's why they took mates blue one & not our green one from the same yard.
Grey/black/blue is more common than green (well since BP stopped having their own rental trailers & switched to MYST)

either way we did a shout out on SM as is the trend, but that was after cop had already spotted it behaving 'suspicious' and was at mates house before any of us knew it was gone. Turned up about 3hrs after it was stolen. A neighbour in the dump street reported it as suspicious.
So really just pays to have nosey people looking out for sus stuff