How would I go about having one of these fitted to my car? Do I have to buy the unit separately and ask the garage to fit it or is there an 'all in one' service available out there? I know next to nothing about these other than insurers like them and you'll know the whereabouts of your car if stolen

Please advise

Many thanks in advance

Search for a local company that fit car security systems (alarms, immobilisers etc) they should be able to sort one for you.

You will have to pay a monthly subscription to the tracker company to keep it active.

What about an old/secondhand smart phone hardwired and hidden running a 'Find my phone' type app?

Those are OK but are a) not accurate enough to be acknowledged by the insurers, b) not reliable enough to guarantee recovery with the police and c) only offer as good a service ad the quality of the phone and gps chip. Underground or multi storey cat parks are not good and can stop the signal but at least with a tracker you can see where it's been on top of where it is, whereas find my phone is there and then only.

RAC

Sorry, RAC trackstar is the only one worth entertaining, costs an annual subscription though, only really worth it if you own a high profile worth nicking car, like a Cossie etc.

I personally think all vehicles should be fitted with a tracker at factory. Then it's the owners discretion to enable it or not. Imagine how theft of vehicles would drop if they knew every car on UK roads is automatically tracked?

you probably wouldn't get any tbf, however if you've got an old RS Mex or a 22B in the garage you might hear a lorry out front with a lead lined car container on the back waiting for you to go to bed lol

True that but it saves the everyday driver having there car stolen. I'm tempted to buy stickers for the car stating the car car is tracked by so and so just to dissuade any attempt that may come about

Get an RAC Trackstar sticker, you wouldn't nick a car with that on it, it's the only one that truly works, unless the car is encased in PB or Thorium or something.

Mate of mine used to remove the battery on his Evo when he went on holiday, he used to get people try and nick it all the time ( Evo 6 tommy Mak edition ) and taking the battery off seemed to have made it go away, think thieves opened the car thinking Hazar and then ooooh no it just won't ever start.

_{I saw a documentary some time ago where a guy could locate and remove the trackers within a few minutes. Not sure what you can do these days to stop the scumbags stealing your prize motor apart from keeping it out of sight.}

Trackers are generally located in the same sort of area so that's where they look first then judjust cutting the wires saved a few minutes to remove them.

Reading the other thread about keyless entry systems (which my new car has), and the fact someone's fiesta titanium was stolen recently has only confirmed these are the way to go

Absolutely, nothing is impossible but every possible obstacle needs to be put km the way, deterrents only work so far. And things like the viper system, should not be market leading as they should be standard and offering that level of protection on every car out the factory.

Absolutely agree they should be standard spec on the cars, or at the very least an optional extra

I've had a quote of £250 plus vat for a cobra trak plus, plus £138pa subscription, does this sound reasonable and is this brand any good?

Cobra are leaders in aftermarket though I call them viper lol sounds a good deal to me

I've been doing more homework and the idea of the cobratrak 5 appeals especially to me due to the driver recognition side and remote engine immobilisation

The price I've been quoted for this little fella is;660 supply and fitting and 575 3yr subscription, all in just over 1200 for peace of mind

Anyone think this is a good deal? does it sound like I'm being ripped off? Opinions all welcome x

What sort of effect will it have on your insurance?

Lower premium due to higher likelihood of recovery but the cost of maintaining the tracker is probably equal to the cost of saving

Would you really want your car back if it had been stolen and ragged to an inch of its life though?

Not all are as it draws too much attention to it. More often than not it will be driven quick but not ragged

What sort of effect will it have on your insurance?

I've already asked my insurers and it'll make no difference at all to the premium

*pulls a minion face* whooaaaat?

*pulls a minion face* whooaaaat?

Thing is I've got (now) 3 incidents on my insurance, one no fault as she drove into me, but it's still there, I'm thinking if I suffer a theft as well when I could've fitted a tracker to help prevent it / get car back they'll view it fairer than if I hadn't bothered iykwim

I've been looking around at some other quotes online and some insurers genuinely do like fact a tracker is there even on a Ford Fiesta as opposed to an Audi or Beemer where according to my insurer over the phone certain models must have or they won't even insure them

I'm getting (amongst other things) the sports dress up kit added which is unfortunately going to appeal to the numptys out there out to steal, and the car is key free

The cobratrak 5 I'm looking at has a card where if not used it'll alert immediately that the car has been stolen, so best not lose the keycard eh? Lol

I asked my Aunt about this (she's an insurance broker - well, was - she was made redundant last Friday after 37 years with the same firm...not that she cares lol)

The only reason she can think of is that unless it's a really expensive car, it's cheaper for the insurers to write a stolen car off, rather than recover & repair.

To be fair, not many clients ask about trackers round here, so she hasn't dealt with many lol