tracker renewals

[Stig]

Hi Guys,

Just had my renewal reminder in for my tracker... it will cost £190 to renew it for 1 more year.

However... I asked my insurance how much it would be extra on my premium if I did not renew the tracker, and they said just £20 !

So it looks like I may be cancelling my tracker subscription.


Also.. I happened to be speaking with a police officer recently and he 'off the record' told me it wasn't worthwhile renewing the tracker subscriptions anyway:

Aparently, if a vehcile is physically fitted with a tracker which is no longer "active", and the car is stolen, the police just contact the tracker company and request for the vehicle to be tracked. The tracker company have to oblige, otherwise they are breaking the law by withholding information relating to a crime. The tracker company normally demand a fee for supplying the information, however the police have to pay that fee - just like they would if they called upon expert advice/services from any other specialist company.

He said he has first hand experience of this in a case he previously dealt with.

Just makes me think I shouldn't have bothered renewing it last year either !!

[uk dave]

Wouldnt bother with mine if it were that much to renew think mine were around £130 last time.

[Sean Hath]

Tracker is all well and good, however the only police vehicles fitted with a tracker activation detector are the 'area' or 'R/T' cars (Vectras BMW 530D's etc etc) - thats at least true in London anyway (cant' speak for the other forces). Thats a tiny amount of police cars in the scheme of things - for example each London borough usually has just three such 'area' cars and about 25 other response vehicles.

So the odds of a police car detecting an activated tracker are small.
I'd say your money would be better spent on a good alarm, a steering wheel clamp and a big dog with sharp teeth in the car overnight.

[Stig]

Actually my car was nicked about a year ago and he only reason I got it back was because it has the tracker.
Whether the fuzz have the ability in their cars to detect the tracker didn't matter. All that matters is that the tracker company can locate the car and inform the police of its location.

Still isn't worth it for me now torenew. Its the insurances problem if the car gets nicked.