NEWS

Vehicle security and crime is becoming an "arms race"!

30yrs ago stealing a car was a simple matter of smashing a window, pulling the barrel of the ignition lock out by screwing a large screw into the key hole and using a claw hammer to lever it out.

During the 90's vehicles started to get immobilisers, with transponders in the keys that identify themselves as being legitimate. Manufacturers realising electronics was the way froward started to introduce more and more complicated systems to make stealing cars bikes and vans almost impossible without the keys.

This provoked a new kind of theft, where thieves would target the owners to get the keys.

Then a couple of years ago, a number of BMW's started being stolen, but without the keys. It turned out that they had worked out a way, using the vehicles own servicing and diagnostics port (ODB) , to "hack" into the electronics to "fake" the owners key, so overcoming all the electronics.

This is where trackers come in, being a stand alone device they are not susceptible to the same hacking.

Many thieves would "pinch & park", choosing to dump a stolen vehicle somewhere quiet and inconspicuous, airport, train station etc - if the vehicle isn't there a week later then it had a tracker.

That said, however a small number of thieves are now using detectors to find trackers. They do this by detecting the radio transmissions from the vehicle. Many trackers will emit pulses of radio signals and thieves are relying on this. It is not just the cheep trackers that do this, many of the better expensive subscription/call center ones will do this as well.

There are a few of us that don't allow our trackers to send information regularly, preferring to keep transmissions to a minimum. This makes our trackers extremely difficult to find.

If you are considering a tracker, then ask the question, how often is it transmitting?

Our Trackers are specifically configured not to be found by using detectors