Security Tracker.

[sparkzer]

A tracker won’t stop your van being stolen, a Ghost will.

Not strictly true...a recovery truck will take most vehicles without too much bother..and what looks more normal than a fellow in a high vis winching a vehicle on to the back of a lorry?..even with an alarm going off in broad daylight people wouldnt bat an eyelid.

I'm not picking on ghosts or immobilisers in general, just saying if you have something of high value then you have to consider all options.

 

[BiTurbo]

Here you go

S5 PLUS

TRACKER S5 Plus is a premium stolen vehicle recovery system utilising TRACKER's patented VHF technology to locate your vehicle, even underground.

www.tracker.co.uk

 

[True Romance]

With subscription fees on top?

No. One time payment.

 

[vwski]

Here you go

S5 PLUS

TRACKER S5 Plus is a premium stolen vehicle recovery system utilising TRACKER's patented VHF technology to locate your vehicle, even underground.

www.tracker.co.uk

Pricey!

 

[tonybb66]

I got Vodafone Protect and Connect tracker (sub £100 py) fitted when camper conversion was being done

 

[Davenjo]

I have the global telemetrics smartrak S7... they offer the lifetime subscription for 399 so no annual fee's and 199 fitted... ideal if you plan on keeping the vehicle a number of years...

S7 tracker

I have a Cat5 Smartrak, monitored by Global Telemetrics, on my car - been very happy with the service from them. I opted for a "Duration of Ownership" contract which, in September 2018, cost me £599.

They have recently switched me over to using my mobile phone as the token so we no longer have to carry the tags - much better for us as, by running in manual mode, we get alerts every time the vehicle is started (switch to auto mode and you will only get an alert when the vehicle is started without one of our phones, running the app in the background, being present in the vehicle).

My tracker failed a few weeks ago - it was still notifying movement of the vehicle but was stuck reporting an old location in the app - Global Telemetrics initially thought it was a firmware issue but after failing to fix remotely, they sent an engineer out the next day to replace the tracker. I've no idea why the tracker failed but can't fault the customer services from Global - their speed of response was superb.

 

[DXX]

When I first converted my van the value obviously increased and the insurance company wanted a tracker Installed For parking on the street.
I dropped the value of the van by 2K and no tracker required. Bought some ‘this vehicle is tracked’ stickers on Ebay for £3.
After a couple of years the van has now depreciated below the threshold for a tracker.
I live in a very low crime area. If somebody want’s your van, car or pretty much anything else they assess the risk and proceed accordingly. The Police are unlikely to be interested unless somebody was injured or a serious crime was committed.
If you‘re lucky it might be followed and stopped by a ANPR equipped Police vehicle. There is obviously a market for high value vehicles but I doubt it’s in the country of origin.

 

[ScottyMac]

Does anyone have an opinion on the built-in systems?... use your phone from anywhere in the world to pin-point your car if you lose it in a car park, or geo-fence with alerts etc. I'm led to believe the 6.1 uses a new always connected sim mechanism and not the plug-in device that VW put on the data port on some cars, so possibly not easy to remove (awaits simple "remove fuse" vulnerability )

 

[BiTurbo]

Pricey!

So was your van ! You get what you pay for end of !

 

[DarrenTT]

Does anyone have an opinion on the built-in systems?... use your phone from anywhere in the world to pin-point your car if you lose it in a car park, or geo-fence with alerts etc. I'm led to believe the 6.1 uses a new always connected sim mechanism and not the plug-in device that VW put on the data port on some cars, so possibly not easy to remove (awaits simple "remove fuse" vulnerability )

That is my understanding also, alerts to phone from vehicle if started or moved. Not got van yet so info from current T6.1 owners would be appreciated.

 

[BiTurbo]

That is my understanding also, alerts to phone from vehicle if started or moved. Not got van yet so info from current T6.1 owners would be appreciated.

Yes most good quality systems have that facility, All I can say is don’t buy cheap. You can buy a simple plug in cigarette lighter jammer that will block most cheap trackers for £5 (ebay) The reason for the expense of top end trackers is purely because they have the facility to communicate on several frequencies. And more when in alert mode.
Look at the price of your van and the costs if you were to lose it. Is £500 - £1000 is it a lot of money really for piece of mind whether it be parked in a car park on your drive etc.
If you want a cheap simple anti thief device. 2 cable ties fed from the back around the OBD port. A thief has 20seconds from opening the door to deactivate the immobiliser (£40 tool off eBay). Will cost you 10-20 pence and 20 minutes max.

 

[DarrenTT]

Yes most good quality systems have that facility, All I can say is don’t buy cheap. You can buy a simple plug in cigarette lighter jammer that will block most cheap trackers for £5 (ebay) The reason for the expense of top end trackers is purely because they have the facility to communicate on several frequencies. And more when in alert mode.
Look at the price of your van and the costs if you were to lose it. Is £500 - £1000 is it a lot of money really for piece of mind whether it be parked in a car park on your drive etc.
If you want a cheap simple anti thief device. 2 cable ties fed from the back around the OBD port. A thief has 20seconds from opening the door to deactivate the immobiliser (£40 tool off eBay). Will cost you 10-20 pence and 20 minutes max.

Cheers for response, but the question was how good is the new security on the t6.1 high line. I understand it has its own sim and connects to mobile. Utilising the VW app it will alert on vehicle movement etc. Any experiences of this system would be appreciated. If good I’ll leave alone, but if unreliable I’ll get van booked in when I get it for tracker and immobiliser.

 

[vwski]

Well my tracker is due to be fitted this morning...Just need my new van first! FFS

 

[Ozi]

Meta Track for me as an installed/monitored option

Metatrak.co.uk



and Rewire security for self install/self track

Vehicle GPS Tracker | Car Truck Van Motorbike Tracking in Real-Time



i have both and find them reliable, the only advise i would offer is make sure that you get a 12month sim/data card as I've had nothing but trouble with pay-as-you-go cards.

have been looking at both of these options @Dellmassive - would be interested in your views on pros and cons of each

 

[Dellmassive]

Metasat is fit and forget, its then £99 a year monitoring. A nice bit of kit, I've been with them since my 2011 van. No sim cards to worry about etc.The system has never let me down and has never gone offline. The alarm center is always on the ball and are straight on the phone.... when I disconnect the van battery and forgot I had the tracker...they was on the phone.(I've also got my Meta CAN based alarm upgrade connected to it so they call me if the alarm is triggered too)

The self fit types like Rewire are good and a bit cheaper, but I constantly run into issues with PAYG sim cards going offline over the years.. it has always been local issues and not the service itself.... so I ended up getting a pay monthly sim card that Cost more than the £99 anyway.

So if you wanna fit and forget get a hardwired subscription based unit.

If you want to self monitor cheaper option then fit your own... the advice I would offer it to test it weekly or at least once a month.... (with my trackers i forgot about them, then remembered and tried logging on....to see that it was offline for whatever reason... reboot, sim card etc etc)... lucky it wasn't an occasion when I needed it.

So for my own piece of mind I've now gone for the fully fitted and monitored system in the van. And just play with the other kit)

FYI Rewire started charging for the monitoring after the 1st 12mnths... so I ditched it and shelved it.

 

[Ozi]

Cheers @Dellmassive that’s a really helpful steer. Had a chat with a fitter earlier about Metatrack, and it certainly feels like a much better option than others I’ve looked at

 

[Dellmassive]

yeh i first had them in 2006 on my Vaux Astra Sportive, . . . it was a dealer fit tracker at the time.

they now official VAG Group supplier in UK. (so VW approved etc etc)

Meta Trak | Homepage

Meta Trak provides the most advanced tracking and immobilisation solutions available to prevent the theft of your vehicle.

www.metatrak.co.uk

.

mine was fitted in MY18 . . . i fitted a Ghost IMOB too,

looks like now they have newer version that has a keyring FOB IMOB and OBD2 IMOB . . . . (i didnt bother upgrading as the local specialist said that if i had a Ghost then no need for the new version with IMOB)

.

Just remember that if you rely on a keyring FOB IMOB, and someone walks off with your keys without you knowing they can get away with the van . . . . . with a Ghost IMOB they cant get away with it even with keys and a IMOB FOB. (the Ghost remans uncracked as of 2021 so the best IMOB imho)

 

[DXX]

The Police don’t have time (low priority) to trace stolen vehicles unless it’s linked to organised crime of a more serious nature. Forget all the BS about the police tracking the van and giving it back to the smiling owner.

 

[Ozi]

yeh i first had them in 2006 on my Vaux Astra Sportive, . . . it was a dealer fit tracker at the time.

they now official VAG Group supplier in UK. (so VW approved etc etc)

View attachment 98454

Meta Trak | Homepage

Meta Trak provides the most advanced tracking and immobilisation solutions available to prevent the theft of your vehicle.

www.metatrak.co.uk

.

mine was fitted in MY18 . . . i fitted a Ghost IMOB too,

looks like now they have newer version that has a keyring FOB IMOB and OBD2 IMOB . . . . (i didnt bother upgrading as the local specialist said that if i had a Ghost then no need for the new version with IMOB)

.

Just remember that if you rely on a keyring FOB IMOB, and someone walks off with your keys without you knowing they can get away with the van . . . . . with a Ghost IMOB they cant get away with it even with keys and a IMOB FOB. (the Ghost remans uncracked as of 2021 so the best IMOB imho)

Looked at Ghost as well. Interestingly the guy I spoke with (who also fits Ghost) says that they’ve had quite a few problems with Ghost, due to over the air software updates causing interference with Ghost. No such problems with Metatrack he said and rated this the best option.

Was intending to fit a kill switch anyway, so even if someone gets my key and fob, they won’t be able to start it unless they know where the kill switch is.

 

[Dellmassive]

Oh Ghost issues . . . ? was that with the T6.1? do they have OTA updates from VW mother ship??

T6`s arnt affected then.



as for KILL SW, what was you planning to Kill? . . . this had come up in the past, most systems are just inputs into the BCM (ie ignition switch) and killing the electric DERV pump was found to not be a good idea. . . . The starter is fired from the Engine ECU and monitored and generates "engine not rotating faults" - Long story short a kill sw didnt appear to be as easy as it was in the old days. . . .