To track or not to track...?

8balladdict

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Hi all,

Just picked up my new T6 and was wondering what peoples thoughts are on fitting a tracker? Are we quite venerable to theft? Is it worth the expense? I know it won't stop it happening but whats your views?

Cheers,

8Ball
 
I like the reassurance, I have a CanTrack asset which you hide anywhere as it's battery operated, the daft thing is that because it's not hard wired (so thieves can find it easily) it doesn't get Thatcham approval so no discount.
Nonetheless thousands are fitted to JCB's & the like, my mate had a big motor home nicked and the tracker located it.
 
We have a Suretrack MT3, similar to above. Very happy with customer service and it hides nicely on the van. The sales guy we phoned was really happy to talk through how it works and various scenarios (extended parking, daily use and basements etc).

Our insurer accepted it as a tracker, its thatcham cat7 I think. The thatcham categories do not get more comprehensive as they increase numbers, the categories describe devises that do different jobs.

We figured we wouldn't regret tracking our van, we would regret not tracking it.
 
I think you've summed it up pretty well there @TomH, you wouldn't regret tracking it, but would regret not.
 
I like the reassurance, I have a CanTrack asset which you hide anywhere as it's battery operated, the daft thing is that because it's not hard wired (so thieves can find it easily) it doesn't get Thatcham approval so no discount.
Nonetheless thousands are fitted to JCB's & the like, my mate had a big motor home nicked and the tracker located it.
Ditto - would need to rip my van apart to find it - wouldn't rely on a CanTrack or anything else on its own but as part of layered security, starting with the Thatcham Cat 1 alarm immobiliser some of the vans come with, its good!!
 
Does this then beg the question what brand, feature or device is best for security and possibly reducing insurance premiums? I was thinking about a tracker earlier today when my mind was going crazy as I planned my conversion.
 
Where insurers insist on alarms and/or trackers they normally ask for particular features, grouped by Thatcham (or similar) categories, rather than any particular brand (unless they have a deal/promo with a particular supplier!). In my case the only stipulation in this area was that I had a GPS tracker fitted to qualify for insurance, i.e. no particular brand, other features or category requested.

On one of my other vehicles I have had a Thatcham Cat 5 (highest available - there are Cat 6 and Cat 7 but these have less features than Cat 5) fitted since new - this cost me circa £700 and I pay nearly £200 per year to keep it running. For this I get remote monitoring (if I ever start it without the special fob on me my phone will ring before I get to the end of the road to ask if its an authorised movement of the car), remote immobilisation, promise of better police response, geofence emails if moved, etc.. Above all it gives me a bit of peace of mind.

As per my post above, I wouldn't rely on anything on its own, instead look at layers of security such as immobilisers (electronic and physical), alarms, trackers and etching/marking/tagging (I use Smartwater) to make your vehicle look less attractive to a thief, slow them down if they do decide to have a go, and give you a chance of getting it back and the thief convicted if they do take it.
 
Smart water, how does that work
It's a uniquely coded solution that you discreetly apply to various components so that if stolen the individual parts can be traced back to you. It dries clear but is visible under UV light. We use it at home and on our vehicles - can be quite expensive with annual maintenance but they often run promotions where you can get it for circa £20 with no annual maintenance to pay.

SmartWater® - The Crime Fighting Company
 
I like the reassurance, I have a CanTrack asset which you hide anywhere as it's battery operated, the daft thing is that because it's not hard wired (so thieves can find it easily) it doesn't get Thatcham approval so no discount.
Nonetheless thousands are fitted to JCB's & the like, my mate had a big motor home nicked and the tracker located it.
@Wongo - how is your battery doing? Mine was doing quite nicely until a few weeks ago - on the 1st June is was showing 86% (8 months of running against something that is advertised as being good for up to 10 years - I was still happy with this though) but is now showing it was down to 40%. Turns out they updated the battery algorithm a few weeks ago to "more correctly" report the state which is what has led to my seemingly rapid depletion.

I have been in liaison with them all week and they say the 40% is correct and is down to the way I had it configured. I thought I had a pretty minimal configuration given the range of alerts and wake up schedule I could of set - I had it waking up and reporting once per day, logging exposure to light and reporting every ten minutes when the van is in motion - turns out the logging motion in this way is not how the unit is designed to be used - I have used 2337 notifications out of a theoretical limit of 5000 required to achieve the up to 10 years battery life.

Cantrack say its my fault because of the way I had it configured but my argument is that if the battery had been reporting correctly early on then I would have realised something was wrong much earlier and would still have the majority of the battery remaining.

They have now reset reporting at my request to wake up once per day and report its current location - all other other event logs switched off. It is my intention to not log into their application again and we will monitor the battery depletion over the coming months. They are confident that the current config will give us around 4 years further life from the battery - if it does fine.
 
I used to use trackers in my Scooby and TT days, but I always had a nagging doubt in my mind as to whether they were worth it.
My doubt being ... if someone stole your pride and joy and thrashed it around the streets (not likely with a van I guess) and left it beaten up, scraped and dented in a ditch somewhere, would you actually want it back?
 
I used to use trackers in my Scooby and TT days, but I always had a nagging doubt in my mind as to whether they were worth it.
My doubt being ... if someone stole your pride and joy and thrashed it around the streets (not likely with a van I guess) and left it beaten up, scraped and dented in a ditch somewhere, would you actually want it back?
I hear what you are saying but with the value of a decent spec converted van getting close to £50k many insurers, including mine, insist on having one fitted. Also, its not just the value of the camper, its all of the stuff (pots, pans, cutlery, etc..) we have in there, some new, some we have had for years, and the hassle of trying replace. Similarly, I have a top spec tracker in my Defender - I've had it from new and if some scroat knicks it, darn right I want it back as I will never get one the same again.
 
I've been looking at this recently.
Cat 6 Car Tracker | Suitable for most makes and models
I imagine a newly converted t6 could be a target for thieves.

Hi, just wondered if you went ahead with this, or if anyone else has this product and could offer their views?

Price wise its at the lower end but seems a good product, I tend to go along the lines of you get what you pay for, having said that I‘ve pretty much run out of budget for my camper conversion!

Thanks
 
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