HI JezzerB if you want a Streetwise Tracker Aldi were selling at £40 - Sold out you can buy it from Halfords for £44 .99 and it is in stock it does look interesting
However if they remove the tracker, you are notified immediately as it should trigger an alarm at the call centre that it has been moved or deactivated. How many of these other cheap systems will do the same? In our case the tracker was a retrofit so not in the same place. We left the original factory fitted reactive Tracker in place so hopefully they find that first, remove it not knowing there is another tracker in the caravan.
The idea of a Proactive tracker is to notify you immediately that someone interferes with the caravan and not when they have gapped it with the caravan. At that point hopefully they will be stopped.
People mention jamming the signal, but the thieves would need to know which tracker has been fitted and the frequency it uses. Not only that if they jam the signal the call centre is immediately notified.
If our caravan was stolen and the thieves apprehended before they used it, we would want it back. If it was missing for several or more days then probably not. It must be remembered that when a caravan is stolen apparently they hide it somewhere for a couple of days to make sure the coast is clear before taking it to its new destination.
However everything boils down to personal choice, risk and peace of mind.
The fact that the tracker can be in a limited number of places if factory installed does not mean they will be located. A couple of years back Preston Caravans had some caravans stolen and they were recovered by the police before they even got out of the city. Not sure if this is typical as the police will often follow the signal to see where it is taken, as that often leads to storage where they recover even more stolen property, not just caravans.
A good chance that those trackers Were not yet activated by the customer.
I wonder if the operator. Phantom perhaps,were able to temporally activate them as a special case.
John
Amongst other things I’ve fitted trackers in just about any vehicle that’s ever been made from a reliant robin to super cars owned by stars all over the place, plus fitted to plant of all types, basically if it’s got an engine or it’s towed behind a vehicle I’ve probably fitted to them, most systems will periodically need a service call possibly because of malfunction or because of internal battery replacement, depending on the company that fitted it there might be a paperwork of the instal as to where it’s fitted but it’s 50/50 as to whether it’s known, in 30 years I’ve probably had less than I can count on one hand the ones I’ve not been able to locate on the car, it’s not because I’m an expert it’s just knowing what your looking for and knowing where to look and if I know so do thousands of other people,some not too honest, there is a limited number of place on any vehicle, as I said I’m a fan of trackers but you have to accept that nothing is 100% theft proof, let’s face it if thieves can rob banks and what have you, when thousands has been spent on security spending a few hundred on a vehicle is going to be no big deal, apparently new JLR vehicles have an all singing and dancing gizmo that can be operated by the owners smart phone, hardly anyone takes up the use of it because it’s not recognised by insurance companies and cost a fortune for the owner to register it.
BP
BP
I think all trackers are "live" from the moment they are installed however they need the call centre to activate them. Even if you cancel your subscription the tracker remains "live".
Not ALL, first they need a sim card, then the info off that card has to be registered with the operator.
But with bespoke (for want of a better word) services like Phantom. I guess they could be provided with the info to match the vin number when the caravan manufacturer installs them. When mine was installed, I registered it with Phantom and set up the contract. But the unit did not work. Phantom did not inform me, I discovered this as the app would not communicate with it. I called Golden Castle, they told me how to find the unit. someone had forgot to plug it in. I did this and it worked fine.
John
I read the recovery details in a news article, but it did not mention the basis on which the trackers were operated.
Just read my insurance I have a £65 reduction for having the phantom tracker. I need to find out if that reduction is for any other trackers. Could sway my decision.
John
John
Last edited:
Looked at that again. I notice that on another forum people are fooled a little by that and think that it pays for a big chunk of the yearly tracker costs. But, because of the sequential way that insurance discounts are applied the saving is not so great as it first appears. In may case the true figure is not £65 but £16:33
The CMC insurance insist on a Thatcham approved tracker. Phantom is quality 6 approved.
Pricewise. comparing Thatcham approved trackers shows that Phantom is cheaper than the others I have seen.
If Phantom provided live tracking for the customer, or just a history that could be accessed, then it would be a no brainer.
John
Doesn’t the cars satnav provide a journey history. My in built and standalone Garmin both provide a journey history. I don’t have it activated but that’s a personal choice.
Never thought of that, I will investigate.
Otherwise, I might keep Phantom, and try to remember, (difficult), to take a location screenshot, then add the date and save to a dedicated folder, when we move about. That’s if we do move about in the future!
John
We have the phantom and I can go Online and check the location of our caravan. It also shows me the status of the battery and the mileage done in a month.
if we upgrade our caravan in the future and if it comes with tracker i will look into more to each your own
Eventually Phantom confirmed the renewal price at £399 for 5 years which works out at £6.65 so a no brainer. We will be renewing.
I personally would not want the caravan back, Imagine if the van is just on the point of, Recoverable / Rightoff. And you get get it back trashed inside.
No thank you. No tracker for me.
That wouldn't happen though would it? After the theft it would an insurance job to restore to its former glory.
The idea of the tracker is help prevent the theft i.e. the moment the caravan is interfered with, the call centre and then the police are alerted. Obviously the tracker is not working if the caravan has been trashed etc.
The tracker will not send an alert to the control centre and alert you if your particular model of tracker has the facility until the caravan is being towed, if someone enters the van to steal items inside, the tracker will not alert and the crook can also spend time trying to find and disconnect the tracker before towing the caravan, most reputable tracker systems will de activate the tracker signal to the caravan owner and only have the signal sent to themselves so they can update the location to the police, they don’t want owners tracking the caravan due to the unknown person or persons who have stolen it reacting violently should the owner try to stop them, the signal is not sent first hand to the police, it’s location is forwarded by the tracker company, the trackers fitted by Tracker Network is to my knowledge the only system that the police actually track themselves.
BP
BP
Any tracker will only deter a thief if there is a sticker in the window which also gives the thief prior notice it’s fitted.
A van was stolen from the CASSOA gold site I use. They cut the fences and towed it across a field to a bye way then onto the main road. The Thames Valley Police found the van had been stolen when they attended following an RTA as it had different plates to the tow vehicle. The van was fitted with an OEM tracker and fortunately wasn’t damaged in any way as the bye way was quite wide and clear. . It was the thieves car that had been involved and damaged in the RTA.
Facebook
Twitter