Aren't you using them? Judging by threads I've read most people spend £100's on alarms, wheel clamps and hitch locks but for the sake of £50 you can know exactly where your caravan is 24-7.
If I spent over £5000 on a caravan a GPS Tracker would be high on my list of priorities as they can be hidden internally and can be tracked If It's stolen.
There are loads on Ebay but these ones sound good:
The tracker officially has to be recognised by insurance companies in order to reduce your insurance premium so it could be a waste of money and a false sense of security. It has to be powered by battery and certain cheap brands can be easily detected by the professional thief so buying just a gimmick is a waste of 50 quid in my view.
Quote: Originally posted by tango55 on 18/2/2012
The tracker officially has to be recognised by insurance companies in order to reduce your insurance premium so it could be a waste of money and a false sense of security. It has to be powered by battery and certain cheap brands can be easily detected by the professional thief so buying just a gimmick is a waste of 50 quid in my view.
A gimmick? Gps tracking is a gimmick? Someone should tell the multi million £/$ companies that supply this service to the public/military/commerce. For £50 I wouldn't expect it to lower the insurance costs, but for the price of an average quality wheel lock it could tell you where your stolen caravan is. Yes just like wheel clamps and hitch locks they can be circumvented BUT it's just another level of protection most people over look.
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This is GPS tracking on the cheap & no substitute for professionally fitted systems which do reduce premiums. On high end caravan/motorhomes/cars these systems are sometimes a requirement of insurers.
I very much doubt if police would recover a stolen caravan tracked to the middle of traveller camp & would you want it back anyway? You would probably just want your insurance payout.
If this is not an advertisment, I would politely suggest that the op is wasting his money. This is like fitting a wheelclamp from Aldi.
In fact I would say trackers of any sort are only for the benefit of insurance companies. Nobody would want their caravan back after it had been lived in by the thieves or their ilk. The insurance would pay out & then sell the recovered caravan at auction to recover some of their losses. So little point in fitting one unless insurance require it.
Quote: Originally posted by Tentz on 18/2/2012
This is GPS tracking on the cheap & no substitute for professionally fitted systems which do reduce premiums. On high end caravan/motorhomes/cars these systems are sometimes a requirement of insurers.
I very much doubt if police would recover a stolen caravan tracked to the middle of traveller camp & would you want it back anyway? You would probably just want your insurance payout.
If this is not an advertisment, I would politely suggest that the op is wasting his money. This is like fitting a wheelclamp from Aldi.
Do you actually know anything about electronics? Just because It's supplied and fitted by a 'Professional' company 'does not' mean they are any different to the one I have listed. Also with a 'Proffesional' company you will be paying 4x/5x/6x the amount and then have to pay an annual subscription. The same technology used by Proffesional Trackers is used in the one I listed BUT they supply it, fit it and then monitor it. If you supply it, fit it and then monitor it yourself then you could save yourself a hell of a lot of money.
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Unless it reduces your insurance premium or is required by the insurance company, what is the point of fitting it? For there to be any point you would have to check it several times a day, every day, it would not stop caravan being stolen & in the case of theft what would you do with the information you had?
The police are not going to mobilise large resources for one stolen caravan & when/if the caravan was located it would be to the benefit of the insurance company not the owner.
Quote: Originally posted by Tentz on 18/2/2012
Unless it reduces your insurance premium or is required by the insurance company, what is the point of fitting it? For there to be any point you would have to check it several times a day, every day, it would not stop caravan being stolen & in the case of theft what would you do with the information you had?
The police are not going to mobilise large resources for one stolen caravan & when/if the caravan was located it would be to the benefit of the insurance company not the owner.
If you know where it is 99% of the time then why would you need to monitor it several times a day? Think of it like this; If you go on holiday and leave it on the drive you can make sure It's still there 'instantly' by text message straight to your mobile phone. You can set this device to text you when it leaves preset zone (fencing) and some of the slightly more expensive versions have motion detection.
I'm at a loss why you can't understand the relevance of this product? No it won't stop your caravan from being stolen, but that is why people use visual deterrents like hitch and wheel locks. What is better? Knowing where your stolen caravan is so you can pass that information onto the police, or just letting them keep it and claiming on the insurance. Let me re-iterate that these trackers are £50, not £500 or £5000 but the price of a cheap an most likely not very good wheel clamp.
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It's pointless me buying one anyway because my caravan is stored on a 'Gold' cassoa registered site about 10 miles away. The cost of this 'Gold' security is near on £400 per annum so don't tell me that a £50 tracker is worth more than the top security of CCTV, 4 lockable steel gates (1 coded & 1 electronic key fob) a Milenco hitch lock and and wheel clamp. The thieves have a hell of a lot more to get through than just a plastic pocket size battery operated gadget. Maybe the folks on 'Dragons Den' might be more enthusiastic about it!
Quote: Originally posted by tango55 on 18/2/2012
It's pointless me buying one anyway because my caravan is stored on a 'Gold' cassoa registered site about 10 miles away. The cost of this 'Gold' security is near on £400 per annum so don't tell me that a £50 tracker is worth more than the top security of CCTV, 4 lockable steel gates (1 coded & 1 electronic key fob) a Milenco hitch lock and and wheel clamp. The thieves have a hell of a lot more to get through than just a plastic pocket size battery operated gadget. Maybe the folks on 'Dragons Den' might be more enthusiastic about it!
No, If you read anything I've wrote I haven't said that this is substitute for mechanical/electrical security. It 'can' supplement mechanical security which you obviously cannot understand.
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As people have already said; if their caravan is stolen, they would rather have the insurance pay them out and get a new caravan rather than have the old one back. I think this is a fair comment. If they have a tracker fitted and know where their caravan is then there is a good chance they will get it back and hate using it as they found it felt "dirty" afterwards.
If the owner would rather have the insurance pay them out to replace the caravan, why would they want to fit a tracker unless the insurance company asked for it or offered a discount for it?
If a tracker were fitted at the insurance company's request, the insurance company would insist on it being fitted professionally and being monitored by an approved company.
Without wishing to deride the product, no matter how good it is, if it does not fulfil the insurance company's criteria then they will not accept it. Furthermore, if the insurance company insist on a professionally fitted and monitored proprietory tracker and it later turns out that the actual tracker was one that was not professionally fitted, not monitored by an approved company and a was a diy fitted item from ebay then they would refuse to pay out.
Why then would anyone want to spend £50 on something it was not in their best interests to have?
The only people in the caravanning fraternity I can see this appealing to are those who have an older caravan with no insurance who would have to take the full loss if their caravan were stolen.
Hi NottmSteve, I think the point of replies here regarding the tracker systems, is that you may not want the van back after it has been stolen, it may have been used abused, and damaged, the insurance company may only pay for damage done if at all, but the best reason that I can think off is, would your other half be happy in the van knowing that some one else has been using it, it would never feel the same van and would never be happy in it after the theft, no matter how short a time that may be till its recovery, don’t think it would be to long before other half would want rid of it for another van.
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So, people could fit this £50 device and possibly get their van back If its stolen, but they would rather not and let it disappear so they can claim a new one on their insurance? It's a weird World
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Hi NottmSteve, No it not that, as I said the other half would never be happy in the van, after the theft, and once that feeling is there, you cannot shift it, and if you retained your retuned van you run the very real risk of other half giving you grief, or stop wanting to go away in van, it is only human nature, it would be easier to shift mountains than to shift the idea or feeling they have about using the returned stolen van, the insurance is secondary to that.
------------- If everything runs smoothly then I must have done something wrong
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The battery lasts just 80 hours on standby so you will have to go to the trouble of hardwiring it in. If you are going to go to this trouible then why not get one with motion sensors?
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Topic: GPS Trackers only £50 so why ?
