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tracking systems


nickh

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I'm researching an article for MMM on tracking systems.

 

If you have a tracking system fitted to your motorhome, how was the fitting experience and what discounts did you get from your insurance company?

 

Has anyone any experience of theft or attempted theft of their motorhome, despite it being fitted with a tracking system?

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I am looking for a tracker as my insurance company is insisting on one being fitted due to our parking situation. Vanbitz have confirmed the following:-

 

The Trackstar is fully covered in Europe as Trafficmaster now work in

conjunction with a company called Euroguard. Trackstar will locate the

vehicle until recovery and Euroguard assist with the repatriation of

your vehicle if it has been stolen. Stolen vehicle tracking in Europe

operates in:

Andorra, Austria, Belgium, Bulgaria, Croatia, Czech Republic, Denmark,

Estonia, Ireland, France, Germany, Greece, Hungary, Ireland, Italy,

Latvia, Liechtenstein, Lithuania, Luxembourg, Monaco, Netherlands,

Norway, Poland, Portugal, Romania, Russia, Slovakia, Slovenia, Spain,

Sweden, Switzerland, Turkey and Ukraine.

 

Look forward to your article. Hope this helps.

 

Porky well fed and happy

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I would advise anybody needing a tracker system now to consider carefully the likelihood of the company staying in business for the next few years. A low cost but well engineered product is useless if the infrastructure to support it dissapears. Stick to the main players.

 

C.

 

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I use an RAC Trackstar plus system ,it cost me £379 supply and fit and a lifetime payment of £376 in 2005 , ive had it transferred twice to other vehicles at a cost of around £150 each time , thankfully its never been used in anger , ive only had it checked once , my autotrail has the associated smartnav navigation system so i know everythings working because i use that frequently and i believe its all part of the same system tracking wise ,as far as the insurance goes , i have had considerable discounts because of it , but they are addded to ones i recieve for having a locking post , deadlocks alarm system etc.
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Thanks, everyone.

 

Main players include Phantom, HAL-Locate, Tracker and Trackstar. But, check with your insurance company to see what discounts it offers for the fitting of any of these. Then, find yourself a fitter who knows exactly what he/she is doing.

There are lots of things happening and lots of development to come in this market.

 

Interesting to note nobody has had their motorhome stolen (thankfully).

 

Any more news, do keep it coming, but thanks again for the feedback.

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We use real time trackers - track mate is fiited to most. Before we first fitted trackers, we did do a with and without test, and found that almost all insurers gave no discount for a tracker at all - and those that did, gave a maximum saving of £20 on the yearly premium. It was quite suprising, bearing in mind the strength that these promised discounts are used in sales of tracking systems. For the individual, it does question the cost effectiveness of fitting one, coupled with the restrictions on recovery of the vehicle should it be on private land.

 

It is a very interesting topic!

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Major players?

 

Trackstar (owned by Trafficmaster) and Tracker (Used to be the AA Tracker)

 

Trackstar operate from a £10,000,000 purpose built headquarters so that makes them mainstream in my book.

 

Their products are bespoke and designed for them, many other pretenders to the crown are simply a Nokia 6310i phone inside a riveted box with wires soldered on! 8-)

 

Skynet, Skamp, Recall, Telematix, Eagle Eye, LEO, Armada are just a few of the many that have fallen by the wayside over the last few years.

 

Eddie

 

 

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We have a Phantom tracker fitted to our motorhome and rate it very well. They have responded very quickly by phoning us up luckily they have mostly been false alarms - us being muppets in the early days and setting it off, but it was brilliant as we have the European cover, and while in France someone attempted to open the Ski locker and set the alarm off - immediately they phoned which on 2 points is good - firstly the attempted entry but one I hadn't thought of was the security and peace of mind in knowing that I could have said on the phone, we're under threat of attack and Phantom from England could contact local police and direct them direct to us. As I said this point isn't thought of until it happens and makes you think. We have seen how there system can pin point your motorhome - we had a display at Peterborough show last year where we could see our van in the field. Phantom has served us well and I can personally recommend them from our experience.

 

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We had a Phantom pro-active system fitted on our previous van September 2005, cost £499 plus £299 for 5 years monitoring. It worked very well and apart from false alarms when I forgot to disarm it was brilliant. We were phoned within 10 minutes of activation. Did have one problem in the gales with a false alarm but their call centre said they had a lot of activity that day. Transferred to a new van in April 2008 for £99 and this was where we had some trouble. It was tested and we were told it was working but I left the system live and it wasnt. Took it back to the dealers and they hadn't connected the wires!!!! Redid the wiring and tried it and it was OK. Activated it about 2 weeks later and nothing happened. I checked the wiring and the earth was loose. Redid it and OK. No problems until we were in Southern France when I set it off. Although we had a phone message within a few minutes the reply number didnt work on our phone and we reverted to the Forum when we could hook-up and found the Phnton mumber had been changed for calls from France but we hadn't been told. Back in UK we had a low battery warning and checked but but nothing wrong, then Phantom found that our phone signal had jammed in France and wasnt working so we had no protection for about 6 weeks. On testing Phantom confrimed that the sensitivity was set too low which had been the problem all along from when the system was fitted to our new van. Not a problem with Phantom but the dealers fitter who transferred it. Now very satisfied and I occasionally test it to make sure it is working and we are back to a call within about 10 minutes. Phantom is right for us and the fact that it can be moved from van to van when you sell is bonus. Had a Tracker system before but didn't renew because it was not portable.
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The insurance companies "must be laughing out loud" all the way to the bank at those who add the Do-Not Steal-Me gadgets.

 

Theft is one of the assurances so why pay twice?

 

The simplest way to prevent your vehicle being nicked is to remove part of the engine mechanism.

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