Three ways to fit one
Hardwired trackers draw power from the vehicle and keep running, hidden out of sight. That is the right answer for theft protection, because a tracker wired out of sight is far harder to find and pull out. OBD trackers plug into the diagnostic port under the dash and take seconds to fit, but are equally quick to unplug. Magnetic trackers need no installation at all and run on internal batteries, which makes them the flexible choice when the vehicle changes.
Battery life on magnetic units depends entirely on reporting frequency. Set to update every few minutes, expect weeks. Set to live tracking, expect days. Hardwired units avoid the trade-off completely.
Trackers with live listening
Some of our 4G vehicle trackers also carry a microphone for live audio and recording, so you can hear the cabin as well as see the location. Those units are listed here and on the listening devices page.
Hardwired, OBD or magnetic
Hardwired connects to the vehicle's electrical system, so there is nothing to recharge, and it can go somewhere a battery unit could not. It takes an installation, either your own or an auto electrician's, and that is the point: something fitted properly out of sight is what a thief does not find.
OBD plugs into the diagnostic port under the dashboard and takes two seconds. It draws vehicle power and reports immediately, which makes it the easiest option for a fleet or a car you want to monitor rather than protect. It is also the first place anyone looks, so it is the weakest choice against theft.
Magnetic battery units go on and come off without touching the vehicle at all, which suits a trailer, a machine, a hired car or anything you do not own. They need charging on whatever interval their reporting rate produces.
How to track the vehicle once it is fitted
There are two ways these report, and it changes how you use them day to day.
App and web trackers give you a live position on a map plus a history of trips with times, routes and speeds. That is what you want for a vehicle you watch regularly, or for more than one.
SMS trackers work with no app and no account. You text the tracker and it texts back a location link, and on some units you can ring it and listen to the cabin. That needs nothing but a SIM with credit, it works on a basic prepay plan, and there is no login to lose or subscription to keep alive. What it does not give you is a live map or a trip history, so it suits occasional checks rather than continuous tracking.
App-based units need a data plan on the SIM. SMS units only need credit.
Set up the alerts before you need them rather than after: a movement alert when the vehicle should be parked, a geofence around home or the yard, and a speed alert if the car is being driven by someone else. Those three cover almost every reason people fit a tracker.
Reporting interval decides everything
A tracker updating every ten seconds follows a vehicle in real time. One updating every five minutes shows a dotted line that a moving car can cross a suburb between. For theft recovery, the short interval is what matters, because the difference between the two is whether police are following the car or looking for where it stopped.
On a hardwired unit the interval costs nothing but data. On a battery unit it costs battery, and that is the trade to size before you buy.
If you are checking your own car instead
To find a tracker someone else has fitted rather than fit one yourself, see GPS tracker detectors.
Common questions
Will it drain the car battery? No. Hardwired units draw a very small current and include a low-voltage cut-off.
Can I see where it has been? Yes. All units keep location history you can replay in the app.