When it comes to stealing cars, thieves try to think of every way they can to swerve past vehicle security measures. After all, we try and use every way possible to secure our vehicles and make them theft-proof, and one of these measures is installing a car tracker.
But, how foolproof is a car tracker, and is it detectable to car thieves? Let’s find out.
Have you ever thought about car thieves’ ability to track and potentially remove a tracker from your car? Car trackers are essential to ensure you can track your vehicle’s location, and being informed about whether they can be removed and the importance of a smart and discreet installation process can help you understand how to choose a vehicle tracking company that can help prevent this from happening.
First, though, let’s look at why car trackers are so important to South Africans to understand why we need trackers in the first place.
From sky-high fences, community policing, and intricate alarm systems, if you are a South African, you know that we go out of our way to protect ourselves from this country’s rampant crime.
With vehicles being stolen at a shocking rate, car trackers are a go-to for protecting one of your most important assets. In fact, the South African Police (SAPS) reported the hijacking of 5,488 cars from April 2023 to June 2023! Meanwhile, according to a Statista study about carjackings in South Africa from 2009 to 2023, carjackings went from 9417 in 2012, growing consistently throughout the years and more than doubling that number to 22742 in 2023.
Tracking devices are a popular and widely-known way to help mitigate your safety and vehicle recovery in these kinds of hijacking situations. Therefore, the possibility that these trackers can be detected should be high on tracking companies’ prevention priority list.
While detecting a car tracker is possible for car thieves, it can be challenging and most likely unachievable. Nevertheless, it’s helpful to know which tactics they use to try and find your vehicle’s secret safety weapon, so let’s look at some of these:
Out of all these criminal methods, tampering is the oldest one in the book.
Tampering:
Thieves can try to detect your device by physically looking for it. Tampering includes removing the tracker or wire-cutting with the intention of making your vehicle impossible to locate.
Luckily, our skilled technicians are one step ahead and expertly trained in discreet installation, ensuring that the information about your car’s unit location will never be revealed.
Signal scanning:
As the twenty-first century continues, car thieves have become much more technologically savvy. Signal scanning is one of the many ways they try to detect whether a tracker is installed in a vehicle. These scanners detect GPS signals that could indicate car trackers, allowing them to make an informed decision about whether they want to risk attempting to steal a vehicle armed with extra protection. However, if they decide to nab a car with a tracker installed, they’ll have an incredibly hard time finding a Cartrack device with our super-discreet installation process, ensuring your car stays trackable and retrievable.
GPS detector applications:
Criminals can now use their phones to steal cars, and there are even apps available to assist them in doing so. These apps detect GPS signals indicating a tracker might be in a vehicle, providing the same information they would get from a signal scammer. They wouldn’t get far with Cartrack on their heels, though.
Not only do thieves use tools to detect car trackers, but they also have ways to try and interfere with their signals. Here are some of the most common methods they like to use:
Aluminium wrapping and removing batteries can be effective, but lawbreakers have also started to focus on interfering with remote car keys to gain easy access and prevent you from locking them, as well as attempting to jam car trackers’ signals to hide their location.
Also known as keyless car theft, this method is not necessarily linked to tracking devices per se but is helpful to know about when it comes to theft risks. Usually, when you walk away from your car and click the button on your remote key fob, you assume your car is safely locked.
However, when you try to lock the car, car thieves can also use signal interference to shut down your digital key’s signal, leaving your car open and vulnerable to theft. Luckily, there’s a simple solution: always double-check that your car is locked before you walk away.
Signal jamming is a technique used by criminals to steal and even use a vehicle for illegal purposes. It interferes with the signals of your vehicle tracking system device, making it difficult for any tracker to connect with the device and ultimately find your car.
Two types of signal jamming approaches are GPS signal jamming and GSM signal jamming. Let’s delve deeper into the criminal mind and examine the details of the techniques they love to use.
However, no matter which option thieves end up using to try and block your tracker’s signal, don’t stress. Cartrack’s Anti-Jamming technology will give them a hard time hiding their (and your vehicle’s) location.
Considering all the threats we face on the road today, do you really want to be caught without a tracker in your car? Here are some of the top reasons why you should install one today. After looking at these, we’ll dive into why choosing Cartrack’s discreetly installed tracking device is your best bet at staying visible, trackable, and recoverable.
While we know that car thieves can detect car trackers when they’re not discreetly installed and mess with tracker signals to stop the unit from working, Cartrack’s range of Stolen Vehicle Recovery solutions ensures that you don’t only have a quality tracking device installed in your car, but our comprehensive measures taken against device detection and Anti-Jamming technology offers peace of mind in case car thieves decide to add your vehicle to their shopping list.
Our all-in-one solution is designed to cover all your bases, giving you complete peace of mind about your vehicle’s security.
Cartrack doesn’t play games with your vehicle or your safety. It’s time to end these car thieves’ hide-and-seek antics with our advanced solutions.
Cartrack’s solution keeps your vehicle visible and your device undetectable—all with the ultimate peace of mind.
Contact us today to elevate your vehicle’s safety and visibility.
A: Checking whether your vehicle has been fitted with a tracker is as easy as contacting Cartrack Kenya and asking a technician to come to your location, inspect the vehicle, and confirm.
A: Car trackers are incredibly effective overall. They can also help lower insurance premiums, which is a nice perk, to say the least.
A: Many factors can make your vehicle more attractive to thieves. One of the most evident ones is how easy it is to steal. Poorly lit surroundings, open car doors and windows, and zero security measures draw thieves in like moths to a flame.
