Your car, whether a supercar or a compact one, is unique to you. Family vacations, weekend excursions with friends, long-soothing drives, and several such experiences in your car will last a lifetime. Considering how often we stress about our vehicles, purchasing a car GPS tracker appears to be a wise move. However, because your car is among the most expensive machinery you buy, you need to exercise caution while selecting the correct monitoring gear.
The GPS car tracking gadget industry is immensely popular in the United States. It implies that with the right selection, you might get high-quality equipment at a low price. However, there are hundreds of tracker models to pick from, making it tough to find the ideal one. When selecting a GPS car tracker, there are various factors to consider. There are dedicated car trackers for various vehicles, such as automobiles, trucks, vans, and motorbikes.
Therefore, the best tracking system will take into account the type(s) of vehicle(s) as well as the most recent breakthroughs and advances in the GPS market.
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How Does GPS Work?
GPS stands for Global Positioning System, initially employed by the United States Department of Defense. The system has 31 satellites that orbit the Earth and transmit radio signals. A GPS receiver, included in the GPS monitoring device you may install in your automobile, will then monitor numerous satellites.
A technique called trilateration swiftly estimates the distance of three satellites from your receiver’s position. It aids in determining the receiver’s position. After installing the tracker in the car, you can track its position in real-time. The companion web or mobile app allows you to follow the vehicle’s movements over time.
Things To Keep In Mind
You don’t want to run out and buy the first car GPS tracker you come across. Instead, you’ll need to understand how they function, how they may aid, installation alternatives, and what to look for when purchasing.
● Type of device
Some GPS vehicle trackers connect to the vehicle’s battery. It is an excellent choice since it makes it almost impossible that someone will notice and delete the tracker. However, you will need to hire an expert to do the installation. Another popular alternative is to connect the tracking device with the OBD port in the car. It is a simple plug-and-play solution. After installing the tracker, you can go to an app on a smartphone and set up everything in a few minutes.
In some instances, a portable GPS car transmitter in the vehicle may be desirable. It has an advantage over other trackers – it does not require any cables, allowing it to be installed almost anywhere in the car. This feature keeps the tracker concealed and out of sight. However, it will not be powered by the car’s battery, so you will have to replace the batteries regularly. Another advantage of wireless and OBD solutions over hardwired ones is mobility. When necessary, the OBD and cordless GPS car tracker can be installed on different vehicles. For example, if you’re going on vacation, you may place them in a rented car.
● Functionality
Among the first things to look for when purchasing a gadget is compatibility with your vehicle model. It is essential because it ensures the device can gather all data that it offers, and you can utilize all of the capabilities without difficulty. The gadget has no detrimental influence on the performance of your vehicle. Most automobiles made after 2010 in the US have a standard OBD-II connector. Therefore, any decent-quality OBD-based tracking gadget should work with your car.
However, you must ensure compatibility for the precise model number of your vehicle before purchase. Also, if you own a premium vehicle with complicated electronics (such as a Mercedes, Audi, BMW, Volvo, or Jaguar), you must get a GPS tracker for extra protection.
● Cybersecurity
Any tracking gadget captures a massive amount of information about your car’s position and daily journey details. When paired with a large amount of personal data supplied into the program, it is extremely sensitive and necessitates total privacy. As a result, it is vital to examine the application’s level of security. Your automotive information is sent from the device to the servers and then to your mobile app. Examine the vendor’s aspect of data encryption throughout this entire procedure. Questions to consider:
![How To Track A Car Using Your Phone [Simple] - Auto Chimps](https://autochimps.com/wp-content/uploads/2020/06/Man-driving-car-with-smart-phone-for-online-map-and-GPS-application.jpg)
How secure is the device?
How safe is my data as it travels from servers to applications?
● User-friendly
Your automobile Tracking device will have an application that will provide you with all the information recorded by the device. This app provides access to live maps, location notifications, and other features. Typically, the app will provide you with an easy-to-use interface. You should be able to find the information you seek with minimal effort or confusion. If you purchase your monitoring gadget from a store, ask the salesperson to show you how the app works. While buying a device online, check the app ratings to get an idea of what to expect.
● Connectivity While Not Online
Today’s internet connectivity leaves much to be desired. However, you need a gadget that can work offline to avoid losing trip data. Check whether your gadget has offline connectivity and the travel data can be accessed even when there is no internet connection. Usually, your devices must be able to collect trip data for a set period even while not connected to the internet and then send this data to the databases once connected.
● Durability
Like with any electrical gadget, quality is a significant factor. There are several low-cost automobile GPS trackers available. However, their gadget software and hardware do not meet the highest quality requirements. Vendors are also reluctant to pay to fix such equipment. So, make sure you select a piece of dependable equipment by asking a few key questions:
-Is the gadget of OEM quality? It determines if the item can work with all automobile models.
-How simple or difficult is it to contact a customer support representative? You don’t want to be stuck with a broken gadget that can’t be repaired or replaced.
● Rate of Data Refresh
The data refresh rate is the frequency with which your app refreshes its data points. The lesser the time lag, the better. It implies that the application is constantly reloading data points, providing you with real-time information. A high-speed data frame rate is essential for features such as geofence notifications.
You want to be alerted immediately when the automobile passes the virtual boundary, not 5 minutes. If your monitoring software does have a feed refresh rate of a few milliseconds, you will receive data as soon as it occurs and will be able to respond accordingly.
Final Note – The Tracker Just For You
Installing a fist-sized vehicle tracker in your automobile makes it easy to find it anywhere in the globe with nothing more than your smartphone. The main advantageous advantages of car trackers are real-time position reporting, vehicle recovery after the theft, and decreased fuel expenditures. Managers may design better routes to shorten delivery times and save fuel use while lowering the risks incurred by staff operating in metropolitan areas by employing GPS tracking technology to monitor the whereabouts of vehicles in real-time.
Furthermore, by deploying the nearest car to a job, management may help drivers avoid traffic congestion and roadworks, lowering fleet expenses and increasing corporate earnings.
