Lojack Question

[spyde12]

I'm thinking about getting Lojack for my car. Has anyone here have any first hand experience on the recovery process? Are there any caveats that you can share that can help someone like me make an informed decision? As always, thank you in advanced!

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[1CavScout]

I have recovered many stolen vehicles that had LoJack. I don't know if things have changed since I retired, but basically the LE vehicle is equipped with antennas that pick up the LoJack signal. The module inside the car will give you direction and signal strength (gives you approximate distance from the stolen vehicle).

I personally have never had LoJack installed in any of my vehicles, but in my experience it is a good way to get a vehicle recovered if stolen. If we got a LoJack hit, we would usually find the stolen vehicle.

You just need to weigh the cost and decide if it's worth it to you.

[Cokebottle]

Also some finance companies (TD is one) will offer an interest rate reduction that basically pays for the unit.. obviously so they can track it if you default and are hiding the car from the repo man.

But Lojack is not very up-front that to maintain the vehicle recovery "guarantee" you have to buy into a maintenance agreement... I think it's after the first two years.

I had it on my Silverado and Tacoma. The unit on the Tacoma had the Early Warning system... it is a key fob (battery lasts 6 months) and if the car is moved without the fob near the vehicle, it sends email, text, and even telephone alerts.
It's not immediate... it requires something like 15 minutes of driving.
It's how I knew my battery was done, and also when a transponder went bad.

[sealocan]

Way back when they first came out I was living in an area with one of the higher auto theft rates in the nation.

the thieves learned quickly that after stealing a car (and going through it for valuables) to park it in a different neighborhood where they could drive by and watch the car.
If no police arrived to recover it after so many days they knew it definitely didn't have the LoJack activated.

Nowadays I think with LoJack stickers on your car thieves would just move onto the next car, unless you're driving something extremely rare and valuable.

[micro911]

I have Lojack in two of my cars. It is pretty nice system. I have recovered couple of those cars. Not all police cars are equipped with Lojack tracking system, though.

I think some newer cars have a system they can track the car with the satellite. So, you may not need the Lojack.

[spyde12]

I have recovered many stolen vehicles that had LoJack. I don't know if things have changed since I retired, but basically the LE vehicle is equipped with antennas that pick up the LoJack signal. The module inside the car will give you direction and signal strength (gives you approximate distance from the stolen vehicle).

I personally have never had LoJack installed in any of my vehicles, but in my experience it is a good way to get a vehicle recovered if stolen. If we got a LoJack hit, we would usually find the stolen vehicle.

You just need to weigh the cost and decide if it's worth it to you.

Thanks for the feedback! I need to contact my insurance and find out how much less my insurance premium will be and factor that savings into the $695 price tag.

Also some finance companies (TD is one) will offer an interest rate reduction that basically pays for the unit.. obviously so they can track it if you default and are hiding the car from the repo man.

But Lojack is not very up-front that to maintain the vehicle recovery "guarantee" you have to buy into a maintenance agreement... I think it's after the first two years.

I had it on my Silverado and Tacoma. The unit on the Tacoma had the Early Warning system... it is a key fob (battery lasts 6 months) and if the car is moved without the fob near the vehicle, it sends email, text, and even telephone alerts.
It's not immediate... it requires something like 15 minutes of driving.
It's how I knew my battery was done, and also when a transponder went bad.

That's the caveat I was referring to. Thanks for the heads up bro! Any idea what the maintenence agreement would cost? I did read that they recommend that you have it inspected every 2 years. I was thinking about buying a vertu since it has a feature that pings your phone when the vehicle has moved. The Lojack ($995 fob) option wouldn't be effective if the key and fob were on the same keyring. Plus there's the delay that I didn't even know about. Thank you.

Way back when they first came out I was living in an area with one of the higher auto theft rates in the nation.

the thieves learned quickly that after stealing a car (and going through it for valuables) to park it in a different neighborhood where they could drive by and watch the car.
If no police arrived to recover it after so many days they knew it definitely didn't have the LoJack activated.

Nowadays I think with LoJack stickers on your car thieves would just move onto the next car, unless you're driving something extremely rare and valuable.

I guess the cheap route would be to apply a Lojack decal on my window
Seriously though, the car will be parked near the north side of Modesto in a couple months and I want to have a viable next course is action in the event it gets jacked.

I have Lojack in two of my cars. It is pretty nice system. I have recovered couple of those cars. Not all police cars are equipped with Lojack tracking system, though.

I think some newer cars have a system they can track the car with the satellite. So, you may not need the Lojack.

My car has navigation and satellite radio antenna, but I don't think there's anything that can pin point its coordinates. Thank you.


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[Cokebottle]

I think the maintenance was $100, so budgeting $50/year is not bad.

I bought it for the Silverado ($50k Duramax), but by the time it came up for renewal I was trying to sell it.
I got it for the Tacoma because of the lower interest rate (cut a full point from 4% to 3%), never was worried that someone would steal a 5 year old 2wd regular cab, so I didn't bother renewing it either.

[AG166]

I thought about lojack also for my vehicle. My truck was broken into and the knuckleheads couldn't get it started thankfully. I decided to go with a GPS tracker on it instead of lojack. The gps tracker was installed somewhere on the truck and it will give you real-time data exactly where the truck is at all times. I paid somewhere around $600 with a viper alarm and the gps unit installed on it. You can set up the gps system with a geo fence which will alert your phone or email the vehicle has traveled outside the "fence" area. I went with a Viper gps and alarm system and it's worked out good.

[5150ds]

I have Lojack in two of my cars. It is pretty nice system. I have recovered couple of those cars. Not all police cars are equipped with Lojack tracking system, though.

I think some newer cars have a system they can track the car with the satellite. So, you may not need the Lojack.

Newer Hyundais can use the sirius/xm to track.

[marinelar]

Another benefit is essentially every LE aviation unit has LoJack in their aircraft. Depending on where you live and how many helicopters patrol your area, it increases the odds of your vehicle being recovered due to the signal not having any interference from buildings and such. A helicopter can pick it up from greater distances. I've responded to assist the helo numerous times with LoJack hits, almost always with a recovery.

[Rico911]

Lojack has a family and friends price for LE.

[RickD427]

The Lojack system has been around for a long time and the company is well established, but the technology is quite old and not as effective as more modern systems.

When I worked patrol, our station had a few Lojack equipped units. Lojack paid for the equipment, but the way that we went through patrol units, most did not have the tracking equipment.

Lojack works on a triangulation system. Each receiver can tell the signal strength and direction to the stolen car. You have to drive around a lot, and get enough lines of bearing to figure out where the stolen car is. If there are enough Lojack equipped units, and traffic permits, and there are no emergent calls while you're doing the search, the suspect is going to get located.

At the same time Teletrac offered a competing GPS based system. When a Teletrac equipped car was reported stolen, they would tell us that the vehicle was in the 4000 block of Century Blvd, traveling east at 31 mph. It was much easier and faster to recover the Teletrac stolen.

[spyde12]

I think the maintenance was $100, so budgeting $50/year is not bad.

I bought it for the Silverado ($50k Duramax), but by the time it came up for renewal I was trying to sell it.
I got it for the Tacoma because of the lower interest rate (cut a full point from 4% to 3%), never was worried that someone would steal a 5 year old 2wd regular cab, so I didn't bother renewing it either.

Thank you for the feedback.

I thought about lojack also for my vehicle. My truck was broken into and the knuckleheads couldn't get it started thankfully. I decided to go with a GPS tracker on it instead of lojack. The gps tracker was installed somewhere on the truck and it will give you real-time data exactly where the truck is at all times. I paid somewhere around $600 with a viper alarm and the gps unit installed on it. You can set up the gps system with a geo fence which will alert your phone or email the vehicle has traveled outside the "fence" area. I went with a Viper gps and alarm system and it's worked out good.

Interesting. Can you confirm if it's this one?

https://www.viper.com/smartstart/serviceplans.aspx

Thank you for the suggestion. I'll look into this one too.

Another benefit is essentially every LE aviation unit has LoJack in their aircraft. Depending on where you live and how many helicopters patrol your area, it increases the odds of your vehicle being recovered due to the signal not having any interference from buildings and such. A helicopter can pick it up from greater distances. I've responded to assist the helo numerous times with LoJack hits, almost always with a recovery.

If I was in the LA area, that would be a big plus. Thank you for the insight!

The Lojack system has been around for a long time and the company is well established, but the technology is quite old and not as effective as more modern systems.

When I worked patrol, our station had a few Lojack equipped units. Lojack paid for the equipment, but the way that we went through patrol units, most did not have the tracking equipment.

Lojack works on a triangulation system. Each receiver can tell the signal strength and direction to the stolen car. You have to drive around a lot, and get enough lines of bearing to figure out where the stolen car is. If there are enough Lojack equipped units, and traffic permits, and there are no emergent calls while you're doing the search, the suspect is going to get located.

At the same time Teletrac offered a competing GPS based system. When a Teletrac equipped car was reported stolen, they would tell us that the vehicle was in the 4000 block of Century Blvd, traveling east at 31 mph. It was much easier and faster to recover the Teletrac stolen.

As usual Rick, thank you for the thorough insight!

With regards to teletrac, is it this one?

http://www.teletrac.com/

I actually like the features it offers as well. I'm starting to lean away from Lojack and into either the viper or teletrac. Thank you.

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[RickD427]

Thank you for the feedback.

I actually like the features it offers as well. I'm starting to lean away from Lojack and into either the viper or teletrac. Thank you.

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I can't tell if that is the same outfit. The name is the same but the logo is different. This company seems to be focused on fleet tracking. The Teletrac of years ago did stolen vehicle recovery.

The GM "On Star" system also does stolen vehicle tracking.

My whole point is that a GPS based service tells officers where the vehicle is and where it is going. Lojack makes us search for it like a needle in a haystack.

[CT-Copper]

LoJack is old technology but the only thing that it still has going for it over modern GPS, is that the radio signals penetrate concrete, etc. So if your vehicle is in a parking garage or the like, GPS will not work where the LoJack will. It is the only feature/advantage that hasnt made Lojack totally obsolete.