Pick per vehicle. A cheap runabout can report from a phone; the car you actually
worry about gets a hardwired unit and a relay. The software treats them the same.
Plug in · 30 seconds
OBD-II telematics dongle
Goes into the diagnostic socket under the dash. No wiring, no trim removal,
no auto electrician. As well as position it reads what only the engine knows:
fault codes, check-engine state, coolant temperature, fuel level and the
odometer straight off the bus — so mileage isn't a number someone typed in.
- Fits
- Petrol/diesel cars from 2001 (EU: 2004 diesel)
- Supplied
- Pre-configured by us — plug in and go
- Gives
- GPS, DTCs, odometer, fuel, voltage
- Removable
- Yes — a renter can unplug it
Hardwired · fit and forget
Concealed GPS tracker
Wired behind the dash to permanent 12V, ignition sense and ground, out of
sight and out of reach. This is the one for cars that go out to strangers.
Add the immobiliser relay and the same unit can cut the fuel-pump circuit
on command.
- Fits
- Anything with a 12V system
- Supplied
- Pre-configured by us, ready to fit
- Reports
- Position, ignition, power state
- Removable
- Not without tools and time
No hardware · £0
An Android phone
An old handset in the glovebox running our companion tracking app reports position over
whatever data connection it has. Worth knowing about for a car you're about to
sell, a trailer, or a fleet you're still deciding about. No engine data, and it
stops when the battery does.
- Fits
- Any Android device
- Gives
- Position only
- Honest use
- Proving the idea before you buy hardware
- Removable
- Trivially
Relay · auto electrician
Immobiliser (killswitch)
A normally-closed relay, fitted at the fuse box and driven by the
tracker's relay output. Normally closed matters: if the relay, the tracker or its
wiring fails, the car still starts. On most cars the interrupt goes in the
starter circuit — that is the professional convention, and it is
the one that cannot stall a moving engine. A fuel-pump interrupt is done at the
relay socket in the fuse box, never out at the pump.
- Fits
- Most 12V cars, at the fuse box
- Needs
- A tracker with a relay output
- Fitted by
- An auto electrician, not you
- Fails
- Closed — a dead tracker still starts the car
What the killswitch will not do
It will not stop a moving car. The command is refused while the vehicle is
reporting motion, and it is held until the car is stationary. That is also why
the interrupt belongs in the starting circuit rather than a running-engine
circuit: cut fuel or ignition at speed and the driver loses power steering, then
brake servo assist. Immobilising a vehicle in traffic is how people get hurt and
how operators get sued, so the product does not offer it — not as an option, not
behind a warning.
