Like @Cairo94507 said, it's dreadful and discouraging to read about more stolen 914s on this website, some of the creme of the crop ( @Marv's3.6six ) And to find that these cars simply "disappear," ( @dr914 @autoatlanta.com, http://www.914world.com/bbs2/index.php?sho...tolen&st=0), during repairs(??),.. and then the sketchy insurance "issues(?), ... There seems to be a common theme in these crimes. Be damned, it is all too easy to steal and hide this car.

To live more relaxed when you are away from your beloved car, check out the Track-it GPS device. They are small and inexpensive.
https://tracki.com/blogs/post/everything-yo...ut-gps-tracking
I have 2 trackers. I have no affiliation.

One device is hidden under the spare tire in my 914 whenever it is off my property, mostly it is just shopping in town. I use one in luggage when I travel so I can actually watch where my check-ons are as we are loading and departing the airplane. I use one when I get a rental car and put the other in my luggage.
I'm a geologist, travel often, and it tracks my lat-long location throughout the day when hiking, with positions and times, and has an SOS for emergencies in remote outback. It works everywhere and without having to be near it. A flashing icon is displayed on your cell phone even if the device was on the other side of Earth or on your shelf.
I change the time sampling interval from 1 or 2 minutes when I carry it hiking, to 10 minutes with my cargo on airline flights. I change to 30-minute samples when I leave it with my car, where it can track for 3 or 4 weeks. Battery life depends on sampling interval. It notifies with a text message when the battery gets to 10%.

There's $20/month subscription for the GPS service, cheaper if you buy a year, which I do. I use it so often, it is worth the cost to me.
I consider it like insurance at $5/week even simply when I take the car shopping once a week with 5 or 6 stops in a day parked outside different stores. That's less than $1 a day for this kind of theft insurance. Unfortunately it is not comprehensive.
When I hike, the SOS is insurance because I'm often outside of cell service. That's worth $1 a day.

If my '14 ever goes to a shop, it will have this device hidden deep in the bowels - The upgraded units I have come with a rubber case and lanyard, a magnet and clip attachments and tools, like in the photo below. Mine were $24 each.
An Apple Aircard is worthless. It's all about getting a GPS unit and buying service. There are many more devices - I'd just say pick one. I can recommend this one. For me, this device mitigates several potential serious risks at low cost. ~ Thieves beware.

914World Rocks!
~ Pezz
Click to view attachment

Why not just use the Apple Tags?

Maybe it is my imagination but it seems like a lot of the cars are stolen from repair shops. And that is distressing. Most car owners need to trust they will still have a car when they go to pick it up from the shop. The vw shop in my home town had big dogs and a fence. Now a days with all the electronic goodies available I’m pretty shocked how often it happens.

If I was at our shop late at night, I would sometimes hear people trying to open the garage and man doors. We had a couple doors that we used every day and a couple more that were only used sparingly. You could hear someone going around to each door and trying to get in. It was in an industrial park so no way to fence in the unit.

Our current shop is behind a house. My business partner lives in the house and is a gun enthusiast. Someone trying to break in would really be chancing their life.

That must be a great selling point with the high end guys. Breaks my heart every time it happens

They do not use GPS. AirTags rely on other iPhones to be near the tag to establish a network, providing it is within Bluetooth range of that iPhone. This requires one or more iPhones running the latest software. If the thieves hid your car in an area without cell coverage, the AirTags won't work.

I use GEGO Luggage trackers.

We bought a bunch of them for a trip to Europe a year ago last July. They will track your luggage anywhere in the world.

https://www.gego.io/products/gego-universal-tracker

After that, I bought some 12v to USB converters off Amazon, and wired them in the 914s, the BMW, and the trailer.

The 12v to USB converters keep them charged off the car's battery, and if it is disconnected, then the internal battery keeps them going for a couple of weeks. We have a solar cell and trickle charger setup on the trailer to keep the breakaway battery charged, and the tracker is wired into that same circuit.

I have two geo fences setup in the app. One being my house, the other being the storage lot where we store the trailer. If the tags leave the fenced area, I get an alert in email.

There is also historical locations, so if it disappears off the net, the software keeps the last known location of it.

We have the app installed on both of our phones.

So at the touch of a button, I can see where my 914s, my BMW and my trailer are in real time. They are also bluetooth linked to my phone, so when I get close enough for bluetooth to connect, I can track them down within 1 meter of their location.

That should be close enough for a car or a trailer.

There is a yearly fee to keep them active. It is cheap insurance.

I have thought about a tracking device, but wondered if the thieves have something to detect tracking?

Often times the bad guys are out in front

I have the very most expensive tracker available in my wife's Odyssey.

We had a Lo-jack installed when we bought the car 14 years ago.

GPS stuff was not really available then.

This pup DOES NOT send out any signals UNLESS something happens that it doesn't like.

We both have key fobs that talk with it and 14 years down the road it still texts us "vehicle has been moved without your permission" if the batteries die in the fob.

It doesn't alert the police at this point but...

If we called into then and said the "car has been stolen" it starts broadcasting like nothing else.

One of the first kills for a Low jack was in a Ferrari. Car got swiped and when it was told to broadcast, they found it moving at 8mph in the San Francisco Bay. Stopping the ship it was on revealed 85 stolen cars on their way to China!

Good stuff IMO but still very expensive but the only system that is integral to most larger Police forces. The cop cars with 4 antenna are Low jack receiving cars.

Now-days I'd use something like Clay or Pezz uses but for automotive recovery systems the Low-jack is hard to beat.

In 2009 it cost $1200 but no other fees ever!

I DO NOT have stickers stating "Low-jack protection." This critter is a hidden time bomb for theives...

I have a tracker in my car tkstar.

IIRC, Low-Jack only works if the PD has the Low-jack receiver in the car.

And never advertise your protection on your car. It just makes the thieves look for it.

Might be a nice add on feature for a "self destruct" device. If within 30 or so seconds the system does not receive a verification, KABOOM

But neither will any other tracker! The ones mentioned in this thread use GPS to locate the device but they still rely on a cellular network to send you the location.

AirTags are far from perfect but they are cheap, small and have a long battery life. And there are stories about them working when a GPS tracker didn’t because the thieves left a GPS jammer running. An iPhone geolocates using cell towers, wifi SSIDs and GPS; GPS jamming alone isn’t enough.

Just put a chalon kit on it. You will be fine.

Actually, I have been recently think about melding this to a 914 chassis.


Click to view attachment

I really want a Laser.

This one is near me and 2800. It's on a bug at the moment. With monster tires.

Completely correct!
This is a limitation with Lojack.

I really like Pezz"s suggestions for a personal tracker.

I like yours better for a car tracker. The fence feature and last spot broadcasting feature are critical IMO.

I have lots of stuff in different spots and the units you suggested will be what I end up purchasing next.

How much $ per year?
Actually at $100 per year the Lojack has already paid for itself and just might end up being cheaper than I anticipated.

When I sell the van in the next year, I'm planning on taking the Lojack off and putting it on one of my other cars...

I sent Lojack and e-mail stating that I would be interested in fitting a unit into my main toolbox. They never replied ...

One of my customers had a 2021 Chevy truck stolen and stripped.

He notified the police and On Star 3 minutes after the truck was taken.

GM (On Star) said they could not track the truck...

The truck texted him for the next 6 hours with equipment warnings as it was stripped to nothing.

If the truck can text, why can't it send out GPS info?

Seems fishy to me!

But, from GMs perspective having the truck stripped and totaled is far more likely to end up with an insurance company having to purchase another truck and increasing GMs profit...

On Star is POWERFUL. They can deactivate a running vehicle. They ALWAYS know if you've deployed your airbags and will normally be speaking with you after an accident whether you pay for their monthly service or not. A real human being will ask if you are OK and need an ambulance within 30 seconds of the accident. They will be speaking over the radio and the microphone that picks up your voice is already installed in your vehicle.
This is a BAD ASSED system but yet it cannot stop thieves from stripping your brand new 80K truck even though the truck texts you for hours as it's being torn apart...

If they had a GPS jammer running the onstar system would not know where the truck was.

I did not know there is a "GPS jammer" device.
No doubt some thieves have these.

My neighbor's son told me about Multipurpose "Bug Detectors" ..like James Bond has. No doubt some thieves have these.
~ Hidden camera detector, Anti spy Detector, RF Detector, GPS Detector, Anti Tracking Strong Magnetic Detector for GPS Tracker, Hidden Camera Finder, Listening Device in office, car, meeting, hotel. ~ All in a hand-held device, even pocket sized.

Reading further about the GPS detector stated (my bold highlight):
"Most GPS trackers will be in long-time standby mode for purpose of power saving, typically when the vehicle is standing still. GPS Trackers will transmit at intervals of 10 seconds, 30 seconds, 60 seconds, in particular when vehicle is moving. So it is insufficient to detect GPS trackers using RF Signal Detection. But most of GPS Tracking devices are magnet mounted to vehicles chassis/trunk/bumper/wheel wells/storage compartments/under seat/engine compartment/under the hood for easy installation and removal. Therefore the Magnetic Field Detection is designed to locate such magnetic GPS tracker.

So to avoid a thief with a bug detector, do not use a magnet mount for the GPS tracker. I don't, by chance.
I've decided to install and wire a tracker into the car permanently in a small waterproof box. No charging the battery and it is hidden well in the engine compartment. Easy project.

Final note is for those like me that store their car(s) in an autohauler trailer. I live in a small remote ranching community where a lot of workers use trailers for tools and horses and vehicles. It is a common heist out here to steal the entire trailer. Most people leave the trailers hooked to their trucks. When we unhook, we always lock the tongue and chain the wheels. Just ideas to consider if you trailer your car.

Cheers~

All great ideas. I am the old fashion kind of thinking.
Put people in jail or ship them back after a crime. The Police in there areas know who the criminals are.. They have arrested them before, but some how they get back out on the street?
Its so sad we have to find ways to protect what we own in the USA.

Matt

One of the oldest stories ever told, Matt. Ugg liked his cave neighbor, Togs Italian marble wheels…The rest is history. Tog did buy a bigger club

The trailer I have was the second one my father owned. The first one was stolen right out of his driveway. So with the replacement, came a tongue lock, a ball socket lock, a Denver boot, a couple of cable locks to thread through the wheels and shackles, and a big, heavy long cable looped over the axle and hooked around the fence posts.

Yes it makes it hard to move when you want to use it. You have to undo and pack up all the anti-theft stuff. And when you park it, you have to be diligent about putting it back on the trailer. But the trailer is there when needed, not abandoned on the side of the freeway full of old shingles.

And we have the GPS tracker that is on it now too. It doesn't transmit unless it is moving, and it is not magnetically held onto the trailer.

Remember, you can never make your car/trailer un-stealable. What you can do is make it harder to steal than the one down the street. Thieves are lazy and will go for the easiest target to get.

My toolbox is my most valuable procession.

I've always kept it top and bottom bolted together, flat on the floor with NO casters.

Last time I took it across trailer scales it weighed close to 5000 lbs!

This was years ago, and I've packed more in it.

It is absolutely IMPOSSIBLE to move.

I'm good about keeping it locked up...

Thieves will use a side lift to lift toolboxes into a truck/trailer bed.

They will drive that same truck through your bay doors in reverse at speed and can get most of the toolboxes fairly quickly.

Mine, not so much...

And, if you leave a large vehicle directly behind your bay door you can make the initial ingress far more painful!

This would be super simple to do, my other thought though is it will probably alert the thief there is an apple air tag nearby and then they will tear apart the car looking for it and get rid of it.

Old but true. Just like boys are boys and girls are girls.
Tog

If our prosecutors would start charging criminal thugs with their actual crimes, require appropriate bail, and judges, if convicted, sentenced them accordingly, leave them in prison for the full term of their sentence- regardless. That may reduce crime.

Careful... this is wandering VERY close to political territory......