Immobiliser and tracker

Your base vehicle will already have the inbuilt Peugeot/Fiat manufacturer's immobiliser. You can fit an alarm and/or tracker if you want.

I can’t advise re a tracker. Personally, I would never have one as they can cost more to run than you’ll save on your insurance premiums and can be a nuisance with false alerts. I’ve often thought I’d not want the van back if some low life nicked it.

We had an alarm on our Suffolk. We set it off accidentally a few time and nobody took any notice at all!

My preference is for simple and visible deterrents such as a steering wheel lock or pedal lock.

Van Bitz near Taunton have a good reputation for fitting alarms and trackers. I’m sure you’ll get more suggestions shortly.

Hi,
We live in Birmingham but had all our bits fitted by Total vehicle systems at Brent Knoll near Burnham on sea, they are used by Westcountry Motorhomes but we started going direct to cut out the middle man.

+44 1460 55360

No connection other than a satisfied customer

Pete

We have to park on the road, we had three people trying to get into the van but they ran off when the alarm triggered.
However despite the van being under our bedroom window we never heard the alarm, this was around 01:30 on a Sunday morning and witnessed by someone and recorded on a local shop CCTV but not clear enough to make out who they were.
Strangely enough I purchased a stop lock the next day.
Pete

Trackers and alarms do different things but they complement each other.  If you have both, which I recommend you do, its worth having the two integrated so that if the armed alarm is triggered, you are notified through your mobile phone.  If you are away from your van e.g. in a supermarket, it's reassuring not to receive an alarm alert.  

I have an after market Vodaphone Cobra Alarm connected to the Sargent tracking and communications unit that came with the van and I pay an annual subscription to the tracking company through Sargent.  Both the alarm and tracker/service are Thatcham approved.  

My neighbours are responsive if a car or house alarm goes off in the street.  If I receive an alarm alert and I am not at home I would phone them.  The tracking company will also phone me and if in doubt they will track the vehicle in real time liaising directly with the police. 

If your only interest in trackers and alarms is to reduce your insurance premiums then don't bother.  And don't bother fitting other quality anti-theft devices as you are unlikely to get your money back.  However, if like me it bothers you that someone might break into your van and steal its contents and/or steal the van, invest in the best security you can.

I fitted  a tk star DIY tracker fron ebay  not Insurance approved  so no fee's  or  insurance  discounts  but dose find you vehicle  ,

Tinwheeler wrote:
Van Bitz near Taunton have a good reputation for fitting alarms and trackers. I’m sure you’ll get more suggestions shortly.

We have the VanBitz Strikeback alarm fitted.  Five sirens.  If it goes off, the only thing you want to do is get out of the van!

Good visual deterrent too, with external LED's.

To be honest I have had quotes with and without the tracker and there was very little difference in the price.
Maybe I didn't pick the right insurance company.
Pete

I think the only way of bringing insurance premiums down is if everyone takes the maximum security precautions they can which includes fitting alarms and trackers.  I was shocked that my van didn't come with an alarm which is why I had one fitted as part of the deal.

We have the VanBitz Strikeback alarm fitted.  Five sirens.  If it goes off, the only thing you want to do is get out of the van!

Good visual deterrent too, with external LED's.

We have the same, two internal sirens makes it very unpleasant to be inside. We had one on the previous van it only went off in anger once when someone broke into the under seat locker, but it was alarmed, they disappeared quickly without taking anything.

If I got a steering wheel lock or similar physical device it wouldn’t be long before I stopped using it unfortunately.

The present van is kept in storage so theft is not a large risk although it does have an additional immobiliser and self monitored tracker, also fitted but Van Bitz.

I feel the main risk is theft from the van when away, I take a fair amount of camera equipment with us plus iPad and sometimes laptop and that’s why went with Van Blitz again.

Mike

Hi.
If it's of any help we recommend these for vehicle security.
https://www.gapsecurity.co.uk/
Maybe they can offer you some advice.
Regards,
Dan.

Yes, I found that the tracker would cost something like £120/year, and I called my insurance company, who said that enabling it would save me £20/year.

I hid an Apple airtag on board instead.

Many insurance companies are insisting on Trackers on new motorhomes or you won’t get insurance, on our 2019 & previous 2020 van we couldn’t get insurance without having one fitted, personally if I didn’t have to have one fitted for insurance purposes I wouldn’t bother as they can be a pain if you have any issues with the Sargent electrics constantly triggering alerts, we had Sargent support calling us several times a day even in the middle of the night just because either our vehicle or leisure battery voltage was low which it wasn’t, which is just ridiculous. I’d sooner have a decent alarm system fitted. As someone else has said the discount offered is negligible for a tracker or alarm if your insurance company don’t require it, we were also told £30 discount for an alarm. So don’t add these items to just bring down your insurance premium. 

I hide an Apple Air Tag out of site beneath the bonnet of all my vehicles & despite Apple allegedly making people aware there may be an air tag near them I’m yet to have a passenger be notified so they will assist you in locating or tracking your vehicle if it’s took, at least I can check on my phone & see where it’s heading if my motorhome is took, it’s worked very well when my car has gone into the dealers & Ive observed them test driving my car in real time. I seem to recall correct me if I’m wrong reading that the tracker is only active when the vehicle is not on the move ie only when it’s stationary which is pretty poor if this is the case, I’d be relying on my AirTag to see where it’s heading rather than rely on a third party.

I take the battery out of its box, and stick it on charge at home.   I take the rotor arm off if ever left on the street in a conurbation.  My brother taught me.

On CC's last point, the only time I've received an alert from from the Sargent tracker was when a previous van was being recovered after a breakdown and it was on a low loader.

Anthea R wrote:

quentinsf wrote:Yes, I found that the tracker would cost something like £120/year, and I called my insurance company, who said that enabling it would save me £20/year.

I hid an Apple airtag on board instead.

Just be aware that apple had to change the AirTag security as people were putting them in other people’s bags, luggage to follow them so now, it sends a signal to your phone to say you are travelling with a tracker on board. Then you can send a signal sound to the tag and remove it. There was one on our van when we bought it and didn’t know till my phone alerted me

Ah yes, I disabled the speaker on mine. So the thieves will know they're being tracked but won't be able to find it. Should add a certain frisson to their day...

CC wrote:Many insurance companies are insisting on Trackers on new motorhomes or you won’t get insurance, on our 2019 & previous 2020 van we couldn’t get insurance without having one fitted, personally if I didn’t have to have one fitted for insurance purposes I wouldn’t bother as they can be a pain if you have any issues with the Sargent electrics constantly triggering alerts, we had Sargent support calling us several times a day even in the middle of the night just because either our vehicle or leisure battery voltage was low which it wasn’t, which is just ridiculous. I’d sooner have a decent alarm system fitted. As someone else has said the discount offered is negligible for a tracker or alarm if your insurance company don’t require it, we were also told £30 discount for an alarm. So don’t add these items to just bring down your insurance premium. 

I hide an Apple Air Tag out of site beneath the bonnet of all my vehicles & despite Apple allegedly making people aware there may be an air tag near them I’m yet to have a passenger be notified so they will assist you in locating or tracking your vehicle if it’s took, at least I can check on my phone & see where it’s heading if my motorhome is took, it’s worked very well when my car has gone into the dealers & Ive observed them test driving my car in real time. I seem to recall correct me if I’m wrong reading that the tracker is only active when the vehicle is not on the move ie only when it’s stationary which is pretty poor if this is the case, I’d be relying on my AirTag to see where it’s heading rather than rely on a third party.

My understanding is that the 24/7 manned tracking station in Bedford which Sargent use will only ring the owner if it appears to them that the tracker has lost its external supply as it could be a theft event.  I believe this is a requirement that applies to all Thatcham approved tracking systems.   As the external supply comes from the LB, if the LB voltage appears to drop significantly or the LB is disconnected without the owner using Inhibit Service on AS Monitor, the tracking station (not Sargent) should ring.  No phone call should be made if the VB's voltage drops or if it is disconnected.

When the vehicle is stationary the tracker should ping its location every 6 hours.  When the vehicle is started or stopped is should also ping its location.  Sometimes more frequent pings are given.  These historical pings and their time can be seen on AS Monitor under Locate (which should also show the LB voltage and the tracker status armed/triggered/disarmed).  I believe AS Monitor will do this whether the manned tracking station service has been taken out or not, providing the tracker/comms unit SIM has been paid for (the first 3 years are included in the cost of the van).  

It is not possible for the owner to actively track their vehicle in real time.  Only the manned tracking station can do this which they do if they receive a theft alert, for which they will phone the owner, which could be the LB, the alarm if fitted & connected being triggered or if the vehicle is moved without the ignition key.  If necessary they then liaise directly with the police.  If we ever have a security concern with the van, our immediate action will be to phone the tracking station at Bedford if they haven't already phoned us.  We keep the tracking station number on our mobile phones under contacts.

Yes I understand all that Caraman, was referring to the issues we had with the constant alerts we were getting when the Sargent side of things in our van started failing, wouldn’t wish the tracking company ringing up others like they did us multiple times a day & in the middle of the night, just because the EC700 was acting up, my experience is enough to put me off having a tracker if it weren’t for the fact the insurance company insist upon it.

CC wrote:Yes I understand all that Caraman, was referring to the issues we had with the constant alerts we were getting when the Sargent side of things in our van started failing, wouldn’t wish the tracking company ringing up others like they did us multiple times a day & in the middle of the night, just because the EC700 was acting up, my experience is enough to put me off having a tracker if it weren’t for the fact the insurance company insist upon it.

Understood.  I haven't had those EC700 problems.  The only times I have had phone calls re the LB have been my own fault because I forgot to activate Inhibit Service when the LB was disconnected.  The same would apply if I forgot to activate Inhibit Transport when boarding a ferry or moving the van on a transporter.  In the early days I had unwelcome phone calls in the middle of the night telling me my alarm had been triggered when it hadn't.  This was due to a tracker fault after the A-S Service Centre connected my alarm to it which Sargent cleared remotely.  It wasn't anything to do with the EC700.