Lojack for classic cars? Costs/is it possible/etc?

[SadbutTrue]

How much does it cost to install Lojack on your car? Can it even be done with classic cars?

I'm aware they stick some sort of chip on the car, but I'm not sure if it requires a modern computer controlled engine or if you just wire up a chip somewhere on the car that is tracked via gps or something. Anyone with knowledge on the subject... chime in

 

[hhead]

Back a few years, I inquired. You needed to take it to a dealer, as they HIDE the GPS unit somewhere in the car. Not letting you know where.
The cost was the same as a new car install, $600.
I would be worried about battery drain. I never did install one.

 

[Cobra ssc]

A friend of mine had it installed on his car and he paid $1000 last year.

 

[SadbutTrue]

Back a few years, I inquired. You needed to take it to a dealer, as they HIDE the GPS unit somewhere in the car. Not letting you know where.
The cost was the same as a new car install, $600.
I would be worried about battery drain. I never did install one.

Is there a monthly charge on top of that? Or is it a one-time investment? Wouldn't be a terrible deal if it works well for $600, and I drive my car enough that it shouldn't kill the battery...

 

[hhead]

I guess it's up to $1000 like cobra ssc said. I don't believe it's a monthly charge. They just turn it on when you call up it's stolen. The nice thing was, they did outfit a majority of the police departments with tracking units!
I don't drive mine more than 1 or 2 thousand miles a year, so I didn't think it was worth it.
I installed kill switch,battery disconnect, hood locks, and the visual steering wheel lock.
I don't leave it out of my sight for long.

 

[suki243]

Nvm

 

[68EFIvert]

I have been looking into lojack as well. They offer two systems. One cost $695 and the other is $995. They don't have a monthly fee and instillation takes about an hour. Your car has to be fully put together before they will install it. The extra $300 will notify you within 15-30 minutes via phone call that your car has been stolen. The system works off a pad on your key chain. If the car starts and drives away without the keypad in the car the lojack is triggered and calls the cops.

I am looking at getting the $995 version and also an alarm that tells people " you are to close to the car please step away". I would use the alarm only because I have a convertible and it is very expensive to replace the tops. An extra deterrent for a joy rider.

 

[66HertzClone]

Here is another alternative, GPS

Cheap compared to the Lojack and as a plus you can move it from car to car should you ever want to "keep your eye" on someone.

 

[hhead]

I have been looking into lojack as well. They offer two systems. One cost $695 and the other is $995. They don't have a monthly fee and instillation takes about an hour. Your car has to be fully put together before they will install it.

I always thought it was kind of funny that they would try to hide it. Thus the car being fully together. Let's see, behind the dash somewhere??
There's not too many hidden places in our classics!

 

[68EFIvert]

Here is another alternative, GPS

Cheap compared to the Lojack and as a plus you can move it from car to car should you ever want to "keep your eye" on someone.

Initial cost is lower but with monthly service plans starting at $20 and going up to $90 it makes it very expensive for the long haul. AFter looking at the details I think the Lojack looks inexpensive.

 

[SadbutTrue]

Here is another alternative, GPS

Cheap compared to the Lojack and as a plus you can move it from car to car should you ever want to "keep your eye" on someone.

How good is the police participation and response to these systems (particularly the GPS one you just mentioned... I'd be worried my local PD couldn't do anythign with it if I signed up for it since its a less-known brand)?

Also, is considered something you can act on? Use in court? Etc? Can you get on a website that shows the gps location of your car? Or do you have to depend on the cops responding fast enough? Basically, if you know of someone who has had experience with the system... share

It would suck to have the thing installed and then call up your PD only to hear 'our department policy is that we don't support Lojack'...

 

[hhead]

Yes, but Lojack did outfit the majority of metropolitan PD's with the tracking units for free. Kinda of like a goodwill gesture, as well as a marketing tool.
They were on Cops: LA beat or whatever, and showed on air how the tracking unit worked. Very impressive.
On the other units, I would be worried about participation by the PD's as you said.

 

[coolblue65]

Typically your state police/highway partol cars have lojack, local/metro is hit or mis, sheriffs as well. My father is a retired police detective and he said Lojack is the only way that you will ever find your car if it gets stolen.

Also, he used to always say as well that no matter what you do, if they want to 'steal' your car they will, the only thing alarms and kill switches do is to prevent punk joyriders.

 

[suki243]

Hmm with that info I'm reconsidering it, just have to "complete" the car

 

[66HertzClone]

Initial cost is lower but with monthly service plans starting at $20 and going up to $90 it makes it very expensive for the long haul. AFter looking at the details I think the Lojack looks inexpensive.

That was the first one I found, here is another one $225 and no monthly fee. Tracker option 2

 

[Pakrat]

I came to the determination a long time ago that if someone want's a car bad enough they will get it and all you can hope for is that if it seems to be too much trouble (as nothing is fool proof) that hopefully they will move on to one that seems like less trouble. That said even though my car is almost never out of my sight I take all the simple and cheap precautions like a battery disconnect, fuel cutoff switch, fake coil wire etc.. and I also took the below logo and printed out my own window stickers for free. If the warning or fear of LoJack does not deter them then neither will the real thing.

Honestly sometimes I think that if your car is stolen and you do hope to get it back (joy rider vs. chop shop) that you actually want to make it easier than harder to take just so they minimize the damage they do to it. The thought of getting my car back with keyed paint, ripped seats, broken glass, abused eng8ine and tranny and a big chunk of human feces in the glove box and then having to hope you get enough insurance to get it back to the way it was and then actually doing it doesn't quite seem as appealing as just getting a big fat check and finding a replacement car and starting over no matter what the personal attachment.

 

[iskwezm]

I used to install Teltrack, that thing was a joke.On a cludy day or if the car was indoors, it couldnt be found.We has Lo Jack come to out Mustang meeting and we were offered the unit for $300.00 as a group.The unit from DEI works pretty good allowing real time tracking from home.

We might start distributing a new line of tracking devices in the next mionth or so.

 

[SadbutTrue]

A $600 one-time charge is not a big deal, if you plan on keeping your car a long time and want peace of mind. You're right in that if the basic countermeasures don't stop a thief, LoJack (or anything else) won't either... but if the cops know exactly where your car is and actually take advantage of that information, its almost hard to imagine them not recovering it...

Over time, police participation in the leading brand will probably only get better. Those other brands though... each PD can only train its peeps to check so many different systems before it becomes impractical and they say 'nah brah.'

 

[edgars23]

LoJack is the way to go. When my car is complete, I will definitely get a LoJack system, most likely the $995 system as I would want to be notified immediately if someone took my car. That way I can place the report immediately with the local police.
We have the system on my wife's car and have not had to pay anything more than the one time setup fee. Helps bring your insurance price down too.
-Edgar

 

[pdh098]

LoJack

My son works for lojack, no monthly charge and it very small ,easy to hide, only 2 wires.