Read About Motoring - Vehicle Tracking Devices

Vehicle tracking companies have recovered tens of thousands of vehicles since they started up just more than a decade ago. But not only do these companies find stolen cars, their staff also apprehend and arrest criminal suspects, locate chop shops and help the police break up syndicates.

 

Altech Netstar agents caught the elusive Annanais Mathe, who was on the run after escaping from prison in December last year.

 

Tracker takes credit for 60 500 arrests and busting 170 chop shops and about 100 syndicates.

 

Some analysts say that vehicle recovery technology, as well as better policing, has been highly effective in reducing the number of car thefts.

 

But crime analyst Antony Altbeker argues that criminals who find it harder to steal cars may have turned to robbery instead, pushing up robbery statistics as car theft figures have fallen in the past 10 years.

 

Police statistics show that motor vehicle and motorcycle theft has dropped from 960 859 thefts in 2001/02 to 850 964 in 2005/06. Car-jacking has also decreased from 150 846 incidents in 2001/02 to 120 825 in 2005/06.

 

Two firms dominate the vehicle recovery industry. According to the Competition Commission, in 2005 Altech Netstar had 46% of the market and Tracker had 40%. Each company protects about 4000 000 cars, suggesting that almost one million vehicles use tracking technology.

 

There were about 7,4million vehicles on the road in 2006, according to driver safety campaign Arrive Alive.

 

Tracker and Altech Netstar report having recovered more than 300 000 vehicles each. Representatives of both companies said they had a recovery rate of roughly 85%.


Compare Car Insurance Quotes

Our trusted partners