Gents, I recently sold my 992 which I bought new. The new owner found a GPS tracker connected to the battery. The tracker
either came from the factory or the dealer. Anyone else found one in their 911?

 

Did you lease your car? I’ve heard this may be a practice with some lenders so they can track their assets. May be in the fine print?

 

Probably your wife wanted to find out where you have been going

 

She already has Find My pulled up on the big screen.

 

Installed by the dealer. Yes, lenders and lease companies typical get access to the data.
This is nothing new. GM OnStar wasn't invented to help people. It was invented to assist GM Financial recovery/repossession.

 

Back in my shop days people paid us stupid money to look for a GPS tracker. $125/hr to tear a car apart looking for one. 70% of the time nothing was there. Both men and women.

 

So 30% of the time there was?! I'd like to hear more about that!

 

Awkward and a fine line to walk. Not sure we ever checked to see what a formal legal process would be. We just checked IDs and registration. Some people had crazy ex's, some people were batch*t crazy. One guy always thought FBI and mob was after him. We did multiple vehicles of his. I thought he was more crazy than anything else. We would find nothing and people would swear it's there - they claimed same people were always at same locations as them, or an ex would always find them. If we felt legitimate we would explain other methods people can use to track (such as social media and phones). Also probably had the opposite, please install GPS tracker and hide it as best as possible. Most of what we found was probably just a buy here pay here gps tracker. I stay away from asking questions.... and if you found something they usually gave a huge tip.

 

My dealer installed a Stargard gps tracker on my new 911. I think that’s for them to keep track of their cars while in inventory. They wanted to charge me $1400 for it but I declined. They finally took off the charge. After I took the car home I saw that the tracker was still connected to the battery. I just disconnected it and threw it in the trash.

 

Old news. There is a thread on this already somewhere if someone else can find it. Most of the time it's a dealer installed device to track inventory, help avoid theft, etc. In some cases they may share info with leasing companies. And yes, can also be offered as part of a "Lojack" like theft prevention/recovery assist aftermarket sale. Net result is, once you buy the car if you don't like it, just remove it.

 

oh am interested now. where was the tracker installed? how can I check if mine has it or not.

 

I would like to know this also. I know they tried to charge me for this and I declined when picking up the car. I doubt they removed it. But, I don't see it connected to the battery. Is it somewhere in the drivers footwell ?

 

It was attached to the battery. After popping up the frunk, remove the plastic cowl covering the battery. It was just hanging on the battery. The positive wire was attached to the positive post of the battery. And the negative wire to a ground bolt nearby. $1400 for a $40 device ridiculous!

 

I'm the buyer of @joedughman's car. Pretty much the same as dmia, the tracker was attached to the +ve terminal and nearby ground bolt, but was at least velcro'd to a space next to the battery.
Brand of the tracker was Spireon and looks to be a little smaller/thinner than dmia's

 

Velcro to the battery - lol - about as lazy as the install can get.