With the rash of recent 993 thefts in metropolitan areas, it brings to mind the potential for LOJACK as a solution for recovery. They have a 90% recovery rate and can usually locate the vehicle in the first 24 hours. Some owners here may not wish to divulge that they have it on board but I'm just curious if it seems like a worthwhile investment/insurance at $695 per vehicle.

 

I'm thinking of the samething, I have lo jack in all my john Deere heavy equipment, I have never have to use it but a friend of mine has, he had a job in a rough area here in Houston and when he arrived in the morning the tractor was gone , within 3 hrs they found it 4 blocks away in a house garage

 

I have had it in my 993 since purchase in 1996. Never had to use it (fortunately)

 

is it 695 every two years or does that price include lifetime monitoring?

 

I have it in my truck and had to use it. My truck was stolen from a restaurant parking lot and due to lojack, was found about 2-3 hours later across town. Without the lojack, who knows if the truck would have been recovered.

I am the second owner and it was installed by the PO. There are no fees. My understanding is that once its on, its on (at least the version I have). When your car is stolen, you give the police your VIN, they can then set up their lojack 'radios' to look for your specific signal.

 

$695 one time. Also a $300 instantaneous remote warning option if the car moves and you're not the one moving it. http://www.lojack.com/car/Pages/car.aspx

 

Any reason you can't install a GPS device that you can turn on remotely? (Like when you lose your cell phone, although obviously cell phones don't use real GPS).

 

I can tell you that when a Lojack alert is received by police units it is like a feeding frenzy to locate it. In Los Angeles the police helicopters are even equipped with Lojack locators.

 

I think you need them to replace the battery every few years at an approx cost of $100

 

Guys flying tourists in and out of the Bush, outside of Nairobi, have Lojack on their "puddle jumpers". The turn the LoJack on to supplement their incomes...

Be certain to have the battery checked every 2 years, as was mentioned above.

You certainly could track the cars position with a telephone such as the 1-Phone. Trouble is, the police use LoJack, not the "Find My Phone" feature in the Mac Cloud.

 

I had lojack on my 94 C4 widebody that was stolen a few months back and never recovered. You have to pay $99 every two years to have the unit checked out or else they don't warranty your recovery. Hope that helps.

 

I have mixed feelings about Lojack.

Many years ago my Honda Accord was stolen from my driveway. It ended up in a high speed chase and crashed. Thief got away but they found some guy a couple of block away bleeding like crazy and waiting for a bus at 3am. So they picked him up. I show up at each of his trials--acquitted for lack of evidence. He was a known car thief too and would have been deported with a conviction.

Anyhow, that experience had me out seeking revenge on the next potential thief. So when I got an S4 I had Lojack installed. At that time, I thought it would be a good way to nail the thief.

But unless you get the car back quickly it is likely to be stripped, crashed, abused, etc. Do you really want such a car back? Perhaps it would be better to take the insurance money and get a replacement.

I begged the insurance company to total my Accord and send me a check. I even had it towed to a dealer thinking they would run the bill up enough to total it. After 5 weeks of waiting and about $13k in repairs I had her back. She never held an alignment after that. Frame was bent despite attempts to straighten. Car was tainted and I didn't want her anymore. I traded her for the S4.

Just some random thoughts on Lojack. ymmv

 

gps units are the new way to go LoJack has it's limitations.

GPS is generally cheaper, and you can do more with it. Geofences, starter intrupt, the ability to track it yourself.

 

This story is why I'd rather not spend $700 plus whatever other maintenance money on any device like a LoJack. As much as I love my C4S, I'd also be OK with getting my agreed value paid by insurance company for my stolen car.

It'd be a very convenient excuse to upgrade to a 993TT, at least

 

Wasn't there a story a few years back where a Ferrari was stolen and the owner refused the insurance pay off. Then some 15 or 20 years later the Ferrari turned up and was returned to the owner. Over the years the car had substantially increased in value.

Anyway, here is some interesting LoJack facts for 2011.

http://www.autoblog.com/2012/03/15/i...-theft-report/