What a tracker actually costs to run

Tracking is a monthly per-vehicle subscription. It covers the SIM data, the platform, cloud storage and the iOS and Android apps, and viewing your own history costs nothing extra. We quote per fleet rather than publish a rate, because fleet size, contract length and install type all move it.

The device is the other part. A plug-in OBD unit you fit yourself costs less to get running than a hardwired install, because a hardwired install involves one of our auto-electricians and about an hour of their time. Which one you want depends less on budget than on the vehicle. Plug-in suits a car you might sell, or a rental. Hardwired suits a van that stays in the business and anything where you want the unit out of sight.

Contracts run monthly or annually. Annual is cheaper per month. Monthly costs more but you can stop.

Two things that are genuinely free and often assumed not to be. Adding vehicles to an account does not change the per-vehicle price at small numbers. And history is kept for the whole contracted period at no extra cost, which is what you need when a customer disputes a job from eight months ago.

Two things that cost more and should be said plainly. Immobilisation needs a hardwired install, so it is not available on the cheapest setup. And BLE sensors for temperature or door state are extra hardware per vehicle.

For a private car owner tracking one vehicle, the honest position is that the monthly cost is small and the main value is knowing where the car is. For a business running four vans, the numbers that pay for it are idle time and disputed jobs, not theft.