Vehiclepath

Sure, you can live without GPS. But would you really want to?

Kristen gets up and goes to work in her non-GPS equipped car (no anti-theft device or navigation unit). Most days this works fine. Work isn’t going anywhere, and she gets directions from MapQuest when she has to. She’d like to have a GPS anti-theft device, but thinks an investment that would cost hundreds isn’t worth protecting her $15,000 car.

For years there wasn’t a problem with Kristen’s approach…until one day.

Kristen has an interview, gets lost because of inaccurate directions, and has to stop at a gas station for help. She parks out of the way because she doesn’t need gas and, two minutes later, her car is gone for good. GPS navigation would have prevented the theft from occurring in the first place, and a GPS anti-theft device would have been able to locate and recover her beloved Mustang GT. Kristen’s friend, who does car stereo and GPS unit installs, never lets her hear the end of it.

Tito uses three vans for his flower delivery company. Because he owns a small business, Tito tries to cut costs any way he can-using 87 octane gas, limiting his employees’ overtime, etc. Unfortunately, Tito cut one too many corners when he decided against purchasing three GPS fleet tracking units from Vehiclepath.

One Friday afternoon in the middle of summer, Tito drives home one of his delivery vans. He notices the “service engine” light on and wonders why his driver didn’t report the problem. The next day he drops the van off for servicing and, later, gets a call with a huge estimate. “You need a new engine,” his mechanic clearly states.

Had Tito used a GPS fleet tracking unit like Vehiclepath, he could have seen that his driver hit 95mph on the freeway and consistently sped on surface streets without paying attention to the van’s oil level and temperature. Now, Tito needs to buy a rebuilt engine, a new one, or another vehicle for thousands of dollars.

Vehiclepath could have given Tito speed alerts so he could find a way to slow his driver down and avoid costly maintenance. Again, trying to save in the short term ending up costing big in the long run.

Will you let the same thing happen to you or your business?

How much is your car worth to you and how secure do you feel when you leave it in a parking lot?

According to FBI Uniform Crime Reports, a motor vehicle is stolen in the United States every 26.4 seconds (That’s more than 100 in the time it took me to write this seven paragraph blog!). The odds of a vehicle being stolen were 1 in 207 in 2005, and in 2006 the value of stolen motor vehicles was $7.9 billion.

GPS tracking is an excellent tool to recover stolen vehicles. But don’t take my word for it-listen to someone who has to deal with stolen vehicle reports every day.

The Chattanooga Times Free Press interviewed Chattanooga Detective Jeff Rearden after his department recovered over $1 million in stolen vehicles. (Read full article here).

“The satellite tracking ability of vehicles makes it so much easier for us to find the vehicle, because it gives us a target to shoot for,” Detective Rearden said, explaining that GPS units immediately can get him within 10 feet of a stolen car. Otherwise, he said, “it’s like hunting for a needle in a haystack.

“While satellite technology is becoming standard on many cars, police might see only one in 50 vehicles equipped with such devices, he said.

“We’d like for it to be a lot more common than it is,” the detective said. “I think it ought to be standard on any piece of equipment.”