Car tracker subscriptions explained

Short answer: with a professionally fitted tracker you pay once for the unit and the fitting, then a subscription for as long as you want the vehicle monitored. The subscription buys a staffed control room watching the vehicle around the clock, police liaison if it is stolen, and the app. The total depends on the system, the Thatcham category your insurer wants and the contract, and we tell you all of it before you commit.

We do not publish prices, for trackers or for anything else, because every job is quoted per vehicle. What we can do is explain how the cost is put together, so you know what you are paying for and what to ask.

What the subscription actually pays for

Not the box. The unit on your car is paid for once, along with the fitting. The subscription pays for the service behind it.

People who are awake. A staffed control room watches the vehicle day and night, every day of the year. When something looks wrong, they ring you first, because most alerts turn out to be a partner borrowing the car.

Police liaison. If it is a genuine theft, the control room works with the police while the vehicle is still moving. They pass on location and direction. That is a very different conversation from you ringing 101 and reading out coordinates.

The app. Live location, journey history, geo-fenced areas you can be told about, and modes for when the car is at a garage or on a transporter. On the Meta Trak units, UK and European coverage is included as standard.

It is required. Every monitored tracker we fit lists the subscription as required for monitoring. Without it, the part that gets cars back is not there.

Monitored or self-managed

There are cheap self-tracking devices online, and some have no subscription at all. It is worth being honest about what they are.

A self-managed device puts a dot on your phone and leaves the rest to you. If the car goes at three in the morning, you find out when you wake up. Then you are the one ringing the police with a location.

A monitored system has the control room behind it. The car moving when it should not is picked up straight away, checked with you, and passed to the police while the trail is still warm.

For keeping an eye on a caravan or a trailer, a self-managed device may be all you need. But it will not satisfy an insurer who has asked for an approved system, and nobody is watching it at four in the morning. If a monitored system is more than you need, we will say so.

S5 and S7, briefly

Insurers describe what they will accept using Thatcham categories, and the two you will see are S7 and S5.

S7 is asset tracking. It knows where the vehicle is.

S5 adds driver recognition, through a small tag you carry. The vehicle moving without a tag is an alert in its own right, so the control room can act without waiting for you to notice.

Your insurer decides which they want. Our guide to Category S5 covers the difference properly, and this one explains how to read insurer wording.

What alerts each system gives

Every tracker we fit raises alerts, but not the same ones. This table shows what each model’s specification lists. “Ask us” means it is not in the specification we hold, not that the unit cannot do it. We would rather check than guess.

Model	Movement alert	Towing	Battery cut	Signal blocking	Stops the engine
Meta Trak S5 VTS	Moved without your tag	Yes	Yes	Yes	No
Meta Trak S5 Deadlock	Moved without your tag	Ask us	Yes	Yes	No tag, no start; block from the app
Meta Trak S5 Deadlock Pro	Moved without your tag	Yes	Yes	Yes	No tag, no start; block from the app; OBD port protection
Meta Trak S7	Unusual movement	Ask us	Yes	Ask us	No
ScorpionTrack S7	Unusual movement	Ask us	Low battery warning	Ask us	No
ScorpionTrack S5-VTS	Moved without your tag	Ask us	Ask us	Ask us	No
ScorpionTrack S5+	Moved without your tag	Ask us	Ask us	Ask us	No tag, no start; control centre can immobilise once a theft is confirmed
ScorpionTrack S7 + X-Series	Unusual movement	Ask us	Low battery warning	Ask us	Separate X-Series immobiliser, your own code

Geo-fence alerts, telling you when the vehicle enters or leaves an area you have set, are listed on every model. None of these systems will cut the engine at speed. Immobilisation is about stopping a car being started or driven away, and a remote block on a stolen car is coordinated with the police.

What changes the total cost

The category. An S5 system carries driver recognition that an S7 does not. If your insurer has asked for S7, you do not need to pay for an S5.

The model. Within a category, systems differ. The S5 Deadlock and Deadlock Pro add immobilisation to the tracking, and the Pro adds OBD port protection on top. The S5+ builds immobilisation into the ScorpionTrack unit. More capability usually means more cost.

Extras you may already have. If you are fitting a Ghost or a Pandora alarm, you may already have the prevention side covered, and a plain tracker does the recovery side for less. If you want both, our Synergy packages pair a Pandora alarm with a tracker.

Whether your insurer names a system. Some insurers, and some manufacturer schemes, name a brand or an approval. That narrows the choice and settles it.

The contract. Ask how long the subscription term is, how it is paid, and whether it renews on its own. We will go through that with you before anything is ordered.

Our wider guide to what affects the cost of vehicle security covers the fitting side.

The best tracker for getting a car back

There is no single best model. There are a few things that matter far more than the badge.

It should be monitored. The minutes after a car is taken decide whether it comes back. A control room acting on an alert beats you noticing in the morning.

It should match your policy. If your insurer asks for S5, fit an S5. An S7 will not satisfy that wording, and finding out at claim time is the worst moment.

It should be hidden well. The unit and its aerial need enough sky to report and enough concealment to survive somebody sweeping the car. Those two pull against each other, and resolving them on your vehicle is most of what you pay a fitter for.

It should be honest about its limits. A tracker is a recovery tool. It does its work after the car has gone. If you want the theft stopped, look at a tracker with immobilisation, or an immobiliser alongside it. Whether it lowers your premium is a separate question, covered here.

If you sell the car or stop paying

Selling the car. The Meta Trak S5 Deadlock and S5 Deadlock Pro are fully transferable to your next vehicle. On the S5 Deadlock there is a labour charge to move and recommission it, and we sort the timing when you sell. For the other models, ask us before you buy.

Stopping the subscription. Monitoring needs the subscription. If you stop paying, ask what happens to the app and the control room cover on your particular system, and check whether your insurer still treats the car as protected. If your policy requires a tracker, letting the subscription lapse could matter far more than the saving.

Getting the full cost

Tell us the make, model and year of the vehicle, and send us your insurer’s exact wording if they have asked for a tracker. We will tell you which Thatcham approved trackers meet it and give you the full cost, unit, fitting and subscription, before you commit to anything. We do not offer finance, and we will tell you honestly if a monitored system is more than you need.