It knows whether it is you
Two driver recognition tags come with it. Carry one and the car moving is normal. Move without one and that alone is enough to raise the alarm, which is the part a basic tracker cannot do.
Meta Trak S5 VTS
The one insurers ask for by name
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Thatcham category S5 approved
Thatcham category S5, monitored around the clock, with two driver recognition tags so the system knows the difference between you taking the car and somebody else taking it.
- Thatcham S5
- GPS tracking
- 4G
- Driver tags
- 24/7 monitoring
- Tow detection
- Backup battery
- Jamming alerts
- Fitted at your home or work
- No subcontractors, ever
- Thatcham S5 approved
What the S5 VTS actually does
The S5 is the specification most insurers have in mind when they write "Thatcham approved tracker" into a policy on a higher value car. What separates it from a basic tracker is driver recognition: two small tags come with it, and the system checks whether one is present whenever the vehicle moves. A car setting off without a tag is not an ambiguous event that somebody has to interpret, it is an alert in its own right.
It is monitored rather than self managed. That distinction is the whole product. A cheap tracker puts a dot on your phone and leaves you to notice it, which in practice means at seven the next morning. Behind the S5 there is a control room staffed around the clock, every day of the year. They see the vehicle move, they ring you to check it is not simply you, and if it is not, they work with the police while the car is still moving.
The unit carries its own backup power, so cutting the vehicle battery does not silence it, and it raises an alert if somebody starts blocking the GPS or mobile signal rather than simply going quiet. Day to day you get the app: where the vehicle is, where it has been, geo-fenced areas you can be told about, and modes for when the car is in for a service or being transported.
What can the S5 VTS do?
Somebody is actually watching
A staffed control room, day and night, all year. Not a notification sent to a phone that is face down on a bedside table at three in the morning.
They deal with the police
The control room liaises with the police directly while the vehicle is moving. That is a very different conversation from ringing 101 yourself and reading out coordinates.
Cutting the battery does not help
The unit has its own backup power, so disconnecting the vehicle battery does not make it go quiet. Signal jamming raises an alert too, rather than simply looking like a lost connection.
Every journey on a map
Journey history, driving scores and geo-fenced areas you can be told about. Useful if you lend the car out, and useful for a van that somebody else drives.
Modes for real life
Service mode for when it is at the garage, privacy mode, and transport mode for when the vehicle is legitimately being moved on a truck. Without those, honest events look like thefts.
Is the S5 VTS right for you?
Worth it for
Higher value vehicles, and anybody whose insurer has asked for an S5 in writing. Also worth it on a van or a car somebody else drives, where knowing who is moving it matters as much as where it is.
Probably not for
Anybody who wants the theft prevented rather than solved. The VTS does its work after the vehicle has gone, and it carries a subscription for as long as you want it watched. If you want the car stopped as well as found, the S5 Deadlock Pro is the same tracking with immobilisation on top.
Not sure which side of that you fall on? Tell us the make, model and year and what you are actually worried about, and we will tell you straight, including when the cheaper option is the right answer.
Ask us about your carFull specification
Everything the S5 VTS is capable of. Ask us which parts actually matter on your vehicle, and what your insurer has asked for.
Approval and monitoring
- Thatcham category S5 approved
- Monitored 24 hours a day, every day of the year
- Control room liaison with the police during a recovery
- Subscription required for monitoring
Detection and alerts
- Movement without an authorised driver tag
- Tow away detection
- Tamper alerts
- Battery disconnection alerts
- Low vehicle battery warning
- GPS and mobile signal blocking alerts
- Geo-fence breach alerts
Hardware
- Two Automatic Driver Recognition tags supplied
- Internal backup battery
- 4G connection, UK and European coverage
- GPS positioning
The app
- iOS, Android and a web portal
- Live vehicle location
- Journey history, 30 days deep
- Driving scores and behaviour reporting
- Custom geo-fenced zones
- More than one vehicle on the same account
- Service, privacy and transport modes
Specification per the manufacturer. Hardware and app features vary between revisions, so we will confirm what applies to yours before fitting.
Professionally installed by Securacar
The S5 VTS is only as good as the install
The box is the same wherever you buy it. What changes is where it ends up in the car and how cleanly it is wired in, and that is the part a thief actually has to beat. It is most of what you are paying us for, so it is worth saying plainly.
On the Meta Trak S5 VTS: the unit and its aerial need a position with enough sky to work reliably and enough awkwardness that somebody sweeping the vehicle does not find it in the first minute. Those two requirements pull against each other, and resolving them on your particular vehicle is the whole job. We do not publish the usual hiding places for obvious reasons.
Fitted where you are
At your home or your workplace, across the North West. You hand the keys over at the start and get on with your day.
Hidden properly
The first thing a thief does is look for the unit. Where it goes is decided on your car, on the day, not copied from a diagram.
Shown how it works
Before we leave, you use it yourself with us stood there. Nobody drives off unsure which button does what.
TASSA approved
We are TASSA approved installers, which is a check on the people doing the work rather than on the box. It is the accreditation that exists precisely because a good system fitted badly is not a good system.
We are here afterwards
Questions a week later, or a year later, get answered. You are dealing with the person who fitted it, not a call centre.
Booking it
What happens if you go ahead
Four steps, no showroom visit and no deposit taken over the internet. Most people are booked in within a couple of minutes of picking up the phone.
- 01
Tell us the car
Make, model and year, by phone, WhatsApp or the form below. We confirm the S5 VTS is right for your vehicle before anything is booked, and we will say so if it is not.
- 02
We price it for your car
No two vehicles are the same job, so you get a price for yours rather than a figure off a list. It is the price you pay, and nothing is booked until you are happy with it.
- 03
We come to you
At your home or your workplace, at a time that suits you, anywhere across the North West. You hand the keys over at the start and get on with your day.
- 04
You use it before we leave
We set it up with you, then watch you use it yourself. Nobody drives away unsure which button does what, and we are still here a year later if you have a question.
S5 VTS: worth knowing
The detail, if you want it
What does Thatcham category S5 mean?+
It is the specification that adds driver recognition to tracking. An S7 knows where the vehicle is; an S5 also knows whether an authorised driver is present, through a tag you carry. That makes the vehicle moving without a tag an alert in its own right rather than something a human has to interpret. Our full explanation is here.
Why do the tags matter so much?+
Because they remove the ambiguity. Without them, every movement looks the same and somebody has to guess whether it is you. With them, the system can act on a car setting off without an authorised driver immediately, which is exactly the minute that decides whether a vehicle comes back.
What does the control room actually do?+
They watch, they verify and they escalate. When something looks wrong they ring you first, because most alerts turn out to be a partner borrowing the car. If it is genuine, they work with the police and pass location and direction while the vehicle is still moving. That coordination is the part you cannot replicate yourself.
What if somebody cuts the battery or jams the signal?+
The unit has its own backup power, so cutting the vehicle battery does not silence it. Signal blocking raises an alert rather than simply looking like a dropped connection. Neither is a guarantee, and anybody claiming a tracker cannot be defeated is overselling, but both remove the easiest routes.
How do I check this satisfies my policy?+
Send us the exact wording your insurer used. Categories and approvals are specific, and the difference between what a policy says and what somebody remembers it saying is where claims come apart. We have written up how to read insurer wording if you want to understand it yourself first.
Meta Trak S5 VTS questions
What does Thatcham category S5 actually mean?+
Thatcham Research test and categorise vehicle security for the insurance industry. S7 is asset tracking: it tells you where the vehicle is. S5 adds driver recognition, so the system also knows whether an authorised driver is present and can treat movement without one as an alert. When an insurer writes S5 into a policy, that is the scheme they are pointing at.
What happens if my car is actually stolen?+
The control room sees it move without a tag, or picks up one of the other alerts. They ring you first to rule out the obvious, because most alerts turn out to be somebody's partner borrowing the car. If it is genuinely a theft, they work with the police to recover it while the vehicle is still moving, which is the window that matters.
Can a thief block the signal?+
They can try, and jammers do exist. The S5 raises an alert when it detects blocking rather than simply falling silent, which means an interrupted signal is itself information. It is a genuine limitation of every tracker though, and it is the reason we describe a tracker as a recovery plan rather than a security plan.
What if I forget to carry the tag?+
You get an alert saying the tag was not found, and the control room begins watching rather than immediately treating it as a theft. It is designed around the assumption that people are human. If it happens constantly we will talk about where you keep the tag.
Does it work abroad?+
UK and European coverage is included as standard, so taking the car to France or Spain does not leave it unwatched. Tell us if you regularly travel further than that and we will check before you commit.
Is there a subscription with the S5 VTS?+
Yes, and there has to be. The subscription pays for the staffed control room watching the vehicle and the recovery service behind it, not for the box itself. We will tell you what it costs before you commit to anything, and we will tell you honestly if a monitored system is more than you actually need.
Will the S5 VTS fit my vehicle?+
Almost certainly. Trackers are far less fussy about make and model than an alarm is, because they are not talking to the car's own systems in the same way. Send us the make, model and year and we will confirm before you commit to anything.
Where do you fit it?+
At your home or your workplace, anywhere across the North West. You hand over the keys at the start, we show you how the app works at the end, and you get on with your day in between.
Arrange a callback
Tell us what you drive, where you are, and what your insurer has asked for. We will come back to you the same day where we can.
Thanks, that is with us
We will ring you back shortly. If it is urgent, give us a call and we will pick up.
More on trackers
- Meta Trak S5 Deadlock ProIt gets the car back, and stops it going in the first place
- ScorpionTrack S7Monitored recovery, without paying for what you will not use
- Meta Trak S7Monitored recovery, with an app built around how the car is actually driven
- ScorpionTrack S5-VTSDriver recognition and UK monitoring, from Scorpion
- ScorpionTrack S5+Driver recognition, monitored tracking, and the car will not start without the tag
- ScorpionTrack S7 + X-Series ImmobiliserS7 tracking for recovery, the X-Series immobiliser for prevention
- Meta Trak S5 DeadlockNo tag, no start, without paying for the OBD port protection you may not need
- What a tracker is, and is notThe plain English version, before you choose a unit
We fit the S5 VTS across Liverpool, Manchester, Wirral, Cheshire, Warrington, Chester and the rest of the North West. Call 07841 331441 or message us on WhatsApp.