You've decided to take the next step, you've purchased the device, but you don't know where to hide it for effective use in the event of theft. In this article, we'll look at where to hide a GPS car tracker inside your vehicle, exploring important considerations for your safety.
If your goal is to protect your car against theft and increase the chances of recovering it afterward, we'll assume that you've obtained a tracker with either a magnetic base or cables to connect to the power system (battery). These are currently the only ones that can be effectively hidden inside your vehicle. For this use, we DO NOT RECOMMEND OBD trackers or generic "all-purpose" ones.
With a magnetic base:
Starting with devices that have a magnetic base, it's easy to understand that they can be hidden practically anywhere, as long as there is enough space and a metal surface where they can be installed.
Where should you hide it? The most difficult places to reach are: underneath the car, but far enough away that simply "reaching out" your arm won't be enough to find it, or inside the bodywork.
For this reason, we also recommend getting help from a mechanic—with a lift, of course—so you can reach the least accessible areas of the car.
We know you're probably turning up your nose... when the tracker's battery runs out, you also have to retrieve it and put it on charge. It's too inconvenient. This is why most people install the device in obvious, easy-to-reach places. Guess what? If it was easy for you, it will probably be easy for the thief too.
But you want to find a way to recover your car if it were stolen, right? There is a small precaution you can take to feel more "at ease".
The latest-generation trackers have several operating modes for managing battery life and, in short, allow you to choose between continuous tracking that uses more battery power (30 days on average) or tracking at a very low frequency (one position per hour) that saves a great deal of power and can last for months.
So what's the point of all this? If your goal is to protect your car from theft, and you don't particularly care about seeing every movement down to the millisecond, the best solution is to take your GPS tracker, put it in power-saving mode, and hide it in the most remote recesses of your car. Depending on the settings, there is a good chance that the battery will last for months (depending on its size), which means you'll only need to put the car on a lift a few times a year.
*WARNING: these are indicative values, and tracking times vary depending on the tracker model, battery, and battery-management configuration. Contact the manufacturer's customer service for support and information on the correct setup.
With cables:
Now let's move on to the second type of GPS car tracker, the one installed using power cables. These devices are usually very thin, easy to hide, and don't need to be recharged—even though they often have a small internal battery.
Let's first look at where NOT to install it. We advise against connecting it directly to the positive and negative terminals of the battery. It's too easy to find because the cables running from the battery directly to the tracker are visible.
The safer alternative is to connect the cables to the car's ignition system. This means reaching the positive and negative cables inside the dashboard and doing your best to hide the tracker, securing it with adhesive tape and cable ties so that it cannot come loose under any circumstances. Naturally, we recommend getting help from your trusted mechanic/auto electrician.
*WARNING: thieves know very well where to look, and in any case, the underside of the steering wheel is always opened to check for connections. We recommend installing the device in places that are truly difficult to reach. If it's difficult for you, it will be difficult for others too.
Taking stock of the situation, we can immediately see that each device has its pros and cons. One is extremely easy to hide in the most remote corners, making it practically impossible to find, but then you have to go back and retrieve it to recharge it. The other is installed just once and stays there forever... but is a little easier to find. We trust that this article has given you some additional tools to help you hide your GPS tracker as effectively as possible.
Our solution:
All our devices are preconfigured and equipped with a global SIM card already installed, with 5 years of tracking included, allowing you to view the location in real time without a monthly subscription: