pogotango

does the e500 have lojack or any tracking device.

rusnakmb

Hi,

The TeleAid can be act as a trace device to your insurance company.

bmms8

it has teleaid, which im sure you connected to. its free for the first year, but if someone has the ***** to steal a MB, they will do it, and its quite easy, even with teleaid. your best bet would to probably get lojack. we have it, and i believe we paid 400-500 dollars. its a lifetime system with no monthly fee. it has a tracking device in the car, and even the owner of the car doesnt know where it is. i believe they have 32 places where they put it, so a thief would have a hard time finding it. with teleaid, MB cant track it if the engine is off, if there is foil over the antenna, or if its in a led big rig or something. with teleaid im sure there are ways to get past it, but most likely the thief wont even know u have it. GL with your decision.

marksatex

LoJack isn't even tracked in San Antonio- Thus TeleAid is all we have. Truth is- I am far more worried about a theft of my Chev Suburban only 150 miles from the border. But I sure wish we did have LoJack. Wonder what Tony Soprano has on his car ?

bmms8

even without lojack, there any many gps systems just like it, im sure there is something where you live, GL

norb

Two things...

With the fragile nature of the electrical system, do you really want someone to mess with adding a hidden electronic device to it.

Second, do you really want your car back if it gets stolen?

pogotango

lol i wouldnt want it back. im just afraid that someones gonna steal my car cuz i park my car outside and i got some really nice stuff in the car. but im not too worried cuz we have laser keys, but you never know.

GDawgC220

easiest way to steal it is flatbed it. I've seen towing companies tow new MB's on flatbeds when they're in parking violations and don't put a boot on. The alarm goes off, but no one cares.

They just hook it up and pull the thing up the ramp.

GearHead

Actually, I don't think the lojack system takes juice from the car's electrical system. It has its battery that emits the signal if triggered.

In addition, if you have the Early Warning version of Lojack, if the car moves but the lojack key fob is not in the car, lojack command center will contact you through whatever means you have provided (cell phone, email, fax, page). You at that time can then determine whether your car was moved without your permission and call the police to trigger the lojack system if necessary.

I think it is a handy system and it also saves you some bucks for your insurance too.

norb

How does it know if its moving without the fob? It must have some electrical connection or the battery would not last long.

GearHead

I think the tracking device is tapped to the ignition system (I'm guessing) and if the engine is running, and the tracking device does not see the fob closeby, it will send a SOS.

Though I wasn't standing by my lojack installer when he did his work, I jumped in and out a few times and don't recall him fusing with my fuse box or battery ... thus lead me to think that the unit doesn't take juice from the car's electrical system. If may sense state changes (such as ignition) but I think that doesn't consume juice

The installer did mention that every 2 years, I should get my system checked (verify the battery state)...

Makes sense???

GDawgC220

hmm....our dealer didn't mention this

konigstiger

Tony has Pauly! Hey you're not a "transplant" from NY or NJ are you? ...First time I read mention of "the boys" on this forum.

bmms8

yea, with teleaid, the car has to be on to track it, with lojack, it is no way connected to the car. it runs on its own, and you should check it every two years, but they do charge for the service, i believe its to see if the signal is working properly.

bmms8

it is in the papers that your dealer should have gaven you. its to see if the signal is still working properly i believe, but they do charge for this procedure.

norb

Are you sure that your car has to be on for teleaid to work?

How does the lock out feature work then? If they can't control it when its off, how can they unlock it for you if you accidently leave you key inside? This is one of the features of teleaid btw.

bmms8

i think thats how it works, thats what the dealer told me, and i think its the same for onstar. but you deffinately bring up a great argument on that, im not sure how that works.

GearHead

Like the saying goes ... "nothing is free". I think Lojack charges anywhere from $39 to $69 to "verify the unit".

I got 2 different numbers from 2 different Lojack installer for my last 2 cars. I have been a Lojack customer for a long time and based upon what was said about this Early Warning System, I think it brings a lot of value because of the advance warnings with the unauthorized movement of the vehicle.

I hope this helps.

p.s. And you get discounts from some insurance companies for having this system.

GDawgC220

do you have to go to a lojack place and have them test it or can it be done at the dealership.

i'll hafta dig out those papers about lo-jack and take a look. strange why they didn't mention it to us.

bmms8

i believe u call them, and they will test it out when u give them the lojack number. yea, i dont know why your dealer didnt tell you. GL fincing the info, if you cant find it, ill try to find mine, and post what it says, gl

GDawgC220

thanks man. yea, our dealer is usually pretty good at explaining things to us at delivery...oh well, guess everyone forgets something at one point.

pogotango

Ok, so if they tow my car on a flat bed, and if they drive it to mexico, i can kiss my car goodbye plus all my dvd and stereo equip...

GDawgC220

pretty much. not that hard to flatbed it. i saw the towing dude clear out an entire street...i just watched for a few minutes taking notice of how easy it was to steal a car if you wanted to.

bmms8

well, the alarm shoud go off in an MB, because i believe it has shock sensors.

GDawgC220

Yes, it does go off when it's flatbedded. I think if you posed as a tow truck driver, no one would care. I mean, I stood around for 15-20 min and this is in a high pedestrian area...the dudes just flat bedded the cars and no one gave a sh*t...so not that hard :p