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Dealer-Installed GPS Tracker Leads To Kidnapper's Arrest in Maryland
New submitter FarnsworthG writes A news story about the capture of a kidnapper mentioned that he was caught because a car dealer had secretly installed a GPS device on his car. Apparently this is becoming common for "buy-here-pay-here" dealers. The devices are sold by Spireon, among many others. Raises interesting privacy questions. FarnsworthG also points to this Jalopnik article condemning the practice, when it's done without disclosure. The kidnapping itself, of Philadelphia nursing assistant Carlesha Freeland-Gaither, was captured by a surveillance camera.
I think this is a pretty shady practice, don't get me wrong, but it's not quite as "secretly" as the summary made it out to be.
In the article is the statement:
"McDougall said the customer is required to sign a form acknowledging there's a GPS unit in their vehicle. If the car buyer tries to remove it, the dealer is alerted."
Thus it seems likely maybe the perp was informed about the tracking device.
Now the task is to find a hole deep and dark enough for this vile predator.
And if we allowed the police to search our homes, cars, and persons on a daily basis, a whole lot more criminals would be caught. I'm glad a scumbag was caught before something worse happened, but let's not pretend that one positive outcome justifies personal tracking, stops-and-frisks, and other countless increases in violations of unreasonable search and seizure in our society.
Just think of all of the crimes we can prevent or solve, if we place the entire American population in prison camps, with 24/7 monitoring, restricted movement, restricted access to information, and public displays of punitive punishment.
Why is this not being done? Won't someone please think of the children?
North Korea has show the world the way to the future, with our increasing plutocratic societies in the west with decreasing human rights.
Informative? Seriously? It's not just "the left" that is concerned with privacy, and desiring privacy has nothing to do with wanting criminals to escape.
Without freedom, we are nothing, even if we had money. I don't care how 'prosperous' a certain country is; if it's not free, then it's worthless to me.
If you want the rights of ownership, buy the freaking car or have a non-"dog-shit" credit score and be able to get a loan from a bank.
This guy DID NOT own the car.
He was making payments on it with a "Buy Here, Pay Here" lender --- these people finance high risk loans no one else will do and have restrictive terms as a result.
There was so offense against anyone's rights here.
He had horrific credit so had to do "Buy Here, Pay Here" --- which is better than "having to hoof it".
If you want full property rights, you need to actually purchase the property.
Priest: "Universe from nothing, no laws of physics, sped up time"+ huge discrepancies. Creationism? No. Big Bang Theory
That does not make it a good idea. That this makes the news just shows how exceedingly rare such a "success" is. With sane laws, a practice like this would send the dealer to prison for a few years.
Most ACs are not even worth the keystrokes to insult them. Be generically insulted by this and ignored otherwise.
There are only so many places where always-on 12V power could be tapped into, and it wouldn't be that difficult for an electronics nerd to figure out what circuit the draw is on by doing a DC amperage test at the fuse panel(s), or to check the few places that could tap into the wiring harness before the fuse panel.
If I didn't find something starting there, I'd pull the front kick-panels, the glove compartment liner, and the lower dash knee bolster on the driver's side, and look for things that don't seem right. Since there are only so many ways to tap into a wire quickly and cheaply, they'd probably use quickconnects of some kind and those would stand out relative to factory wiring. Behind the A-pillars, I'd check the wiring for the trunk light. Just about everything else is switched.
On a really modern vehicle it's even worse in some ways (for the person hiding an accessory) because just about everything, both switches and devices, runs back to the body control module, so one can't really tap off of any of that stuff and must go back to the fuse panel.
Do not look into laser with remaining eye.
There are only so many places where always-on 12V power could be tapped into
Why always-on? The GPS devices only to squawk their location info periodically, and it's not likely to change if they vehicle is turned off. Usually though, you'll an obdii port splitter used, which means the unit is tucked under the dash somewhere on the drivers side.
The suspect knew the vehicle was being tracked as he signed a document stating that fact. He just forgot that fact when he kidnapped someone.
I used to work for a company that tracked vehicle fleets. Every driver knew his truck was tracked yet a driver was convicted of murder when his truck was logged near the site where the ex-girlfriend was last seen and near where her body was found. Another vehicle, different client, was noticed stopped far from it's route in a bad neighborhood. The police were sent and the driver was found selling product out of the back of the vehicle.
People are stupid.
PS. I have no problem with installing the tracker with the knowledge of the purchaser.
...Any such devices like this would be removed from any car I buy...
Agreed! But the key work here is 'buy' - the implication being you buy it outright, and are the owner.
On the other hand, if you are financing through the dealer, the RO (registered owner) is the dealer, not you.
If you look at the Spireon tracking company's site, it states the purpose of the tracker:
"Like auto dealers, vehicle finance companies are turning to GPS vehicle tracking in order to offer loans to subprime buyers while minimizing their risk."
For those of us who don't know, or those of us who aren't in the states if this is a USA thing, what's a "buy-here-pay-here" dealer?
How is it different from any other dealer?
They specialize in selling cars to people who can't really afford them. Their customers are considered high risk and can't get credit elsewhere, so they charge high interest rates. When said people fall behind on their payments, they repossess the cars and sell them again to someone else. It's not uncommon for a dealer to sell the same used car 5 or 6 times. It's a fairly dodgy business model.
I don't care if it's 90,000 hectares. That lake was not my doing.
It's already offered as an option for those who are willing to sacrifice their privacy for access to preferential pricing.
Rates go down when insurance companies can reduce risk. The ability to monitor things like driving speeds can do that.
Mandatory compliance is probably a decade or so away.
Who would mandate this compliance? The state can not as it would be considered unreasonable search as has been shown in a few recent court cases. Some insurance companies may but there will always be at least one who will not. There will always be a customer base who prioritize privacy over rates and there will always be at least one company to serve that client base.
...Any such devices like this would be removed from any car I buy...
Agreed! But the key work here is 'buy' - the implication being you buy it outright, and are the owner.
On the other hand, if you are financing through the dealer, the RO (registered owner) is the dealer, not you.
Not quite true. The seller has a lean on the vehicle but you are the owner. If the dealer was still the legal one that could open them up for liability in the event of an accident, etc.
I'm a consultant - I convert gibberish into cash-flow.
There are only so many places where always-on 12V power could be tapped into, and it wouldn't be that difficult for an electronics nerd to figure out what circuit the draw is on by doing a DC amperage test at the fuse panel(s), or to check the few places that could tap into the wiring harness before the fuse panel. If I didn't find something starting there, I'd pull the front kick-panels, the glove compartment liner, and the lower dash knee bolster on the driver's side, and look for things that don't seem right. Since there are only so many ways to tap into a wire quickly and cheaply, they'd probably use quickconnects of some kind and those would stand out relative to factory wiring. Behind the A-pillars, I'd check the wiring for the trunk light. Just about everything else is switched. On a really modern vehicle it's even worse in some ways (for the person hiding an accessory) because just about everything, both switches and devices, runs back to the body control module, so one can't really tap off of any of that stuff and must go back to the fuse panel.
So, tell me something, after you've disabled the smoke alarm and lit up your cigarette, how do you plan on leaving the smoke-filled bathroom to get back to your plane seat unnoticed?
Point here is just about anyone is smart enough to find a GPS tracking device and disable it. The hard part here is explaining to the company you signed a legal document with why you disabled it.
Of course, that would be after they repo their "malfunctioning unit" back.
Good luck.
Eh, this depends on whether your state subscribes to Title Theory or Lien Theory.
Correct! But either way the financing dealer could:
A. Attach the GPS to protect his/her property (Title)
B. Attach the GPS to secure his/her loan collateral (Lien)
(Here, I admit I haven't read through a car finance contract, but...) I imagine they could stipulate the GPS as part of the loan terms.
I'm sure it makes repo'ing easier.
A car's radio antenna doesn't work at GPS frequencies. That's why cars with GPS always have a separate antenna for it.
You license them until the vendor decides you don't anymore.
The lien holder is different from the owner. The owner owns the car and can do what ever he wants with it. The lien holder is just that, a finance company who holds legal rights to take the vehicle back if it's not paid for. While the lien holders hold the Title of the car, the owner is the registered owner at the DMV and for all other purposes.
If you are still making payments on a car, as the owner, you still have the right to modify the car however you wish. If you want to paint the car, fix it up to make it faster, add new stereo equipment, whatever, you can and don't need permission from the Lien holder. If the Lien holder were the actual owner, you would need permission from them to do this.
This is also why a lien holder can't just report the car as stolen if they want it back, they have the right to repo it back, but they can't just file a police report and say the car hasn't been paid for and therefore is stolen. If they could, I'm sure they would do this as it would be easier and cheaper for them to have the police track it down as a stolen car then hire repo men to find it and get it back. But they don't.
Are you describing a situation where the car isn't paid for yet, or are you trying to tell me that if I pay in full for a new car, I still don't actually own it?
This topic was within the context of "rent to own" type purchases or contracts where someone would legitimately place a GPS device in your car, in which you were describing all of the ways to find and disable or destroy it.
If you're having to dig through a personally owned vehicle to search for unauthorized or unknown tracking devices, well I'd say you certainly have bigger issues than predatory lenders and fine print.
How they work is the are hidden under the dash, usually with a Y cable running off the OBD2 port just for the power feed. Just plug and play, about a 5 minute install. The devices cost around $100. For a bit more you can get one with a battery back-up, so if the car is left abandoned, it will signal the dealer the vehicle battery is now dead and here is the location. usually once a day (often 23 hours apart) they send their location, so after a few weeks you know the car's typical location day and night.
Many times the customer is not told at all. It's still a grey area if this is legal since the car is property of the dealer. Once the car is paid off the device (and monthly service charge) is disabled. If the customer is told, it's not made clear what the device is used for. There will be a line in the sales contract saying - your vehicle may include an anti-theft device - That's all. What's not said is the anti-theft device only benefits the dealer, and will be used so the repoman can come pick up your car.
In the dealer defense, buy here - pay here customers are the bottom of the credit barrel and no big name dealer would touch them. They will have 1 or more repossessions, maybe 5 or more accounts in collections, a bunch more of charged off accounts they just gave up on and maybe an eviction from their last apartment. So the dealer knows they don't like to pay for things they buy. There is only about a 50% chance they will actually pay off the car they are buying.
That works against a crude audio bug which is transmitting continuously at a fairly consistent level.
It's likely to be much less effective against a location bug that transmits periodically in very short bursts and possibly only when significant movement is detected.
note: i'm known as plugwash most places but i screwd up registering that here somehow in the past and now can't register