Consumers Prefer Hands-On Approach to Vehicle Theft Prevention
A motorist tracks a speeding bus. New players in the car track market are offering prices as low as Sh15,000 to cover a car for a whole year. JACOB OWITI
Competition is intensifying globally in the vehicle tracking market, with increasingly tech-savvy consumers enjoying falling prices and preferring around-the-clock real-time tracking systems to those that are prompted or “pinged” in the event of a vehicle heist.
Business Daily Africa, an online version of the newspaper Business Daily, published out of Kenya, Nairobi, reports vehicle tracking system manufacturers are reviewing their price structures because the world market is being inundated with products from North America, China and Europe.
The main solutions in the tracking system game in Africa are Stolen Vehicle Recovery Systems (known as SVRS) and those that are based on the Global Positioning System and Global System for Mobil Communications (GPS/GSM).
A Stolen Vehicle Recovery System is a tracking system that uses two-way radio communications. It is covertly installed in the vehicle. It remains dormant until the vehicle is stolen. After a brief reporting process with police to verify ownership, the system is activated. The tracking system begins to transmit a signal and only authorities who are in the coverage area and are equipped with the special tracking computers and software can follow the signal and find the car.
When a GPS tracking system is used for vehicle recovery, a satellite receiver is installed in the vehicle for locating purposes. Location data is received and collected on an ongoing basis and it is transferred by modem over a digital wireless communications system to server, where the vehicle owner himself can monitor the vehicle’s whereabouts from a remote computer.
The systems are about equal in size, many about the size of a deck of cards, and both tracking systems can be hidden in dozens of places on or in the vehicle.
A stolen vehicle recovery system cannot be transferred from one vehicle to another, because it is registered to a specific vehicle identification number. GPS/GSM (global systems mobile) tracking systems, on the other hand, can be moved from one vehicle to another. In fact, many are compact, lightweight, battery powered and quite portable.
In Africa, costs are dropping for GPS tracking systems. The costs for purchase and setup averages about 30,000 Kenyan shillings, equivalent to about $400 American, and monthly tracking fees are being offered as low as 1,000 shillings ($13) a month.
It seems African consumers express a degree of mistrust in a system that relies on third parties for aid and response to a possible stolen vehicle. Motorists want to own that control and are willing to pay for the convenience of vehicle tracking anytime, from the comfort and convenience of their home or office.
After real-time vehicle tracking systems were introduced to market, a second, huge benefit (besides stolen vehicle recovery) became apparent: fleet management. Corporate clients use GPS tracking systems to control where their company vehicles are and where time and money is being wasted.
A live vehicle tracking system can tell a business person exactly where any outfitted company vehicle is, at any time. Manufacturers are also integrating additional, attractive features into their GPS tracking systems including fuel level indicators and consumption rates, temperature controls, engine disable and geo-fencing (ability to restrict a vehicle to a virtual, geographic area).
When the boss uses vehicle tracking and eliminates one driver’s unauthorized visits home to see the missus during the work day, the savings is a few minutes of time and the cost: a disgruntled employee. Apply the same rules to a fleet of 100 or 200 vehicles and their drivers and the company owner might realize thousands of dollars in savings per month.
Having the ability to use the same tracking system to reduce car theft and eliminate daily inefficiencies through vehicle misuse is a bonus businessmen are seeking. Real-time, around-the-clock vehicle tracking is making the practice of on-demand tracking through service providers obsolete.
“They want their vehicles tracked effectively around the clock,” said one manufacturer. “And they are unwilling to pay and trust an uninvolved third party to do it.”
Source: Business Daily Africa
Tags: Africa, Business, GPS, GPS Tracking, GSM, recovery, stolen, system, vehicle, Vehicle Tracking
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