my dealer told me my nav gps acts like a tracking device- thus not needing the low-jack incase of auto theft. is this true?

 

Your dealer is a moron and should be taken out back and shot. GPS will give you the position of your vehicle, but unless there is a lowjack like system installed in your GPS receiver, it will not provide that location to anyone else.

 

I am trying to find a system that does both of those things you describe, I know Lexus offers a system like that on it's cars. I am in law enforcement, and one night the dispatcher recieved a call from their tracking company. They were able to relay the exact location and direction of an LS400, that had been stolen and hour earlier and was now traveling in our city down to the exact corner, in real time. Within about five minutes we were able to come out of now where and surround the stolen vehicle at a stop light, catching the driver and occupants before they knew what was going on and most importantly before they had a chance to get it to a chop shop.

I am sure something like that would be expensive and probably carry a monthly fee. I would be one of the first in line if I can find a dealer for an aftermarket system like that. whatever the cost, it is worth it IMO.

 

The LS430 has it in the ultra luxury package, additional $12K.

This feature was not available on the LS400, you must have recovered the newer LS430. It is not available on the IS300 (see below from: http://www.lexus.com/lexuslink/)

Model Year 2002 vehicles featuring the Lexus Link option include LS 430. Model Year 2003 vehicles featuring the Lexus Link option include LS 430, SC 430, LX 470 and GX 470.

Lexus Link is Lexus' version of OnStar. $215/year for the package with vehicle tracking.

 

or you can just save your money and not buy a lexus and move to a low theft area like Ithaca NY. although you may get bored cuz when school is out it cuts the population in half.

 

There is a new type of GPS system that my roommate starting installing at his shop. He said they go for about $1400 Canadian. There are no fees afterwards, just the up-front cost. From then on you can simply log into a website and track your vehicle.

<edit> My mistake, he said there is a monthly fee of $5 canadian. Thats like $3 US, so literally nothing.</edit>

 

A GPS unit needs some method to transmit the signal out of the vehicle and then another person (24-hr monitoring facility) to track it and relay that info to the police. There will be a monthly fee for the service, but it's reasonable. Much less than regular home alarm system monitoring charges.

Check out this site:

http://www.nmrx.com/u_products.asp

The company is called "Uplink" (owned by Numerex), and they manufacture a GPS product coupled to a cell-phone-like (NOT a cell phone) transmitter that can do just what you want, but they are only a manufacturer. You need to browse the web site and find a dealer to get details on the product. I've not seen it in person but I know they make one (I just spent half a day at their corporate headquarters working on another project and heard about the GPS product). And I think it may be monitored by the owner from their web site. Sounded pretty cool.

I believe Lo-Jack is a Police-based system. Only the Police can monitor it, which is done directly from the patrol car. And it has a limited range, like within major urban areas only.

 

thanks fellas- i'll be sure to let my dealer know his mistake

 

What was his mistake? If he told you the GPS system on a new IS300 will track the car in case of theft, he's right. And it works great. I WISH Honda would offer something like that.

 

Unless he has the new-fangled GPS system, his mistake was claiming that it would automatically be able to track the car. If the dealer assumes that ALL GPS systems can track, he's REALLY dense.