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Lower Insurance Premiums with a GPS Tracker

by Greg Bartlett / guest author

If you are like most Americans, you probably feel like you pay far more for car insurance than it’s worth. Maybe you have a pristine driving record—no accidents, no tickets, not even a warning. You are probably already claiming all the possible discounts available to you. Good student for those still in school; anti-lock brake discount; passenger restraining device discount; airbag discount…you name the discount, you have the discount. There may be one that you are overlooking.

Most insurance companies offer discounts to vehicles equipped with anti-theft devices, including a GPS tracking device. In fact, some states even require insurance companies to offer discounts for car owners that use this device. (Illinois, Kentucky, Louisiana, Massachusetts, Minnesota, New Jersey, New Mexico, New York, Pennsylvania, Rhode Island, and Texas are the states requiring the insurers to offer discounts.)

What makes a GPS tracker anti-theft? Perhaps that question is best answered by describing how GPS works. GPS satellites (just over 24 of them) orbit outer space. Usually a triangle of these satellites work together to determine the latitude and longitude of anyone or anything (including your vehicle) wearing the receiver.

There are two types of GPS tracking devices. The active system makes location information available constantly through downloads to the internet or a mobile device. The passive system keeps a log of everywhere the receiver has been or currently is. If someone drives away in a car equipped with this type of device, finding the car isn’t a question of if, it’s a question of when. Depending on the brand, a GPS battery can last up to 90 days.

Maybe you think your car is too old to ever be an object of interest to car thieves. Think again. Nine out of the ten most stolen cars in 2006 were models previous to 1997, according to the National Insurance Crime Bureau. Maybe you think that the cost of a GPS tracking device would outweigh the benefits of an insurance discount. Perhaps in the short run. But when you consider that some discounts can be as much as 30% (lowest usually around 5%) and that you’ll be paying insurance every month for the rest of the portion of your life that you own a car, investing in such a device may begin to make more sense. Even if you live in a state that is not required by law to offer a discount for anti-theft devices, chances are you can locate a company that will offer incentives and discounts for your GPS tracking device.

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