Car Tracking Device For Parents

Wonder how your teen REALLY drives? GPS trackers for vehicles are a great car tracking device for parents. This GPS trackers for vehicles guide explores the features, characteristics and costs that you should consider along with the safety implications you will have if you purchase one for your loved one.

Vehicle On-board diagnostics (OBD) plug-in devices access the vehicle’s communication port (similar to a computer’s USB port) and have come a long way in the last few years and a great car tracking device for parents.

OBD devices were developed to provide the diagnostic capability to automotive technicians and drivers to determine what is wrong with the vehicle and perform system checks on the computer. They provided insight into the OBD codes that could not be read without these readers.

Car tracking device for parents has several features for parents to determine the driving behavior of their teen driver. Some of the more advanced car tracking devices for parents offer the advanced interactive capability to control the vehicle, set a speed limiter, geofence as well as road side assistance in the event of an emergency.

Vehicle Speed Tracking System

Many of these are plug and play.

On the hand, you may want a lot more information on your child’s driving habits. Hey, chances are they are driving your car. The more intense monitoring will allow you to see almost real time (every 10 seconds) updates of their exact location.

High-end features may include:

Record teen’s mileage, speed, location
Real-time alerts to parents
Access to the driving report
- SMS messaging and tamper alerts via text, email for current location verification
- Geo-fencing & designated zones
- Battery indicator, low-level alert among others

Curfew notification. Parents get an alert if their teen is out past curfew.

Pros:

Over time these car monitors improve driver safety. The GPS tracker monitors driving style, unsafe behaviors and provides you the data in an easy to understand format. So you can talk with your teen when they are done driving. This will help keep them safe and will give you peace of mind.
Lower insurance. Many insurance companies lower your insurance cost if you install these monitoring devices. Some people have reported a 30% savings! Several like Progressive even offer their own for you to use. These are not recommended if you plan on driving the car as the device must be left in in order to get the discount. So you can’t speed either. Something to consider.
See driving behaviors without having to call your driver. So they don’t have to take their eyes off the road and are not distracted. This is a huge plus for parents or owners who want to check in but don’t to call.

Cons:

Some of the lower end OBD GPS trackers don’t have a strong enough antenna to receive the signal from the satellites and the data you receive will not be as accurate as the better quality.
These devices are not covert. Chances are your teenager will see them as some of the units have flashing lights. You will want the device to stay connected the entire time they are driving the car and not to disconnect it.
Some parents outright tell their teenager that they are monitoring their driving behavior and to leave the device alone. This seems to work for parents and solves the tampering problem that teenagers will likely cause so they are not monitored. If they understand that this goes along with the privilege of driving then they should accept being monitored.
You get what you pay for. A lot of the cheaper devices have less accurate speed reports that must be read daily since the device or website won’t store information for several days.
Sensitive speed settings. Some of the speed reports will notify parents that teens are speeding when they may be changing lanes, passing a slow driver or getting on the highway. It is important to review the reviews of the device you are considering so you know what you are getting.

Tracking a Teenagers Vehicle

Engine activity – starting
Movement – Logs vehicle travel after the engine is started until it is parked.
Timestamps – The drives are monitored and time stamped so you can identify each trip.
Mileage is recorded and tracked by the Vyncs device.
The information is accessible from the app and the website at no extra charge.
Web customer support is great
Intuitive. Provides alerts and recalls from the vehicle manufacturer (airbag recalls, etc.)

It can work in multiple cars. You still have to have one device per vehicle if you want to track several vehicles at the same time but we have not found a vehicle that it did not work in.

Features

Comes with SIM card
12 months free data – The location is provided every 3 minutes with the free version. You can upgrade for more frequent notifications.

Specifications

Small and lightweight
Around 3 ozs
Variable updates. It updates every 2-3 minutes or at different

Considering buying a GPS tracker for younger teenagers? We put together a comprehensive list of the considerations you should know. It is not that hard. You just need to be informed before you buy. Or check out our 22 GPS Safety Tips to keep your family safe.

MOTOsafety Wired 3G GPS Tracking Device

Parents can benefit from MOTOsafety real time vehicle tracker in many ways. This type of GPS tracking device is designed to make it easy for parents to monitor their teen driver’s vehicle location and driving behaviors.

Another important thing you need to be aware of is that MOTOsafety has a driving coach program. That means that the GPS tracking device can be used as a teen driving coach. Above all, the GPS tracker comes with driving report cards. So, parents will find it easy to help teens with developing safe driving habits.

The tracker comes with many great features that make it easy to monitor teen driving and encourage safe driving. Like any GPS tracking device, MOTOsafety GPS tracking device has its own benefits and drawbacks. I was surprise at how cheap I was able to buy the MOTOsafety GPS tracking device from the listing on Amazon.

MOTOsafety tracker’s key features include:

Daily driver’s report card
Geofence feature
Route replay
Alerts
Driving coach program
Curfew hours
Free mobile application

Pros:

GPS tracking device is designed to keep a driver safe.
MOTOsafety provides real time vehicle tracking.
MOTOsafety is an easy-to-install GPS tracking device. So, it will not take a parent too much time to mount a tracker to a teen’s vehicle.
It’s pretty easy to monitor unsafe driving behaviors with MOTOsafety device. The GPS tracking device makes it possible for parents to monitor vehicle’s speed as well as rapid starts and harsh braking. Actually, the device has everything that’s needed to help parents improve teen performance on the road.
Parents can use MOTOsafety mobile app on different types of mobile devices. The application works on Android and IOS devices.
MOTOsafety has a good driving course program. The education course gives teens the perfect opportunity to improve their driving skills after acquiring their driving license.
Parents don’t need to sign any contracts to start using MOTOsafety GPS tracking device.
Parents also don’t need to pay any cancellation fees to stop using MOTOsafety GPS tracking device.
The GPS tracker comes with the lifetime warrantee.
The device comes with a free GPS tracking mobile application.

Cons:

GPS tracker’s warranty is limited.
You may find it hard to mount the GPS device to small cars with OMB cover.
MOTOsafety customer support doesn’t always replay to emails fast. Sometimes, it takes customers a long time to get a response.

How to set it up – It’s worth noting that MOTOsafety is a wired GPS tracking device. The vehicle tracker comes with 3 wires. The wires are used to connect a GPS tracker to a car. The device is mounted to a car under the dash.

Tracking teenager’s vehicle – First of all, you need to mount a GPS tracking device to a vehicle. Plus, you need to install MOTOsafety’s free app on your mobile device. Once a teen starts driving, you’ll receive real time updates on car’s location and speed as well as alerts.

Specifications

Dimensions: 1 x 1.8 x 2.1 inches
Weight: 5.6 ounces
Updates: a GPS tracking device updates every minute
MOTOsafety is a good option for those who are interested in purchasing a car GPS tracking device for parents. The GPS device has all the necessary features for monitoring teen driving. It’s also important to note that MOTOsafety is an easy-to-install and easy-to-use teen driving monitoring device.

Linxup OBD GPS Tracker

Linxup OBD is a GPS vehicle tracking device that can be used for monitoring driving activity. The GPS tracking device allows users to see a driver’s locations on Google Maps, speed, traffic and more. The GPS device can be used for locating fleet drivers and optimizing driver’s routs. Parents can also use the device to monitor teen driving. The Linxup OBD GPS vehicle tracking device is reasonably priced on Amazon.

Linxup OBD tracker’s key features:

Alerts
Detailed reporting
Geofence feature
Route monitoring
Built-in tools for improving driver’s safety
Free mobile application

Pros:

Linxup OBD is an affordable GPS tracking system.
Linxup OBD is a user-friendly car GPS tracker. So, it will not take you too much time to activate a GPS tracker and figure out how the system works.
The device impresses with its powerful GPS tracking capabilities.
The GPS tracker provides real time updates. The device identifies driver’s locations quickly and updates every minute. This makes it possible for parents to monitor teen driving in real time.
Linxup OBD GPS tracking device provides a driver with a safety report. With such a great feature, a driver will find it easy to develop safe driving habits.
Linxup OBD GPS tracker’s mobile app works on different types of mobile devices. Parents can use both Android and IOS devices to monitor teen driving.
Linxup OBD car GPS tracking device doesn’t require customers to sign any contracts and pay any cancellation fees.
The GPS tracker comes with alerts that will notify you when a vehicle increases speed, accelerates rapidly and brakes abruptly. With these great features parents will be able to coach a teen safer driving habits.

Cons:

Many people are not happy with Linxup OBD customer service. Sometimes consumers have to wait a long time before they get replies from the customer support.
Linxup OBD GPS tracker’s warranty is limited.

How to set it up – You’ll be able to setup Linxup OBD GPS tracker fast and easy. Mount a GPS tracking device to you vehicle first. Then, install the application and activate a GPS tracker on your mobile device. Now, you can start monitoring vehicle’s location and speed.

Specifications

Dimensions: 1 x 1.8 x 2.1 inches
Weight: 2.08 ounces
Updates: a GPS tracking device updates every minute
Linxup OBD is a good GPS device that can be used for tracking fleets and personal vehicles. And of course, parents can use the vehicle tracking GPS device for monitoring teen driving. The tracker’s tools and features allow parents to review teen driving history, monitor driving behaviors and identify vehicle’s location.

GPS Tracker Vyncs

The GPS Tracker Vyncs on Amazon has some of the best reviews from customers and is an excellent price, hundreds of dollars cheaper than the “premium” models that are overpriced in our opinion. This model doesn’t have a monthly fee like some of the other trackers.

This can be a pain if you try to cancel from the website with other companies. Often you have to call their customer service in order to get out of the contract. This is not the case with the Vyncs GPS tracker. It provides real-time analysis and has over a year of free data.

Install the GPS Tracker. Simply line up the connections and push it in. It is that easy.
Enter your vehicle and driver information.
Install the app, enter device ID and register your account.

Conclusion

The newer units are smaller and are not as visible so parents will be able to put them in their teens car and remotely track them. This tracker is a must-have safety device that every parent should use when their teens first start driving.

Within this article, we reviewed the car tracking device for parents. These car tracking devices provide a plethora data for parents to keep tabs on their kids driving habits, if they are speeding or going to a house they are not supposed be around.