Installation Times: Monday - Thursday: 7:30am to 6pm | Friday: 7:30am to 3pm | Saturday & Sunday: Closed
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sales@sasmobile.co.uk
2nd January 2019
Here at Safe & Sound, we know it can be a minefield when choosing a Thatcham and Insurance approved car tracking system. You may not be sure what you want, or what your insurance company has told you what they require. The below articles will hopefully answer your questions and help you make a more informed decision when choosing your car tracker.
Thatcham Tracker Categories you may have heard of are 5, S5, 6, 7 and S7 but the all-important question is, What’s the difference? This article aims to explain...
All Thatcham approved tracking systems are designed and built to meet their qualifying Thatcham Category criteria before they can be approved for installation. Each category is broken down below and follows the dates in which they became effective. The one thing all Thatcham tracking systems have in common are their annual subscription fees. They need this to transmit the vehicles data.
The Thatcham Category 7 was a real entry level system and has been about for a good 15 years, it will merge into the category S7 as of January 2019 - Safe & Sound Vehicle Systems will never sell you one of these.
Pros:
Cons:
View our newer S7 devices by clicking here.
Thatcham Category 6 - A good, reliable entry level system which has been about for around 15 years but never had GPS built in until it was introduced to about 10 years ago.
*Thatcham Category 6 is now superseded by Thatcham Category S7*
Pros:
Cons:
View our newer S7 devices by clicking here.
Thatcham Category 5 was often requested by insurers for vehicles over a certain values, £70,000 if insured on a private policy of £50,000 if insured on a fleet policy.
Pros:
Cons:
View our newer Thatcham Category S5 systems by clicking here.
As of January 2019 this is the new category name for Thatcham Category 5 but with a few changes.
Pros:
Cons:
View our full range of Thatcham Category S5 systems by clicking here.
Thatcham Category S7 is the new name for Thatcham Category 6 devices as of January 2019.
View our full range of S7 devices by clicking here.
A standard category 6/S7 tracking system does not use driver ID and is simply a reactive system which other than the vehicle being towed away, or a power disconnection being detected the vehicle can be driven away without alerting you.
Let’s say you’re asleep in bed with your alarm set for 7am. At 5am you are broken into; your vehicle keys are taken, and your car is subsequently stolen. The tracking system wouldn’t know the difference between you driving it and a thief with your keys or cloned keys.
Now let’s say you that same scenario happens with a Thatcham Category 5 or S5 installed - as soon as the vehicle is driven away the tracking system will recognise that the driver ID card is not present and silently alert the control room at which point you will be contacted within minutes to clarify the location of the vehicle.
This way you are on to the theft within minutes and have the best possible chance of recovering your vehicle.
A System with Driver ID is always the best option in our opinion. There are some perfect products below which feature it, look for the S5 category of tracking system.
We hope this article makes for interesting reading and helps clarify the category differences and features. We have listed below some of our more popular tracking systems, each of which we highly recommend.
Any question then please ask.