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Comment by sgustard | Hacker News Reader

I assume the "LoJack Inside" window sticker is the main technology you really want? Suggest the thief go steal a different car?

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I don't know anything about the trade of stolen vehicles and the people who do it, but i imagine advertising that will let smart thieves and chop shop types know what to look for and quickly remove.

From that perspective it's probably better for people to not know you have lojack, conceal it, and make them work harder to check for it.

The function of the sticker is to make the thief look for an easier target.

Might work for opportunistic thieves, but not for modern steal-to-order gangs.

>but not for modern steal-to-order gangs

Then get a second hand Shit-Box 2000 like I do. Nobody will ever steal it, as no self respecting thief will want to be seen driving that, and it costs me less to buy and own.

Win-win I'd say.

I'm struggling to understand why people who aren't Bezos wealthy buy expensive cars. The depreciation is insane and you're always anxious someone will steal it or ding it in a parking lot. But then if people weren't frivolous with their money, half of us wouldn't have jobs ;)

It ain't about $$$ value. Your shitbox could* be stolen if at any point that platform or it's parts become desirable for any context whatsoever.

for example, the fabled acura integra. While not cheap, it's certainly not going to make a thief rich. At the end of the day it's a vtec honda civic with 2 doors and standard transmission.(I'd argue that a 97 Acura Integra IS your definition of a shitbox.)

Because of that desirable engine, they are still the most GTA vehicle in US.

Used cars are actually much more likely to be stolen, especially if lack modern features like chip keys, immobilizers, and GPS tracking services. In US cities, the most stolen cars are all 15-20+ year old models. If you buy a new Toyota for instance, you don’t need an AirTag because it comes with location tracking services built in.

https://www.thezebra.com/resources/driving/most-stolen-cars/

https://wblk.com/most-stolen-vehicles-ny/

Just because most stolen cars are used, that does not necessarily mean that a used car is more likely to be stolen than a new car. You've got to consider the base rate, otherwise, you're committing the base rate fallacy. Since most cars are used, of course it's not surprising or meaningful that most stolen cars are used.

It doesn't take comprehensive statistical analysis to conclude that a brand new car that comes with an electronic immobilizer, alarm system, and remote GPS-based location monitoring is less likely to be stolen than your 1999 Honda Accord, 2001 Subaru Forester, or 2020 Kia Soul that comes with none of those features. The advice to buy a used car to avoid theft is demonstrably stupid.

I suspect people at multiple points on the 'car cost ladder' look at everyone who has perched higher up on it with that same level of bafflement.

I have purchased a couple new cars in my life, but in the sub-$35k range. While, looking at the amount a payment would be on an $80,000 car, I'm aware I could definitely afford it -- especially at that 6-7 year term that is so popular now -- it is wild to me that anyone would derive enough marginal utility to justify the cost. I'll take my car plus a briefcase full of money over a Mercedes, thanks.

It's possible though that the person with that $80k car also thinks they're quite rational and only the person with the $150,000 car is a lunatic.

Or just put the sticker on it but not have the actual thing in there so they can't find it?

Your alignment is 'Chaotic neutral'

"Warning: Small active tracker device hidden somewhere in the car. Good luck!"

thieves spend 3 hours literally tearing the car apart and then give up but your car is ruined anyway

The whole thing about the mayor and NYPD telling everyone who watches or listens to the news to buy a 30 dollar gps patch that someone can put under some car carpeting anywhere in said car should be enough to discourage most car thieves with 2 or more active brain cells, but hey, I'm an idealist.

On Amazon I see them as low as 5 for $13 {GPS tracking tags. No need to buy Apple}

I'm not sure what you're seeing but you're definitely not seeing genuine AirTags 5 for $13. More likely you're seeing the AirTag holders for that price.

>> No need to buy Apple

> you're definitely not seeing genuine AirTags 5 for $13

I didn't see anything in the comment which suggested they were. It is specifically points out there are devices not produced by Apple. Third parties can create compatible devices:

https://developer.apple.com/find-my/

The advantage of AirTags is the large phone tracking network: every recent iPhone defaults to tracking them. That's hundreds of millions of devices globally, with probably even more density in the US. The main competitors (Tile and Samsung) have much smaller networks. I'm not sure what network you'd get with generic "Bluetooth Tracker" tags: technically it could be Apple but I can't find any evidence for such products online.

I am convinced you are not reading the things you reply to.

That person specifically noted and gave you a reference to how those 3rd party tags use Apple's own network.

> That person specifically noted and gave you a reference to how those 3rd party tags use Apple's own network.

What is the clear reference? One person said they searched GPS tracker tags on Amazon and the other gave a link to Apple’s licensing program which in turn links to NDAs and contractual agreements as well a multi-step design and approval process. There seem to be some knock-offs claiming they work with Find My, but there’s all sorts of weird counterfeit crap on Amazon. Do you have links to a product that’s actually licensed/supported by Apple (ie works and will keep working), because that’s what surprised me.

https://chipolo.net/en-us/products/category/chipolo-spot

https://www.apple.com/shop/product/HQF72ZM/A/chipolo-card-sp...

I own one, and it works just like an airtag and appears in the find my app. It doesn't have precision feature but everything else works(like using the apple/iphone network to find it)

Is a Apple device required to actually find the tag? Is there an Android app?

The off-brand ones lack a sufficiently large network to be used for tracking. They're only good for finding stuff in range of your own phone.

What do you mean? They can use the same network of Apple devices.

How? Airtags only work because Apple uses any iPhone with BLE support as a detector, whether or not an app is installed. An off-brand BLE beacon would require an app to work at all, and I highly doubt Apple would make it easy for a third party app to run all the time in the background.

According to https://developer.apple.com/find-my/ manufacturers of third party hardware CAN leverage the iPhone BLE network to connect to the FindMy network.

That's pretty neat. I wonder, is the user experience any worse than using airtags? Or is it functionally the same?

Link plz?

Yeah I investigated a few. The ones I checked were Bluetooth and used your phones GPS to mark their location.

So like, if you left your keys somewhere, you'd know where they were when you walked away, but not where they are afterwards.

I've been using atuvos tags, which work on the find my network (no third-party app required) and appear to work exactly the same as airtags with the exception of the LF radio for precise location finding - you just don't get the radar mode in the find my app.

They cost half as much as legit airtags

Only if the police were actually interested in seeing the location of your stolen property & going there to look for it, which is not a typical experience when reporting a theft to an urban police department.

For what it's worth my car was stolen last year and the Orlando police response was swift, professional, and effective.

I called in with my report, dispatch quickly verified that the car had not been towed then asked me some preemptive questions to make sure it really was stolen (no one else had keys to it, etc).

My car a tracker that the thieves disabled but I sent the dispatcher the last known flair location before the tracker shut off.

The police sent one officer to get my statement while three other cars of officers canvassed the area around the the flair location building by building until they found the car inside of a gated community.

Then they took me to it to confirm it was mine, dusted everything for fingerprints, and gave me a business card with the officer's name, department, etc. and a case number I could use to for reference with insurance or to follow up and see if they managed to catch the people who stole it.

The entire process only took about an hour and the police went above and beyond. I'll forever be grateful for their efforts.

> …should be enough to discourage most car thieves with 2 or more active brain cells, but hey, I'm an idealist.

With all the dubious “stalkers put an airtag on my car” stories from a while ago they are also trivial to find and disable.

Apple isn’t stupid, they are good for finding your lost keys but not for finding your lost girlfriend.

Negative externalities Co.

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