During the month of April, 2026, Cartrack SA recovered 1,662 vehicles and confiscated a total of 20 illegal jamming devices. All that in one month! But if these criminals had jammers, how was Cartrack able to work with law enforcement to apprehend them and confiscate their jammers?
Aren’t jammers supposed to jam the tracking device so that it can’t be tracked anymore?
Yes, but much of our success was thanks to our customers having more than one tracking device in their vehicles. Backup tracking devices are foiling thieves across the country, which is why thousands of motorists are considering a second device in their vehicles—especially companies with fleets.
Let’s look at whether it’s worthwhile getting a second tracking device in your car or fleet vehicle, and how these backup tracking devices work.
It’s wise to get more than one tracking device for your vehicle to curb the chances of thieves removing, damaging, or discarding your GPS tracking device. Many thieves and car theft syndicates now use illegal jamming devices to simply jam the GPS signal, rendering the traditional tracking device useless for a time.
But what stops car thieves from jamming ALL of your tracking devices at the same time?
Before we answer that question, let’s delve into the mind of a vehicle thief to see what strategies they employ to bypass tracking devices.
Car thieves are fully aware that thousands of vehicles have GPS trackers. This is especially true when they target fleet vehicles, of which delivery vans are top of the list.
These criminals have developed a methodical process:
A lot of thieves have successfully located and damaged GPS trackers so many times that it takes them only a few minutes.
REMEMBER: Time is of the essence! All they need is around one hour to get your vehicle to the nearest chop shop to harvest it for parts—or steal your cargo.
Not only is signal jamming already a common method of vehicle theft, it’s become even MORE common among syndicates and career criminals. GPS tracking has become the norm for vehicle owners and fleets alike, so criminals have had to adapt by carrying around illegal jammers.
These devices block the GPS frequency by overriding it with an alternate frequency. This counterfeit signal doesn’t even need to be very strong to make your tracking device “go blind”.
Having a backup tracking device is one of the surest ways to have your vehicle recovered by a stolen vehicle recovery team in case of theft. But you might be wondering how having two or more tracking devices really makes a difference.
We’ll get to that below. But first it’s important to understand that any backup tracking device Cartrack adds to your vehicle WON’T be a GPS tracker; it’ll be a Cartrack Tag.
Why?
Let’s break it down.
For criminals who attempt to remove your tracking device, a CT Tag serves as a hidden backup. Most thieves wouldn’t suspect that there’s another one somewhere. They’ll find the obvious one and figure it’s the only tracking device your vehicle has.
Meanwhile, the CT Tag will remain hidden, silently emitting your vehicle’s location discreetly.
The CT Tag is more compact, and easier to hide. The technicians at Cartrack ensure that the second tracking device we add to your vehicle is hidden somewhere that’s hard to find.
Because it’s flat, we have more options of where to put it. It also doesn’t need to be hardwired to your vehicle, so the options are more vast.
This is where the Cartrack Tag really outshines other backup tracking devices. It works on a totally different frequency from a regular GPS tracker. It’s completely impervious to regular GPS signal jammers and keeps emitting a signal even when your original tracker isn’t working.
How does it do this?
The CT Tag has its own dedicated radio frequency. This frequency is called the Cartrack Proprietary Radio Frequency (CPRF), and it doesn’t rely on satellites or cellular towers to emit a signal.
Through a signal detection process called triangulation, the CT Tag constantly emits a signal to help our recovery team locate your vehicle—even if the criminals are carrying a jammer in the car with them.
Many tracking companies make the mistake of selling you a second or third tracking device and thinking it’s enough to foil criminal intent. But not every tracking service provider offers enough protection measures to really ensure the protection of your vehicle.
Let’s look at some of the questions you should ask BEFORE you add an extra tracking device to your vehicle.
Stolen vehicle recovery (SVR) services already have established contacts with law enforcement groups within multiple countries. This gives you peace of mind, because you won’t have to be the one that runs to the police with location info once it’s already too late and your vehicle is already stripped or across the border.
A second or third tracking device must always be of a different signal type from your original one. Having multiple trackers is pointless if they’re all the same, because one jammer will affect them all simultaneously. Always check to make sure they work on different frequencies.
Make sure you get a tracking service provider that knows what they’re doing when it comes to installing your backup device. They must place it in a completely different area to your original one, and it should be difficult to find should criminals look for it.
QUICK TIP: Cartrack’s CT Tag is compact enough to place in small areas, making it easy to hide. We never install it in a predetermined location but always look for hidden spots based on the design of your vehicle.
Some tracking devices use a fair amount of battery power to work, so having two or more could drain your battery quicker than you expect—especially if you don’t drive often. Ask your service provider about how a second tracking device will affect your battery.
Choose a tracking service provider that offers MORE than just basic tracking. The focus should be on safety, which is why Cartrack offers you a bunch of additional app features to keep you safer on the road:
To get more than one tracking device fitted to your vehicle, look no further than Cartrack. Even if you already have a tracking service active with another company, we’ll happily add the CT Tag to your vehicle as an extra layer of protection.
Give us a call and feel free to ask one of our consultants any questions about how your vehicle can stay more protected.
REMEMBER: Thieves have evolved their methods, but Cartrack is dedicated to staying multiple steps ahead of their tactics so that your vehicles always stay as protected as possible.
Discover how having more than one tracking device in each of your vehicles is helping us keep car thieves from getting away with your assets.
