Track Your Teen with GPS Tracking For Cars

GPS tracking for cars isn't just for the police and special agents - it is increasingly becoming available to parents too. Consumers of all sorts have been getting their hands on this agile technology and have been implementing it in their leisure activities, in their jobs, and in the home. There is so much GPS can do for people that they are finally getting wise and putting it to good use!

One very interesting application of GPS tracking in the home is the use of a device in a car to monitor teen driving habits.

When parents let their teenager drive a car there are tons of things they have to think about. Will they drive safely? Will other drivers be driving safely around my teen? Who will be in the car with my teen to influence their driving behavior?

We can answer these questions when we are in the car with them, but what about when we can't been there? What about when they are driving home late at night from a friends house? Or coming home after the high school basketball game? Who is going to monitor their driving then?

GPS tracking for cars can, that is who.

Using GPS to monitor you teen's driving habits boils down to one word: safety. Teenage drivers have the highest crash risk per mile traveled when compared with drivers in other age groups. The problem is worst among 16 year-olds, probably because they have the least amount of time behind the wheel and are prone to risk taking behavior because of their immaturity.

The following chart from the Insurance Institute of Highway Safety is telling:


As you can see, teen drivers are much more prone to be involved in fatal car crashes due to driver error, speeding, and having too many people in the car than any age rank up to 50 years old.

GPS tracking for cars can help with this if parents are willing to use this tool to prevent unsafe driving practices and enforce parental oversight on their teen's driving habits.

This would probably look something like this: A concerned parent installs a GPS tracking device like Zoombak in their teen's car. The parent goes into great detail with their teenager how they are expected to drive, what it means to drive safely, how to drive safely, and all the other important vehicle safety information the parent can think of. This is much, much more than simply asking your teen to take a drivers education class. It will involve a significant time commitment on your part where you spend hours behind the wheel with your teen instructing them in the safe operation of a vehicle.

Then, after doing this, you outline your expectations on how and when they should drive. Tell them that are not allowed to speed, have 3 or more passengers in the car, and can only drive at night under the strictest of conditions. Then you need to set up some consequences for them if they fail to adhere to these driving guidelines. It should be a graded system where severe or consistent infractions result in ever increasing restrictions on their driving privileges.

Now that you have taught your teen to drive safely and have set up guidelines for how to use the car, it is time to let the GPS tracker do the rest. Simply monitor your teenager's driving habits and when the break one of the rules - like break too fast, accelerate too fast, speed, or even idle the car for too long (yes, some GPS tracking devices for cars do let you know all of this information) - subject them to the consequences.

This is just old-school parenting combined with new technology. GPS tracking for cars can provide parents with the information needed to make informed choices about how to monitor their teen's driving behavior. Safety is synonymous with GPS tracking for cars.

Zoombak GPS Tracking For Cars Review

The Zoombak A-GPS is a small, portable GPS tracking device for cars. According to Zoombak's website it offers two different versions of the product - the Advanced A-GPS Universal Locator and the Advanced A-GPS Car & Family Locator. This product runs from $99 to $150 depending on where you buy it from. It also has a monthly service plan that ranges from $155 to $180 depending on when you want to part with your money. Paying month to month will cost you more while dishing out all the cash at once will cost you less.

When I did a feature comparison between the Car & Family Locator and the Universal Locator I really didn't see much of a difference between the two in basic functionality even though the Car & Family Locator costs $50 more. However, there does apepar to be a a slight difference between the two from what I could see. The Car & Family Locator come with a car mount and lets users set up predefined electric "fences" where they get alerts if the car travels outside "fence" or into a new one. You should make the decision if a car mount and this feature is worth the $50 for yourself.

Since in every other way the two Zoombak GPS devices appear to be exactly the same we will take a look at the basic features for both products.

Zoombak Product Features

This GPS tracking device for cars offers an unlimited amount of on-demand locates, meaning that at anytime your device has enough battery to send you a signal you can get it to do so. There are 3 easy ways to conduct an on-demand location request of your Zoombak :

1. Log on at Zoombak.com and check your status
   
2. Send a text message to your device via mobile phone
3. Contact a Zoombak customer representative for a live location report

However, an unlimited number of locates can be a little misleading. When you take a look at the product specifications you will notice this little blurb:

Battery Life*

Standby - Up to 120 hours or 5 days Active Locator Use - Up to 150 location requests

* Battery life depends on several factors including temperature, network, signal strength and locator service features used. Location requests include the following Zoombak Locator service features:

• On-Demand / Find Now requests from your mobile phone
• Active Safety Zones and Continuous Tracking mode
• Low battery Alerts: When your Zoombak locator indicates low battery (blinking amber LED), recharge your battery as defined in the Zoombak Locator User Guide.

What I take all this to mean is that the battery will only last for 5 days - max. The more you ask for the location of the device the short the battery will last.

Having a 5 day battery life is major limitation for those looking to use this device for GPS tracking of a car. You will have to take your device out of the car regularly if you are using it as an anti-theft device or keep it in the cab, charging the battery when you drive the car. But how is that supposed to help you recover a stolen car? Won't a thief just grab the device and discard it?

Some GPS tracking devices for cars can be hardwired into your car's computer. It will feed off your batteries power. This makes the device secure, hidden, and capable of being called often. This type of device does cost more than the Zoombak and will have an installation fee as well, but this is definitely the device you are going to want to have if you are using the GPS tracking device to aid in the return of a stolen car.

It appears that the tracker is best used for short term tracking. Take a look at this snippet from the Zoombak website:

Zoombak's continuous tracking feature provides you with an automatic update of your Zoombak’s location every 5 minutes for up to 1 hour.

Tracking a teen on a "short" drive; checking a vehicle's loation on over a weekend excursion; making sure the car hasn't been stolen while you on vacation - this is what the Zoombak should be used for.

On of the key features of this GPS tracker for cars is that it is A-GPS. The "A" here denotes "assisted." This means that the Zoombak is uses cell signals to transmit information and gather location information in addition to GPS signals. This is very good, since cell phone singals often penetrate where GPS signals cannot - providing increased coverage.

Zoombak GPS Tracking For Cars Service Plans

Zoombak offers three service plans that provide the same exact coverage at three different prices. These are the:

Monthly Plan

• Only $14.99 a month
• Annual cost: $179.88

PayNowPayLess Plan

• Starts at only $9.99 a month.
• Save $15 by pre-paying the first three months for only $29.97 ($9.99/month). After three months, pay only $14.99/month.
• Annual cost: $164.88

12for12 Plan

• Save $24.89 by pre-paying the whole year.
• Annual cost: $154.99

All Zoombak service plans include the following:

• No activation fee
• No hidden fees
• Unlimited on-demand location requests via the Internet and customer service
• On-demand location requests via mobile phone
• Unlimited continuous tracking via web and customer care
• Unlimited safety zone alerts
• Opt-in for “Power Off” and low battery alerts via email and text message
• Location history via Zoombak.com and customer care
• 24/7 live customer care and location support

Those subscribing to the service plan must meet the following requirements:

• One-year customer agreement required for all service plans
• Convenient, paperless online billing and account maintenance
• Credit or debit card
• Early termination fee applies

Zoombak Coverage

Like all assisted GPS devices, the Zoombak does have some coverage limitations. It appears that the coverage is fairly decent for this car tracker:

Zoombak Specifications

Feature	Specification
Size	2.87" x 1.69" x .0.82" (L x W x H)
Weight	2.5 Ounces
Housing	Water Resistant
Battery Life*	Standby - Up to 120 hours or 5 days Active Locator Use - Up to 150 location requests

Conclusion
The Zoombak appears to be a decent GPS tracking device for a car. It certainly has its limitations with short battery life, but is certainly sufficient for certain type of GPS tracking activity. If you can handle the $250, you could enjoy the convenience and information this GPS tracker for cars affords.