GPS tracking a car, anyone use one?

[Lord Warlock]

For the past two years, we've used a GPS tracking device on our youngest daughter's car.  In the beginning it was we didn't really trust her to stay local as she could easily get talked into fibbing a little and leaving town on the weekend without telling us.  We caught her driving to University of Florida, around an 80 mile trip out of town, but way out of the limits we imposed of staying in the local city area and suburbs, which would be a 40+ mile range to roam. 

As she got older, we grew less concerned with where she is going, and more concerned with can we locate the car should it get stolen.  She is 19 now, and going to college 380 miles away.  I almost never even look at the tracker anymore, but the wife still likes to have the car tracked, just in case.  The car she is in now is worth quite a bit more than the old car she used to drive. 

We had purchased a Garmin GTU10 which worked great, was wired full time to the car's battery so never ran out of charge unless the battery was dying...and if that happened I could send a text message to alert the daughter to go turn lights off or check battery.  The tracking service package was reasonable (free the first year) and not too bad the 2nd year, but coming up in January, the service will be discontinued because Garmin has switched tracking services to a more modern phone network, so the tracker will not be able to be renewed after January.  Since the daughter is planning on transferring back to a school in Jacksonville next year, it would be a good idea to keep tracking it if possible, just can't do it through Garmin anymore.  Tracking service was only around 60 bucks a year for the basic level of service, most of the devices i'm seeing online now have a 25.00 per month service fee, which is a bit steep to me. 

Is anyone using a GPS to keep track of their kids in cars? or as a safety device to avert thefts of their musclecars?  Any suggestions?  recommendations? 
It would have to be a device that allows us to track via PC or tablet/phone,  and also one that could be hard wired into the car, as it just isn't feasible to recharge a device every few days, or even change batteries every few months. 

A simple solution would be to just activate the GPS tracking on her cell phone, but she is much to tech savvy to allow that to continue, she would disable that tracking the first time she wanted to go somewhere we wouldn't approve of.  Not that it matters, we aren't telling her where she can and cannot go anymore, she's over 18, but she also hasn't paid for the car yet so we want to know where it is until it is paid off. 

Appreciate it. 
LW

[v21hemicharger]

I put one of these on my nieces car.  Not sure if my brother still has it with contract.  Worked well on the trip from Vegas texting my brother every time his little 16 yo girl went over 100 mph

http://www.rmtracking.com/vehicle_recovery/smart_tracker.php

[myk]

Interesting device, but what about cars like ours that aren't driven regularly?  Wouldn't the battery be drained off before long?

[Lord Warlock]

There are units out there that can be powered for up to six months at a time, but a lot of others on ebay that are only good for a few days, so you have to read up on the right ones to get.  I did not care for the TK102 models from china, useless.  Wish we could continue using the garmin, works great for what we needed it for. 

[70 sublime]

You could try this

http://www.1970chargerregistry.com/mboard/index.php?topic=4122.0

[birdsandbees]

Thank God my parents never had that technology while the speedo was unhooked so Dad didn't see miles when I was 15 years old out cruising in the '69 Fury II while the parents were bowling or the "legal" years while I was out crusing in the 'Bee with the Speedo wrapped back around to Zero !

[Lord Warlock]

Maybe you're dad didn't have the technology, mine did...he knew the miles on the odometers, he chalked tires, marked position of each wheel and tire stem.  I was caught multiple times taking the mini bike out, he didn't catch me joyriding in his 67 ford wagon, but I only did that once or twice, and was almost 16 when I did.

[nvrbdn]

my ex son in law put one in my daughters car when they were separated. she told me he kept showing up at places where she was at for lunch etc...   I told her he was tracking her and I would know for sure if she came over. she didn't believe me until I found it in less than 2 minutes. I unplugged it, and he called her within 5 minutes just seeing whats up. Ha ha. so I plugged it back in so he wouldn't know we knew about it, and she would just unplug it when she left for lunch, or go out in the evening. Now we put it in my moms car because she has alzheimers. now if she leaves we will know.