AccuTracking: Are you interested in monitoring your teens driving habits and not spending a fortune doing it? Posted by:Lloyd Woodward--Friday, January 16, 2009

The following is posted anonymously by a parent who has used this tracking service. I post it here because parents in group have expressed interest. I have had no experience with this company and no guarantees are implied or expressed by PSST. As always we welcome comments from readers.


Giving a teenager access to an automobile to drive is always an interesting
proposition for parents. You want them to grow up, mature and learn
responsibility but, at the same time, you realize that mistakes in the
automobile can be expensive and life altering. How can you get an idea about
your teen’s driving habits since you won’t be there to watch them? Not only
how they drive but where they go can be an issue for some teens. Are they
really at school? Are they really on their way home? Access to an
automobile can create all kinds of new issues for parents of teens who have
stretched the limits in the past.

We see tracking devices in the movies and on TV all of the time. Are they
real? How much do they cost? Do they work? Is this a real alternative for
parents?

If you are interested in monitoring your teens driving habits easily, for a
reasonable price, you should take a look at http://www.accutracking.com/ .
They will sell you a kit for a little over a $100 that includes a cell
phone/GPS combo that can track your automobile for about $30 per month.

The phone comes with some simple activation instructions and a user name and
password for an associated web site. When turned on, the phone reports its
location and speed periodically to the web site. When you log into the web
site you can see the reported information in a grid format or a map format
that shows you the trail the car has been on since it left. It also shows you
the cars speed at each point.

The cell phone relies on Nextel for communication so you have to make sure
you are in a Nextel coverage area. If you want to monitor the driving in
“stealth mode” you have to find a place to hide the phone in the car where
the GPS can still get a reading. Try the glove box, center console or trunk
and do a couple of dry run tests. Battery life is a problem with stealth
mode – you can get 8 –12 hours of operation out of the phone.

Of course the alternative to stealth is the overt, “I will be watching you”
approach. Just put the phone out in the open and plug it into the cigarette
lighter outlet. Both options have their own benefits.

The web site offers additional features such as the ability to
set up fences on the map and send you an alert when the car crosses one of
these fences.