Raizinman
Platinum Member
A friend brought me a used 2007 Chevy Cobalt LT with 105,000 miles for a pre-purchase inspection. After a thorough inspection, I noticed a new wire coming from the back of the car to the front of the car that was spliced into the cars fuse box. The wire was pretty well hidden behind the factory chassis wiring harness. When I traced the wire, it was connected to a small black box about the size of a radar detector tucked up on top of the gas tank with a strong magnet. After removal, there was only a model number on this black box. When I Google’d it, I found out that this was a GPS Tracking device. A device that would give the current address of the vehicle, the time it left, the speed, etc. etc. whenever you wanted tracking via the Internet.
I asked my friend if I could call the selling dealership and enquire. They told me that the GPS is their property that is used only by them should the buyer default on his loan for this car. This way they can locate the vehicle for repossession. She went on to explain that as long as the vehicle is not fully paid for, this makes the dealership partners with the purchaser and in essence they are legally allowed to attach a GPS. She also claimed that it is NOT an invasion of privacy and would only be used if the purchaser defaulted on the loan. Even though this friend of mine did not purchase this car, or for that matter, did not even want to have anything to do with this dealership any further; but had he purchased the car, he would have had me disconnect or remove the GPS.
Just a heads up for used car buyers with poor credit. Dealerships know that car loan defaults are very high with people with bad credit but the dealership also knows they can just GPS the vehicle and then use their spare key to grab back the car when you go into McDonalds or at the grocery store (without confrontation) and it makes it very profitable to continue to resell the same car over and over.
I asked my friend if I could call the selling dealership and enquire. They told me that the GPS is their property that is used only by them should the buyer default on his loan for this car. This way they can locate the vehicle for repossession. She went on to explain that as long as the vehicle is not fully paid for, this makes the dealership partners with the purchaser and in essence they are legally allowed to attach a GPS. She also claimed that it is NOT an invasion of privacy and would only be used if the purchaser defaulted on the loan. Even though this friend of mine did not purchase this car, or for that matter, did not even want to have anything to do with this dealership any further; but had he purchased the car, he would have had me disconnect or remove the GPS.
Just a heads up for used car buyers with poor credit. Dealerships know that car loan defaults are very high with people with bad credit but the dealership also knows they can just GPS the vehicle and then use their spare key to grab back the car when you go into McDonalds or at the grocery store (without confrontation) and it makes it very profitable to continue to resell the same car over and over.
