Best GPS Trackers
How the Top 3 Stack Up
Vyncs GPS Tracker: Best for Long-Term Tracking
-BEST OVERALL-
The Vyncs GPS tracks location, unsafe driving practices, engine diagnostics, battery life, maintenance needs, recall notices, and fuel levels.
It evaluates your driving to give you a Tip Performance Index (TPI) score that can help you save money on car insurance. Its free companion app, VyncsMiles, is compatible with Amazon Alexa and can track mileage and categorize it by personal and business use.
Vyncs uses one-year plans instead of month-to-month deals. This kind pricing can save you cash if you’re committed to tracking your vehicle’s location for awhile.
You can also check out Vync’s Basic, Premium, and Pro plans that sweeten the deal with services like roadside assistance. Vyncs also has a Fleet service for commercial customers who might want to monitor their employees during deliveries or routes.
The OBD plug-in GPS device costs around $75 and comes with a one-year basic plan subscription (and a one-time activation fee of $30). Yearly renewal costs are about the same, which works out to around $6 a month, making it the least expensive GPS on our list.
We don’t like that the default refresh time is three minutes—the fastest refresh time (15 seconds) is available only for an added fee. The user interface is also a little tricky to manage.
Pros
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Engine alerts
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Low yearly fee
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Driver scoring system
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Mileage tracker app
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Roadside assistance
Cons
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Long-term commitment
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Delayed location updates
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Activation fee
MOTOsafety GPS Tracker: Best for New Drivers
-BEST FOR NEW DRIVERS-
-BEST FOR NEW DRIVERS-
With a driving education course for teens, Google Maps route replay, geofencing, and customizable location alerts, the easy-to-install MOTOsafety GPS Tracker earned the top spot for new teen drivers.
This tracking device costs around only $30, but its monthly fee of $20 is higher than some of the other devices on our list. You won’t have to sign a contract or pay a cancellation fee, but you will have to call the company if you want to cancel.
We like the included driver training program, with access to educational content and practice quizzes to help your teen prep for their driving test.
We also like the daily driving report card on the mobile app, but metrics can be confusing. Speed limits aren’t always accurate on Google Maps, so MOTOsafety might say you’re speeding even when you’re not.
Likewise, normal rapid acceleration—like when you’re merging onto a busy highway—can also count against you. We recommend taking it out for a test drive and checking the sensitivity before taking away your teen’s car keys for a bad grade on their MOTOsafety driving report.
Pros
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Google Maps route replay
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Geofencing
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Curfew
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Teen driving course
Cons
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Sensitivity to acceleration
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Inaccurate speed limits
Bouncie: Best Month-to-Month
-BEST MONTH TO MONTH-
Bouncie is new to the GPS tracking game, but it has all the best parts of other popular trackers. So we expect to see it rising to the top.
Bouncie plugs into your car’s OBD port and offers standard geofencing and real-time alerts for speed, hard braking, and acceleration. It also helps you keep tabs on gas levels, vehicle maintenance, and routine car-related tasks, like annual emissions inspections.
We like that you can use your Amazon Echo to check the gas in your car or ask when your registration is due.
The device also tracks your mileage and stores the data, which is a great feature if you need to track mileage for business purposes.
Bouncie charges only $8 a month for its tracking services, so it’s a close second to Vyncs when it comes to pricing, but without the long-term commitment. If you want to track three vehicles, you’ll get a special discounted rate of $20 per month for all three.
The only downsides to this device were the green flashing light that never seems to go off (black electrical tape to the rescue) and some occasional glitches with the Alexa commands.
Pros
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Vehicle maintenance alerts
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Geofencing
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Mileage tracking
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Low monthly subscription fee
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Real-time vehicle operation alerts
Cons
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Flashing light
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Alexa command glitches
GPS Vehicle Tracker FAQs
Can real-time GPS trackers pinpoint your exact location?
Sometimes. GPS tracking devices triangulate their location by sending and receiving satellite signals. Just like your cell phone, your GPS tracker might also experience some interference that can knock the location accuracy off.
My car GPS tracker says it’s moving when it’s not. Why is this happening?
When you’re in an area with a lot of buildings, your GPS tracker’s signal can bounce off different surfaces and cause false alerts. It can be annoying and worrisome to get an alert in the middle of the night telling you your car has moved from the garage, but it’s not uncommon for this to happen with GPS trackers.
If the alert shows that the car has just moved a short distance, like down the street, it’s usually a false alarm.
Will my GPS tracker still work in rural areas?
If you live in an area where cell service is spotty, then you’ll likely experience some spotty GPS coverage as well.
This doesn’t mean the GPS isn’t working, it just means it’s unable to get the location information to your phone because there aren’t enough cellular towers around to send the signal.
Will my GPS tracker work outside the United States?
It depends on the device you buy. Most of the devices we studied were for US use only, but a few worked outside the US in Canada and Mexico.
If you’re not sure if your device will work outside the country, contact the manufacturer.