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How to Find a Hidden GPS Tracker on Your Car
GPS trackers are useful devices for monitoring the location of assets, such as vehicles, to prevent theft and recover them. They can also be essential for the safety and monitoring of loved ones, such as children or elderly relatives — with their consent, of course.
But what happens when you discover someone is tracking your location without your knowledge? Someone can attach a GPS tracker to your vehicle, especially a small device that’s easy to hide or disguise. Knowing how to find a hidden GPS tracker on your car could help give you peace of mind if you're concerned that someone could be tracking you.
Why Would Someone Hide a GPS Tracker on Your Car?
There are a number of reasons why you may find a GPS tracker on your car. GPS tracking devices offer real-time location information and help someone understand your daily movements. Someone may want this data for the following reasons:
Corporate or Fleet Management
Your employer may place GPS trackers in all company vehicles. In many states, companies have the right to track corporate vehicles but not your personal vehicle.
The good news is that fleet managers usually only want to monitor driving behaviors, fuel consumption, and location data. If you’re using your vehicle as agreed with your employer, you shouldn’t have anything to worry about.
Driving Behavior Monitoring
If you’re a young or inexperienced driver, your parents may have decided to monitor your driving. By placing a tracker in your car, they can see where you’re going and if you’re regularly speeding or taking dangerous routes.
While this type of tracking comes from a good place, emotionally speaking, it’s still not right to track you without your consent.
Suspicions of infidelity
Sadly, not all relationships are trusting. You may find a GPS tracker on your car because your spouse or partner suspects you of infidelity or some other nefarious behavior. In some cases, they may have hidden the tracker themselves. Others may have hired a private investigator (PI) to install the tracking device. Statistics show that 21.5% of “cheaters” are caught by their partners, a figure that may encourage mistrustful spouses to engage in behaviors like tracking.
It’s important to note that tracking someone without their consent can lead to criminal charges, including stalking or harassment. State laws vary on this. For example, in Alaska, it’s illegal to track a vehicle without consent, and incidents of this are punished as a Class A misdemeanor. If found guilty, the person doing the tracking could end up with a jail sentence of up to a year and a hefty fine — up to $25,000. However, in New Hampshire, while non-consensual tracking is also illegal, the maximum prison sentence is 90 days, and the largest fine is $1,000.
If you find a GPS tracker in your car, depending on the circumstances, you may want to alert the authorities or take legal action.
There are plenty of perfectly valid reasons why you may have a GPS tracker in your car, but in most of these cases, you would have placed the tracker there yourself. These may include:
- Remembering where your car is parked
- Theft prevention
- Logging miles driven to claim expenses
Types of GPS Trackers That Could Be Hidden in Your Car
There are three main types of GPS trackers that you might find inside or even on the outside of your vehicle. Many are small and discreet, requiring a careful search to uncover them. Some, as you’ll see, are even hidden within the car’s systems.
Hardwired GPS Trackers
A GPS tracker can be connected directly to your car's electrical system, making it extremely hard to detect. The good news is that because these trackers require installation you're less likely to find one of these type of devices. Most individuals wouldn't have the necessary resources to install this type of tracker in your car.
Battery-Powered GPS Trackers
If you find a hidden GPS tracker in your car, it will likely be a portable, battery-powered device.
These devices can be very small with very powerful magnets, allowing someone to place them where you might never look under normal circumstances. For example, if the tracking party knows that you don’t do any vehicle maintenance yourself, they may place a tracker under the hood of the car. Other spots include under the vehicle, inside speakers or small compartments, or even hidden behind interior fabric.
Many of these devices have long battery life, so someone could place a tracker and then monitor you for days or even weeks. However, once the battery dies, they won’t be able to access your location data.
OBD-II Port GPS Trackers
Some GPS trackers plug directly into a vehicle’s OBD-II port, negating the need for charging. The OBD-II port is a small connector, usually used for linking a computer to the car to diagnose faults. It’s also useful for connecting telematics devices and GPS trackers. The port itself may be under the dash or near the steering column so you may not always notice a new device installed there.
Because these trackers don’t require charging, someone could potentially track your location indefinitely. However, because they can only connect to the OBD-II port, you know exactly where to look to check if this type of tracker is in your car.
Most Common Places to Find a Hidden GPS Tracker
An overview of the most likely locations where GPS trackers are hidden in vehicles, explaining why these spots are frequently chosen.
There are many places where a GPS tracker could be hidden. As stated, the OBD-II trackers are the hardest to hide because they only work when connected to that port. Other trackers are easier to conceal, especially the hardwired variants. These are often tiny devices hidden within the existing car wiring. However, they will usually be in easy-to-access locations as it’s rare that someone would have access to your car for long enough to hide it too deeply within the system.
Magnetic, battery-powered trackers may be hidden anywhere that metal is accessible on the car, including:
- Under the body of the car
- In the trunk
- Under the hood, including on the engine itself
- Inside a wheel well
- In an interior compartment
- Between a seat and the body of the car
- Under a car seat
- Inside any internal compartment
- Between upholstery fabric and the roof of the car
Remember, if someone is tracking you illicitly, they will have had very little time to place the tracker, which means it's usually in a place that's relatively easy to access.
Tips for Finding Hidden GPS Trackers
With that in mind, finding a small, detachable GPS tracker on your car can be fairly simple — although it may also be time-consuming. Use a mirror and a flashlight to help you see in dark spaces, like under the car.
Start with areas of the car that are easy to access. Use the list above as a reference guide. You’re looking for anything that appears out of place or is easily removable. While many of these devices have strong magnets, you should be able to grasp the tracker and pull it off your car. In rare cases, it may be attached using cables. For your peace of mind, refer to your vehicle’s manual to double-check this is not an actual component of your car. If you’re confident that you’ve found a hidden GPS tracker, you can take action to remove it.
Finding an OBD-II tracker is much simpler. Simply look up where the OBD-II port is in your car and check for any connected devices.
Hardwired GPS trackers are much harder to find. If you don’t have any knowledge of your car’s wiring system — as most drivers won’t — consider hiring an auto-electrician to check over your car’s wiring and check that everything is as it should be.
You can also invest in a “bug sweeping” device. These machines actively look for the signals produced by GPS trackers to help you locate them faster. However, they can be expensive.
How to Disable or Turn Off a GPS Tracker
Once you find a GPS tracker in your car, your next step is removing it or disabling it — or both. Follow these tips to safely remove most types of hidden GPS trackers.
Removing a Battery-Powered GPS Tracker
Some small, portable trackers have an on-off switch. It should be simple and intuitive to power one down into a standby mode. If you can’t find the off switch or there doesn’t appear to be one, you can simply remove the device and keep it somewhere until the battery dies. Once the battery life is depleted, the person tracking you can no longer access your real-time location data.
Disabling an OBD-II GPS Tracker
OBD-II trackers should stop working once you remove them from the port. If lights continue to flash, indicating a continuous stream of location data, again, place the device somewhere innocuous until it runs out of power. Follow these steps to remove an OBD-II port GPS tracking device:
- Locate your OBD-II port
- If a device is connected, carefully disconnect the wires from the port
- Store the device safely until needed, e.g., by the authorities
Disconnecting a Hardwired GPS Tracker
Disabling a hardwired GPS tracker can be more challenging. You shouldn’t attempt to cut or modify the wires in your car unless you are qualified to do so. A mechanic or auto-electrician should be able to safely disconnect this type of tracker for you.
Using Signal Jammers to Block GPS Trackers
You may be able to buy a GPS signal jammer. These connect to your car’s power supply and effectively override the GPS signals, interrupting the stream of real-time location data. These are an excellent temporary solution if you’re struggling to find or remove the tracking device.
If you’re planning on taking legal action, take photos of any trackers while they’re in place on your car and keep the devices in a safe place. You may need them as evidence later.
Protecting Your Privacy by Detecting Hidden GPS Trackers
Your privacy is a human right and as such, knowing how to find hidden GPS trackers on your car is an essential skill if you believe someone could be monitoring you. Advanced tracking devices can be hidden in so many places on your vehicle, so regular sweeps for trackers can help provide peace of mind and security.
Contact your employer directly if you believe they’ve tracked your vehicle without consent.
And, if you feel threatened or even uncomfortable at any point, contact the police and give them any information you have that’s led you to believe you may be being monitored or tracked. Your efforts to find and remove GPS trackers on your vehicle could make their job much easier.
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