How To Locate A GPS Tracker On Your Car

9 Sneaky Spots Where To Find GPS Trackers On Your Vehicle

If you're here, we get it. Your car is your private space, and the idea of someone tracking it without your knowledge is unsettling. That feeling is worth taking seriously, and it's worth acting on carefully.

We've spent years helping people work out whether a device is on their vehicle. Below are the nine places a tracker is most likely to be, what makes each one attractive to whoever placed it, and how to check each one properly. Before any of that, though, there's one thing worth reading first.

Each of the nine spots below is judged on the same five things, because they're what determines where somebody actually puts a device:

• Speed of access

  How quickly someone could place a device there without being noticed.

• How well it hides

  Whether a device there would be visible during normal use of the car.

• Signal quality

  Whether a tracker there can reach satellites and a cellular network.

• Power source

  Whether it runs on its own battery or draws power from the vehicle.

• How hard it is to check

  Whether you can search it yourself or need a mechanic to look properly.

1. Inside The Glove Compartment

Start here, because it takes ten seconds to search and it's where a device most often ends up when whoever placed it had brief access rather than planned access. The glove box is usually full of paperwork, a manual, a tire gauge and things nobody has looked at in two years, and a small black box slides into that clutter without standing out.

Reception through the dashboard plastic is fine, so a device here works perfectly well. What makes it a starting point rather than the most likely spot is that it's also the first place anyone thinks to look, which is exactly why it's worth ruling out before you spend an hour under the car.

2. Under The Front Or Passenger Seat

Under the seats is where battery-powered trackers tend to live. The space is completely out of sight from any normal seating position, it's rarely disturbed by cleaning, and the seat frame gives plenty of metal for a magnet or a cable tie to grip.

This is also a spot that rewards a slow search rather than a quick look. Devices here are often pushed up into the seat mechanism or taped to the underside of the base, where a glance from the door tells you nothing.

3. Magnetically Attached Under The Car

This is the classic. A magnetic tracker in a weatherproof case takes about two seconds to attach to the underside of a car in a parking lot, requires no access to the interior at all, and most drivers will never look there in years of ownership.

Reception is better than people expect. Signals reflect off the road surface, and these devices are built with the antenna oriented for exactly this position. The metal to look for is the frame rails, the inside of the bumpers, and the flat areas around the fuel tank, rather than the plastic underbody panels that many modern cars use.

4. The OBD2 Diagnostic Port

A tracker in the OBD2 port never runs out of battery, because the port supplies power whenever the car is on. That single fact makes it the most practical long-term option, and it's why fleets, insurers and lenders use this style of device as standard.

Which is also the reason to think before you react. A device in this port is at least as likely to be a legitimate one you agreed to somewhere in the paperwork as it is to be anything else. Check your lease, finance agreement, insurance policy or employment contract before assuming otherwise, and if it's still unexplained, treat it as unknown and follow the guidance above rather than unplugging it.

The port sits under the dash on the driver's side, within about two feet of the steering wheel. Anything plugged into it, or any device with a cable running from it, is worth photographing.

5. The Center Console

The console is the glove box's twin: easy to reach from the driver's seat, usually holding change, cables and receipts, and lined in plastic that does nothing to block a signal. That makes it a natural spot for someone who had a minute alone in the car rather than an hour.

Most consoles also have a removable tray or a lower cavity beneath the main bin, and that lower space is the part almost nobody empties. Take the tray out rather than lifting the lid and looking in.

6. Inside The Seat Cushions

Seat backs, rear bench cushions and the pockets behind the front seats all take a small device without any visible change. Upholstery and foam don't block a GPS signal meaningfully, so a tracker pushed into a seat pocket or wedged behind a cushion works fine.

This is the one spot where you don't need a light or any equipment. Your hands are better than your eyes here, because you're feeling for something hard in a place where everything should be soft.

7. Hardwired To The Vehicle's Electrics

A hardwired unit is spliced into the vehicle's wiring rather than plugged into anything, which means it has permanent power and no visible connector to notice. Fitting one also takes time and some skill, so it points at somebody with prolonged access to the car rather than a minute in a parking lot.

Worth saying plainly: if this is a company vehicle, a hardwired tracker is probably a fleet device and it's probably lawful. GPS tracking of company-owned vehicles is legal in all 50 states, and several states, including Connecticut, Delaware, New York, New Jersey and Rhode Island, require employers to give advance written notice rather than obtain consent. Check what you were given at hiring before assuming anything.

8. Under The Spare Tire

The spare tire well is a sealed, weather-protected cavity that most owners open once, when the car is new, and then never again. That combination of accessible from the trunk but never inspected makes it one of the better hiding places on this list.

Metal around the well gives a magnet something to grip, and the trunk floor above provides cover without the exposure of the undercarriage. If somebody had a few unhurried minutes with your trunk open, this is where a device would go.

9. Inside The Wheel Wells

Wheel wells sit right on the boundary between inside and outside. Someone can reach one while crouching beside a parked car in a way that reads as tying a shoelace, and there's a surprising amount of concealed space behind the plastic liner and up around the suspension components.

Devices placed here are built for it: sealed against water, magnetically mounted, with an antenna designed to work despite the metalwork around them. All four wells are worth checking, not just the two on the driver's side.

What To Do If You Actually Find One

Finding a device you can't account for is the point at which this stops being a search and starts being a situation. The order below matters more than the speed.

Whether taking a device off is lawful depends on who put it there and why, and getting that wrong can cause problems of its own. We've covered it separately in is it illegal to remove a GPS tracking device from a car, and it's worth reading before you decide.