AVIS using 3rd party GPS tracker
 

Is it normal for AVIS to have 3rd party GPS trackers installed in their cars? Not talking about built in from the factory, like on-star, etc... but the ones that connect to a battery.

Reason I'm asking, I noticed the other day a car I rented, had a 3rd party GPS tracker connected to a battery.

Yes, it's fairly common for the rental companies to have GPS trackers installed on their cars:

Is Your Rental Car Spying on You? The Story of Connected Rental Cars

Do You Know Where Your Cars Are?

I wonder what would happen if a customer were to disconnect this 3rd party device

Probably nothing as it could be not transmitting for a variety of reasons such as malfunction, dead battery, being in an underground parking garage etc. We'd probably recommend reconnecting it before rental return through so you're not accused of tampering with it.

Many do, but not all. I've got a Dodge Ram 1500 pickup right now that has no app functionality as it's not one of their "connected cars".

On August 8th of this year, Avis Budget Group CEO Larry De Shon said, "We reached the 100,000 connected car level just last week, a significant milestone towards connecting our entire global fleet." Note that this is up from 65,000 vehicles in Q1 2018.

You guys are talking about different type of "connection". The way app communicates with the vehicle, is through the built in system, like on-star, or other similar.

That's not the tracking system I asked about. I asked about a small box, that has a GPS chip in it, connected to the battery, and it tracks the location, that's it. It's not connected to avis app, it's not connected to engine module, to check vehicle status, etc. Just location. The box is not made by the manufacturer, it's a 3rd party tracker, I believe provided by fleetmatics.

Also see the second link we referenced above. There's a quote from an Avis/Budget/Payless franchise in NJ that has 32 locations that do their own thing. You have to keep in mind that while it often looks like one company from the outside, there are corporate locations, licensees, franchisees, etc. They may all be doing things differently, so you can't really make blanket statements about what the policy is for company ABC.

Thanx for the replies. Some interesting things I learned.

So just to reienforce what’s been said for the most part so far. There is a cost $100-$200 per vehicle to install plus monitoring monthly for GPS fleets. This is per a friend of mine that owns two Avis franchises. He said that 100% of his cars have GPS live tracking and will automatically flag a car that has say gone outside of the state or whatever. He also said that most other franchises he knows, at least smaller ones where losing a single car can be a major hit to their fleet also do GPS tracking. I don’t recall the specifics but he makes a lot more renting a car their franchise owns as opposed to a corporate car that was dropped off at his location. Because of the cost reason you can understand why corporate for the most part doesn’t bother with true GPS in most instances BUT as costs continue to go down I’d fully expect for all cars to ultimately have full GPS tracking at some point in the future I’d guess 5-10 years.

Removing Avis Tracker
 

I recently purchased an Avis rental. That’s a whole other story dealing with this MESS of a company. How can I determine if they’ve left some type of tracking device on/in the car? How do I remove it if there is one present? Removal something a novice like me can do or should I have some pro do it? If so, what type of pro? Someone at a Jeep dealership? Someone at a computer fixit shop? Audio shop?

Why would you need to remove a tracking device? If you don't like their policies, find another rental company.

For a moderator, I’m surprised at your response. It wasn’t the least bit responsive so you don’t know. Why respond, then?

‘’oh I see why. You can’t read or comprehend either. I’m not renting. As my FIRST sentence stated in quite simple English, I PURCHASED the car. As to why remove, the car now belongs to me and I don’t need some previous corporate owner or one of their imbecile employees messing around and seeing where my car is currently located. Not any of their business and any device of theirs is not welcome on MY car.

I’ll say goodbye now as I’m sure you’ll delete this and drop my subscription.