Protect your ride

Laranzo Dacres, Sunday Gleaner Writer

While there might be those lurking in the dark and plotting to rob some motorists of their Christmas cheer, private-security companies have devised creative ways to help vehicle owners stay peaceful during the festive season, by offering special packages to new and existing customers who wish to secure their properties.

Valerie Macko, sales executive at Guardsman Alarms told Automotives that the company offers an ongoing promotional package deal for tracking systems, which can be coupled with other services.

"The units and the installation costs are free, but customers are required to pay a monthly monitoring fee," she said.

Macko's comments were echoed by her colleague Antoinette Johnson, sales and client-services manager at Guardsman Alarms. She noted that customers who had a tracking system installed, would automatically qualify for a premium discount on their car insurance.

"The discount is good for all insurance companies, but the discount rates vary from organisation to organisation," Johnson said.

"Through us, customers can also become a member of the Jamaica Automobile Association (JAA) and with just an additional $500 on their monthly rates, those members would be entitled to the full array of services that the JAA provides," she continued.

Jheanelle Thompson, sales executive of Hawkeye Security Limited said that company offered tracking systems and engine immobilisers, can give customers peace of mind.

"We have some really good services and during this season, in particular, persons need to travel with a sense of security. After all with that arrangement, it is one less challenge to worry about," Thompson said.

"At Hawkeye Security we now have specials on vehicle -tracking systems. The devices are free and so is the installation. But, customers will be required to pay $3,000 monthly for the tracking service based on a one-year contract and $1,500 monthly for the second year. Also, we have an engine immobiliser device going at this time at a very low price of $2,500 per unit," she said.

Stolen

Thompson told Automotives that in the first week of this month, about 10 vehicles owned by customers were reported stolen, but all were recovered by their response teams."In fact, we should point out that we recovered all of the vehicles stolen from our customers during this year."

She pointed out that if a car owned by a customer is equipped with Hawkeye's tracking system, the owner can benefit from up to a 20 per cent discount on their insurance premium.

With the Hawk Tracker, Hawkeye's tracking system, Thompson said customers can send a simple text message, with a command, to the company's offices, requesting to be advised of the location of their vehicles.

"We can ascertain if the tracking device has been tampered with, or if the vehicle has been in a collision, and we can disable and enable the vehicle's engine," she said.

John Azar, managing director of King Alarm, said these security systems are important investments for motor vehicle owners, as they prove to be very effective in locating and recovering stolen properties.

"We specialise in vehicle tracking, and for this season customers get the installation of our systems done free of cost. However, the equipment remains the property of our company," Azar told Automotives.

He said at present there is no cost for installing the tracking system, which was usually priced at $16,000. "Right now installation is free. But customers are required to pay monthly fees for monitoring and team response," he added.

"We also offer fleet management systems, which allow our customers to monitor their vehicles using the Internet." Azar said.

Vehicle-tracking systems also come with panic buttons, which also aid in the recovery process.

Berrick Claire, the owner of Autosound and Security, told Automotives that his company has a sale going on car alarms, but that it would end on Christmas Eve. According to Claire, some prices for car alarms have been discounted by up to $3,000.

"Systems like the Clifford G770 are going for $28,000, the K-9 for $9,000 and the Excaliber - which was priced at $20,000 - is now $17,000," Claire said. He said all the prices quoted are inclusive of installation costs, but the discounts were exclusively for the Christmas season.