Now you can control your car by cell phone - Auto-Don develops Rottguard as anti-theft system
Published:Sunday | June 16, 2013 | 12:00 AM
It seemed almost inevitable, given the love of cars and the ubiquity of cell phones in Jamaica. Now you can speak to your car via your mobile, and disable it with the click of a button.
Auto-Don Trading Company Limited, which traditionally supplies motor-vehicle parts and accessories on wholesale terms, has ventured into the vehicle security market in a bid to buttress revenue.
The company has experienced a slowdown in core business since 2012; its new shot at growth is the marketing of Rottguard car alarm and tracker— which can be controlled by mobile phone—to keep track of vehicles using GIS technology.
Auto-Don managing director Donahue Martin said the technology was acquired from unnamed foreign manufacturing sources, who married the alarm and tracker to mobile-phone technology for the first time for Jamaican subscribers. Auto-Don owns the product.
"Rottguard uses the cell phone technology to facilitate communication between your motor vehicle and your personal cell phone. A device is installed in the vehicle and that device has in it a sim card from any cell phone provider in Jamaica," said Martin.
"This device is then programmed by us to communicate with your personal cell phone".
The alarm feature triggers an alert to the cell phone once Rottguard detects tampering.
"It will alert you by both text message and phone call," said Martin.
The alert is activated once the vehicle registers any form of vibration, such as tugging on the car door or a smashed window.
It is also triggered by forced entry, illegal efforts to start the vehicle or other forms of intrusion.
"Upon receiving any of these alerts on the cell phone, it can then be used to immobilise the vehicle's engine. Additionally, you can get the location of your vehicle using your cell phone. This is facilitated by Google Maps," Martin adds.
Subscribers to Rottguard will need a smartphone—any smartphone—to be able to track the location of the vehicle, but otherwise any ordinary mobile phone can be used to communicate with the car, monitor its safety and immobilise the vehicle as necessary.
Martin says Auto-Don, which he owns in partnership with his wife, is one of a very few auto parts wholesalers in the island — the majority being retailers.
The company has operated since 1998.
"We decided to diversify and find some other means of keeping revenue up because of the
slowness of the economy," he told Sunday
Business.
"Our sales did not fall year over
year, but the rate of growth has slowed. On an average, for the last six
to eight years, our annual rate of revenue growth averaged between 25
and 30 per cent. But for 2012 growth was 12 per cent," he
said.
Car owners, he said, are spending less on
repairs and accessories, and are sticking instead to basic
requirements.
The Martins invested $2.5 million on
inventory and other costs for Rottguard, which is retailing at an
introductory price of J$28,000.
The price of the
system will rise to $35,000 in July, Martin said.
"We
are expecting that our sales will continue to surpass the 30 per cent
annual growth rate," he said.
"The very informal
survey that we conducted suggests that a large percentage of the
motorists now stay away from traditional tracking devices because of the
monthly fee attached and, therefore, this is where we believe there
could be a large take-up for what we are offering," he
said.
The auto-parts wholesaler has chosen to enter a
market segment that has been the playground of established security
firms.
Guardsman insists that Rottguard is no
different from other web-based security services on offer
locally.
"The technology has been there for a while.
It's website based, basically," said Vinay Walia, co-managing director
of Guardsman Group of companies "All service providers have it. Costs
vary whether it's web-enabled or not."
Guardsman
charges J$3,000 monthly and installs the equipment free, Vinay
adds.
However, Martin asserts that Rottguard with its
mobile phone control feature is a totally different
system.
"What the others offer is tracking only. We
have combined both the feature of a tracker and car alarm into one
design," he said.
"This allows for a proactive
approach to securing your vehicle. With the other systems, you can only
react and attempt to recover a vehicle that is already stolen. With our
system you are alerted on your phone, wherever you are once your vehicle
is threatened, and you have the power to shut the vehicle
down."
The $28,000 charge, which includes GCT, is a
one-time fee covering installation. There are no monthly
fees.
"You will, however, be required to maintain
credit on the sim card that is installed in the device. We anticipate
that the average user should not consume more than J$150 in credit per
month, unless you chose to play with the device as you would a toy,"
Martin said.
Auto-Don, meantime, plans to distribute
Rottguard through franchise arrangements.
"Since we
are the owners of the brand Rottguard, we will eventually subfranchise
to other auto dealers. We are wholesale distributors of auto parts and
we distribute islandwide. We intend to leverage our existing network of
retailers to distribute islandwide," he
said.