Car trackers and your insurance
Almost everything written about trackers in South Africa is published by someone selling them, which is why it all quotes a recovery rate and a discount as though both were facts. Neither is. What follows is what can actually be checked: when a tracker is a condition of your policy rather than a nice-to-have, which part of your premium it moves, and a calculator that works on your own numbers instead of a borrowed average.
Pocket Nerd editorial · Checked 27 September 2026
The short version
- A tracker is either something your policy requires or something that earns you a discount. Find out which one applies to you, because what happens when you claim is completely different.
- Nobody publishes what the discount is worth. What is consistent is that it comes off the theft portion of your premium, which is the smaller part, not all of it.
- Recovery rates are self-reported and the same company appears with different figures in different places. Treat them as marketing.
- Fit a device your insurer has not approved and you can end up with no discount and a declined theft claim.
Is your tracker required, or is it a discount?
People talk about a tracker as though it is always a way to save money. Often it is not optional at all, and that changes what happens when you claim. These are the two situations, and only one of them is a choice.
Sometimes your policy requires one
Above a certain vehicle value, or on a model that gets stolen a lot, an insurer can make an approved tracker a condition of the policy. That means no tracker, no cover for theft. If it was required and was not fitted, or the subscription had lapsed, the insurer can turn down a theft or hijacking claim.
Sometimes it only earns you a discount
On a lower-value car it is usually optional, and fitting one earns a reduction rather than deciding whether you are covered at all. The reduction is often smaller than people expect, for the reason set out below.
If nobody ever told you a tracker was required
A security condition has to be brought to your attention before the policy starts, not buried in a document you were never walked through. The FAIS Ombud has ordered insurers to settle theft claims they had rejected on security grounds, where the insurer could not show it had properly alerted the client to the requirement. If a tracker condition was never explained to you and a claim is turned down on it, complain to the Ombud rather than accepting the rejection.
Nobody publishes this number
No South African insurer publishes a tracker discount percentage. The figures you find online come from sites that earn a commission on tracker enquiries, and they do not agree: one says 3% to 10%, another 5% to 15%, another up to 35%, none of them showing where the number came from. King Price has said publicly that a tracker may not necessarily change your premium at all.
What is consistent is which part of the premium moves. A tracker affects the theft and hijacking portion of your premium, which is the smaller part, rather than the accident risk that makes up most of it.
So the only figure worth using is the one your own insurer gives you, in writing, for your own car. That is what the calculator below asks for.
Does it pay for itself?
This needs two numbers nobody can look up for you: the discount your insurer quotes and the subscription the tracker company quotes. Get both, then do the sum honestly.
Ask for it as a rand amount off your total monthly premium, in writing. A percentage is easy to misread, because it usually applies to the theft portion rather than the whole premium.
The monitoring fee, not the hardware. This is what most people forget.
Leave it blank if fitting is included in your deal.
If your insurer has made a tracker a condition of the policy, this sum does not really apply. You are not choosing, and the alternative is no cover for theft.
Put in what your insurer would knock off and what the tracker costs a month. Then you will know whether it pays for itself.
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Arithmetic on the figures you enter, not a quote and not advice. Ask your insurer for the saving as a rand amount off your total monthly premium. A percentage quoted against the theft portion alone will make this sum look better than it really is.
Why insurers care in the first place
South Africa recorded 4 420 hijackings in a single quarter, about 48 a day. What you drive changes your exposure a lot, which is why the tracker requirement tends to follow the model rather than the person.
Which models get taken most is the part insurers price on, and it is why a tracker can be compulsory on one car and optional on the same policy for another.
SAPS quarterly crime statistics, October to December 2025. Checked 26 September 2026.
About those recovery rates
Published rates run from about 82% to 100% depending on who is quoting, and the same company turns up with different figures in different places. Here is who claims what.
- Cars.co.za, reporting on the market
- Between 90% and 97% across providers
- Cartrack, described as audited
- About 92% to 93%
- Mtrack, company claim, not independently verified
- About 97%
- Tracker Connect and Netstar
- No figure published
Providers publish their own recovery rates and the same company appears with different figures depending on the source and the year. VESA, the industry body, requires member providers to submit monthly recovery statistics and calculates a rate from them, but it circulates that to insurers rather than publishing a per-company comparison, and it does not present itself as the independent auditor. Several of the largest tracking companies left VESA years ago, so it does not cover the whole market either.
Treat every recovery rate you are quoted as marketing until someone shows you the methodology behind it.
What you can check yourself is more useful anyway: whether the device is on your insurer’s approved list, what the response and recovery service actually promises in writing, and what happens to your subscription if you sell the car.
Four ways people lose the discount, or the cover
Fitting a device your insurer has not approved
Insurers keep approved device and installer lists. Fit something off the list and you can end up with no discount and no valid cover on a theft claim, which is the worst of both outcomes.
Letting the subscription lapse
A tracker is a monthly service, not a once-off purchase. The hardware in the car does nothing if the monitoring contract has stopped, and the policy condition refers to an active service.
Telling the tracking company too late
Policies and tracking contracts set a window for reporting a theft to the tracking company, often a few hours. Claims have been turned down for missing it, even where the vehicle was fitted and paid up.
Assuming it covers the shortfall
Recovery protects the insurer as much as you. If the car is not recovered you are back to your policy payout, and if you owe the bank more than that payout you still owe the difference.
Questions people ask
- Does a tracker reduce car insurance in South Africa?
- Often yes, but nobody can tell you how much. No South African insurer publishes a tracker discount percentage, and the figures circulating online come from sites that earn a commission on tracker enquiries. What is consistent is that a tracker affects the theft and hijacking portion of your premium, which is the smaller part, rather than the accident risk that makes up most of it. Ask your own insurer for the rand amount it would take off your monthly premium.
- Can my insurer refuse a claim because I do not have a tracker?
- Yes, if a tracker was a condition of the policy. Above a certain vehicle value, or on a frequently stolen model, an approved and active tracker can be a requirement rather than an option. If it was required and was not fitted, or the subscription had lapsed, the insurer can decline a theft or hijacking claim.
- Are tracker recovery rates reliable?
- No. Every rate you will see is published by the company selling the tracker, and the same company turns up with different figures depending on who is quoting it. No regulator or industry body publishes an audited comparison, so treat any recovery rate as a marketing claim until someone shows you how they worked it out.
- Does a tracker cover what I still owe the bank?
- No. A tracker improves the chance the car is recovered, but if it is not recovered you receive your normal policy payout. If you owe the bank more than that payout, you still owe the difference, which is what credit shortfall cover is for.
A tracker discount is worth less than a premium that was right to begin with
A discount off a premium that was too high to begin with still leaves it too high, and the tracker discount is the smaller lever. Check what your cover should cost first, then ask about the tracker.
Where this comes from
Hijackings in the quarter: SAPS quarterly crime statistics, October to December 2025. Checked 26 September 2026.
Which part of a premium a tracker affects: JustMoney, quoting King Price on how a tracker affects a premium, 15 May 2022. It is a statement about how premiums are built rather than a price, which is why a 2022 source still holds.
Recovery rate claims: Cars.co.za, on vehicle trackers in South Africa, 13 May 2025, and the providers’ own published figures. The industry body position: VESA, Vehicle Security Association of South Africa, on its recovery rate calculator. Checked 27 September 2026.
We do not publish a discount percentage because no South African insurer publishes one. An earlier version of this page did, and the figures traced back to businesses that earn a commission when you enquire about a tracker.
Your own policy schedule and your insurer are the only authoritative source for whether a tracker is required on your vehicle and what discount applies to you. Ask for it in writing.