The 5 Best GPS Vehicle Trackers

The Vyncs GPS Vehicle Tracker hits all the marks of good vehicle tracker: unsafe driving alerts, geofencing, and real-time location tracking.

Plus, free roadside assistance and a companion app that can help you track your mileage, which is great if you travel a lot for work.

Vyncs also reminds you of maintenance like wear and tear, battery charge, and recall notices. You can ask Alexa about fuel consumption before work in the morning, and Vyncs even gives you advice on getting better fuel economy.

Overall, it's a great choice you want to keep your car (and its driver) safe and sound for about $100 per year.

Our search for the best GPS vehicle trackers started with investigating top-rated location trackers to see which consistently performed best. We then did our own deep-dig research to see what users were saying about each device so we could choose the best of the best. Check out our full methodology to learn more about how we rank and review products.

Vyncs evaluates your driving to give you a Tip Performance Index (TPI) score that can help you save money on car insurance. Its free companion app, VyncsMiles, is compatible with Amazon Alexa and can track mileage and categorize it by personal and business use.

Vyncs uses one-year plans instead of month-to-month deals. This kind of pricing can save you cash if you're committed to tracking your vehicle's location for awhile.

You can also check out Vync's Basic, Premium, and Pro plans that sweeten the deal with services like roadside assistance. Vyncs also has a Fleet service for commercial customers who  might want to monitor their employees during deliveries or routes.

The OBD plug-in GPS device costs around $75 and comes with a one-year basic plan subscription (and a one-time activation fee of $30). Yearly renewal costs are about the same, which works out to around $6 a month, making it the least expensive GPS on our list.

We don't like that the default refresh time is three minutes—the fastest refresh time (15 seconds) is available only for an added fee. The user interface is also a little tricky to manage.

This tracking device costs around only $20 with a monthly fee of $19.99. You won't have to sign a contract or pay a cancellation fee, but you will have to call the company if you want to cancel.

We like the included driver training program, with access to educational content and practice quizzes to help your teen prep for their driving test.

We also like the daily driving report card on the mobile app, but metrics can be confusing. Speed limits aren't always accurate on Google Maps, so MOTOsafety might say you're speeding even when you're not.

Likewise, normal rapid acceleration—like when you're merging onto a busy highway—can also count against you. We recommend taking it out for a test drive and checking the sensitivity before taking away your teen's car keys for a bad grade on their MOTOsafety driving report.

Check out our full review on MOTOsafety to learn more about this vehicle GPS tracker.

Bouncie plugs into your car's OBD port and offers standard geofencing and real-time alerts for speed, hard braking, and acceleration. It also helps you keep tabs on gas levels, vehicle maintenance, and routine car-related tasks, like annual emissions inspections.

We like that you can use your Amazon Echo to check the gas in your car or ask when your registration is due.

The device also tracks your mileage and stores the data, which is a great feature if you need to track mileage for business purposes.

Bouncie charges only $8 a month for its tracking services. It's a close second to Vyncs when it comes to pricing but without the long-term commitment. If you want to track three vehicles, you'll get a special discounted rate of $20 per month for all three.

The only downsides to this device were the green flashing light that never seems to go off (black electrical tape to the rescue) and some occasional glitches with the Alexa commands.

This tracking device is battery-powered, so you'll need to charge it periodically. The manufacturer claims a two-week battery life, but it's more like eight to ten days.

Monitoring will cost you around $25 a month, and you'll get location updates only every 60 seconds unless you pay more for faster tracking. There are no contracts or cancellation fees, and we like that SpyTec offers a 30-day, no-hassle cancellation policy.

We found the location tracking to be more of a connect-the-dots experience rather than the fluid turn-by-turn that you see from other apps, but it depends on the type of monthly plan you buy. Upgrading to updates every five seconds could smooth it out.

Unlike SpyTec's website-only tracking, the Optimus uses both a website and an app.

Whatever your reasons for wanting to purchase a car GPS tracking device, it's important to make sure you're staying within your legal rights. In most places, as long you're putting the device only on vehicles you own, you're safe. If you want to track a loved one out of genuine concern for their safety and well-being, the best approach is to talk to them about it first.

To make your vehicle even safer, consider other devices like dash cams and rearview (backup) cameras. These devices can improve your viewing angle and keep a valuable record of your time on the road.

Talk to your teenager about driving responsibly before considering a GPS tracker.

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