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Stolen Vehicle Finder kinda Useless

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Old 05-20-2019, 06:23 AM
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Default Stolen Vehicle Finder kinda Useless

I wanted to share what happened last week. It was a false alarm but worth sharing. The wife "thought" she lost the car in Newark Airport (as expected - she just misplaced it)

Both the police and I called the Stolen Vehicle Locator (number in the My Audi App) only to be told that without a police report number they couldn't help us. Even after the copy explained the car could be on a boat in the port of Newark getting chopped by the time he got a number, they refused to help. While I understand certain protocol, this is a major fail on Audi's part.
Old 05-20-2019, 06:27 AM
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Originally Posted by zoepup
I wanted to share what happened last week. It was a false alarm but worth sharing. The wife "thought" she lost the car in Newark Airport (as expected - she just misplaced it)

Both the police and I called the Stolen Vehicle Locator (number in the My Audi App) only to be told that without a police report number they couldn't help us. Even after the copy explained the car could be on a boat in the port of Newark getting chopped by the time he got a number, they refused to help. While I understand certain protocol, this is a major fail on Audi's part.
Maybe that’s why my dealer automatically installs Lo-Jack?

Every New Audi on their lot has a “Lo-Jack installed” sticker on the windshield. Must be a good “Added Dealer Profit” (ADP) item to tack on.

When I ordered mine I told my salesman I neither wanted nor would pay for that service. AFAIK, that’s something installed either at the port or at the dealership.

— John
Old 05-20-2019, 07:06 AM
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Originally Posted by Nikon1
Maybe that’s why my dealer automatically installs Lo-Jack?

Every New Audi on their lot has a “Lo-Jack installed” sticker on the windshield. Must be a good “Added Dealer Profit” (ADP) item to tack on.

When I ordered mine I told my salesman I neither wanted nor would pay for that service. AFAIK, that’s something installed either at the port or at the dealership.

— John
Lo-Jack would be installed after arriving at the dealer. The only items installed at the port are "official" Audi accessories like Audi Beam Rings in the door, Audi spoiler, carbon fiber trim, etc. Lo-Jack usually requires one of their installers to go out for the install and there are some dealers that have a contract where Lo-Jack comes out on a regular schedule (like every week or every other week) and installs a unit on every new arrival. Then when the car is sold it is up to the finance department to "sell" the Lo-Jack service to the customer. If they sell it, that Lo-Jack unit is "activated" with Lo-Jack and if the customer declines, the Lo-Jack is still in the car, but never registered with Lo-Jack so if the car is ever stolen in the future it will never link with law enforcement that the car has Lo-Jack installed.

Last edited by heisnuts; 05-20-2019 at 07:10 AM.
Old 05-20-2019, 07:43 AM
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Maybe I'm missing something, but at least on my audi app, I can access the vehicle location at any time on the second tab on the bottom. I'm assuming you tried this?
Old 05-20-2019, 07:44 AM
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Why would you need the stolen vehicle locator when the App can tell you where the car is? Does the stolen vehicle locator show you more information?
Old 05-20-2019, 08:31 AM
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Originally Posted by jhstl
Maybe I'm missing something, but at least on my audi app, I can access the vehicle location at any time on the second tab on the bottom. I'm assuming you tried this?
If you are under the 6 month free trial period for Audi Connect, or paid for a subscription after that, you will have the vehicle locate feature. That goes away once the trial period or subscription has expired.

Both the Audi Stolen Vehicle Locator and Lo-Jack will require a police report number to start tracking a stolen car.
Old 05-20-2019, 08:46 AM
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Originally Posted by heisnuts
If you are under the 6 month free trial period for Audi Connect, or paid for a subscription after that, you will have the vehicle locate feature. That goes away once the trial period or subscription has expired.
Audi recently enabled the Vehicle Locator feature free of charge. I've been using it.
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Old 05-20-2019, 08:49 AM
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Originally Posted by heisnuts
If you are under the 6 month free trial period for Audi Connect, or paid for a subscription after that, you will have the vehicle locate feature. That goes away once the trial period or subscription has expired.

Both the Audi Stolen Vehicle Locator and Lo-Jack will require a police report number to start tracking a stolen car.

I believe they made some changes not too long ago where they moved some Audi Connect pay features to the base free package (Connect Care) which included the car finder feature:

https://www.audiusa.com/technology/i...e/audi-connect
Old 05-20-2019, 09:33 AM
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Let me get this right, you want the cops to look for your wife's car because she forgot where she parked it and thought someone had stole it. It is a good thing a police report is needed to save a lot of wasted time and effort.
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Old 05-20-2019, 11:41 AM
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Originally Posted by The G Man
Let me get this right, you want the cops to look for your wife's car because she forgot where she parked it and thought someone had stole it. It is a good thing a police report is needed to save a lot of wasted time and effort.
G man. From what I can tell it’s apparent his wife was not intentionally trying to waste the polices time she genuinely thought her car had been stolen; it’s a scary feeling. I don’t understand why Audi didn’t make the lock feature beep louder and the key fob be able to work more than 20 dam feet away from the car. The whole point of his post was to let other owners know if their car is actually stolen, they will have to file a police report (which takes some times) and by that time it might already be on a ship to Africa.

Here in canada, car locate is included with the Audi connect package as stated above. It all works through the myAudi app...however unlike bmw and Benz, for some reason Audi won’t give us free remote starting, but I guess can’t complain about free stuff.


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