People ask this like it is a choice between two products. It is not. An immobilizer and a GPS tracker do different jobs, and the honest answer is that a modern car needs the strengths of both. Let us walk through what each one actually does, where it stops working, and how to cover the gap.
What a factory immobilizer does well
Nearly every car built in the last twenty-five years has an immobilizer built in. It works by refusing to start the engine unless it detects the correct key transponder. Before immobilizers were standard, a thief could pop the steering column, cross two wires, and drive off. That method is basically dead now, and the immobilizer is why. Hot-wiring an average modern car simply does not work.
So give the factory immobilizer real credit. It closed off the oldest theft method in the book, and it does it silently, every time, with no input from you. If a thief with a screwdriver and no key tries the old approach, they get nothing.
Where the immobilizer stops working
Here is the problem. Thieves stopped trying to beat the immobilizer and started going around it instead.
The two big methods both use your own car against you. In a relay attack, thieves stand near your house with a device that captures the signal from your key fob indoors, relays it to the car, and starts it as if the real key were present. In a straight key theft, they take the key in a burglary or a carjacking. In both cases the immobilizer is perfectly happy, because it sees a valid key signal. It was never designed to ask whether the person holding that signal is you.
And an immobilizer does nothing at all against towing. A flatbed or a tow truck lifts the car off the ground and drives away with the engine off. No start, no immobilizer involvement, gone in ninety seconds. Read how thieves steal keyless cars and flatbed tow-away theft to see how routine both have become.
Where a monitored tracker fits
This is the gap a GPS tracker closes. An immobilizer tries to stop the engine starting. A monitored tracker assumes the car might leave anyway and makes sure you get it back, and the stronger tiers stop the theft in the first place.
The word that matters is monitored. A basic tracker just pings your phone, which is no use at 3am. With ScorpionTrack, your vehicle reports to our Secure Operating Center 24 hours a day. If it moves when it should not, our team sees it, contacts you to confirm, and coordinates recovery with law enforcement. We contact you, you do not notify us. You do not have to be awake to be protected.
The layered answer
Keep the factory immobilizer. It is doing its job. Add a monitored tracker for everything the immobilizer cannot see:
- ScorpionTrack Standard gives you hardwired, 24/7 monitored recovery, including against towing.
- ScorpionTrack Secure adds two Automatic Driver Recognition tags, so a relay or key theft is flagged the moment the car moves without a tag present, exactly the attack the factory immobilizer misses.
- ScorpionTrack Elite adds remote immobilization, so a live theft can be stopped, not just chased. Prevention beats recovery. See how remote immobilization works.
Every tier is insurance approved and British engineered, protecting vehicles since 1973.
The bottom line
An immobilizer is a locked front door. It is worth having, and it stops the crude attacks. But thieves have keys to that door now, through relay, theft and towing. A monitored tracker is the alarm company that watches the whole house and calls when someone gets in. You want both. Compare the tiers on our products page, or get in touch to arrange professional fitting.