What is this? Mystery box on used Rubicon.

[Zero_Accel]

So my dad just took delivery of a new to him Gladiator Rubicon. I was giving the truck an inspection after unloading from the flatbed after buying online, found it plugged into the OBDII port, tucked away behind the kickout panel. Doesn't look like any programer that I've seen. Bought the truck from Vroom, so no shady buy here pay here nonsense. Left over tracker from the first owner?

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[SSinGA]

It's a GPS tracker according to the FCC ID

 

[In3briatedPanda]

100% leftover. Google Kahu......same thing.

I

 

[93civej1]

GPS tracker.

 

[TheGrendel]

yep. very, very common these days for stealerships to not only sneak those in but charge you extra for the pleasure. Gulf States Toyota is notorious for this.

 

[ShadowsPapa]

LOL - ANOTHER one!
There's what, 4 threads on it, a couple of them quite long........

https://www.jeepgladiatorforum.com/...”-found-what-is-this.53857/page-2#post-882566

https://www.jeepgladiatorforum.com/forum/threads/what-the-heck-is-this-mystery-device.33321/

 

[FLGladiator]

The scammy dealers install this, call it Lojack and charge you an extra 1.5k along with their paint protections.

 

[ShadowsPapa]

The scammy dealers install this, call it Lojack and charge you an extra 1.5k along with their paint protections.

Hmmm, not always.
The dealer mine came from puts them in everything and they've never tried to sell me anything like theft protection. Mine was special order and it had one.
On the other hand, another dealer installs accessories on Jeeps and does list "theft protection" in that list.
I've seen it called "vehicle recovery" in other dealer window stickers.
There seem to be multiple reasons.
Why did mine have it when the deal was already done?
Seems to vary, and it almost looks like every vehicle that comes in gets one.

But then, that's been covered ad nauseum in the other threads about this exact same thing.

 

[AXISJT]

My dealer also tried to sell me on it and tried to say they had to leave it in. Told them take it out or i walk and it came out pretty quick

 

[rharr]

MOD, can we do a sticky called what this odd box plugged into my OBDII port? and merge all these threads together, they come up almost every week.

 

[ShadowsPapa]

My dealer also tried to sell me on it and tried to say they had to leave it in. Told them take it out or i walk and it came out pretty quick

You can take it out. No big deal. Most just plug in as a piggyback or inline of the OBD port cable.
Mine came unstrapped and dropped by my left foot. I got home and took it out. I still have it in a cabinet, no idea why, I guess I'm a hoarder or something.

Agreed, there's at least 4 of these threads, maybe others I've not seen, that need to be merged into one, or at least daisy-chained together.

If you can unplug the charger cable from your phone, or connect your phone USB to the truck, you can probably remove these as you have the skill ;-)

 

[FLGladiator]

Hmmm, not always.
The dealer mine came from puts them in everything and they've never tried to sell me anything like theft protection. Mine was special order and it had one.
On the other hand, another dealer installs accessories on Jeeps and does list "theft protection" in that list.
I've seen it called "vehicle recovery" in other dealer window stickers.
There seem to be multiple reasons.
Why did mine have it when the deal was already done?
Seems to vary, and it almost looks like every vehicle that comes in gets one.

But then, that's been covered ad nauseum in the other threads about this exact same thing.

I would imagine it's got a higher rate of repossession then the usual 6% so rather than paying high skip trace fees which can run in the thousands, they do this automatically to every car coming in. With that, surely many use it as a reason to upcharge as an accessory. If they manage to sell 1, it covers some of the cost of those devices. The only 2 possible reasons for installing that device is skip trace or selling data. These days they may have contracts with companies like Palantir or others for the drivers data, who knows.

 

[Shopshirt]

...or the back lot guys that work at the Dealership (Tinfoil hat on)

 

[AmishMike]

 

[redrider]

How many pages will THIS well-worn subject run to?

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