# Paid-in-full truck trackedown through OnStar™ **URL:** \ **Category:** General Discussion\ **Created:** [February 7, 2024, 3:41pm UTC](https://community.cartalk.com/t/paid-in-full-truck-trackedown-through-onstar/194333 "2024-02-07T15:41:30Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![Robert-Gift](https://sea1.discourse-cdn.com/cartalk/user_avatar/community.cartalk.com/robert-gift/32/356_2.png) [@Robert-Gift](https://community.cartalk.com/u/Robert-Gift)\ **Post date:** [February 7, 2024, 3:41pm UTC](https://community.cartalk.com/t/paid-in-full-truck-trackedown-through-onstar/194333/1 "2024-02-07T15:41:30Z")
Are all paid-in-full OnStar GPS-equipped vehicles capable of being tracked? > **[Man writes fraudulent $92,000 check, drives away from dealership in a new...](https://www.9news.com/article/news/crime/stolen-truck-dealership/73-f248422d-ab53-4561-a146-e8438db2c3b2)** > > The sheriff recovered the dealership's truck, but they're still looking for Brad Bauer, who is suspected of driving off after writing a fraudulent $92,000 check. ---
**Author:** ![asemaster](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/5f9b8f/32.png) [@asemaster](https://community.cartalk.com/u/asemaster)\ **Post date:** [February 7, 2024, 3:52pm UTC](https://community.cartalk.com/t/paid-in-full-truck-trackedown-through-onstar/194333/2 "2024-02-07T15:52:31Z")
I imagine so. Isn’t that the point of OnStar? That they can find you? When my sister-in-law went into the ditch on a lonely road in the middle of the night and the airbags deployed, OnStar knew where to send aid because they knew where the car was. But you don’t have to have to enable it if you don’t want to. ---
**Author:** ![Mustangman](https://sea1.discourse-cdn.com/cartalk/user_avatar/community.cartalk.com/mustangman/32/44130_2.png) [@Mustangman](https://community.cartalk.com/u/Mustangman)\ **Post date:** [February 7, 2024, 3:57pm UTC](https://community.cartalk.com/t/paid-in-full-truck-trackedown-through-onstar/194333/3 "2024-02-07T15:57:47Z")
ANY On-Star vehicle can be tracked whether you have paid for it or not. The equipment is in the car and can be accessed anytime by OnStar. It can be used for software updates as well as tracking. And the owners signed a piece of paper when they bought the car handing ownership of that data to OnStar. One of those pieces of paper no one ever reads but signs anyway. This excludes, of course, the older cars using 2G or 3G cell technology that is no longer supported by cell phone companies. ---
**Author:** ![PintoKid](https://sea1.discourse-cdn.com/cartalk/user_avatar/community.cartalk.com/pintokid/32/45996_2.png) [@PintoKid](https://community.cartalk.com/u/PintoKid)\ **Post date:** [February 7, 2024, 5:57pm UTC](https://community.cartalk.com/t/paid-in-full-truck-trackedown-through-onstar/194333/4 "2024-02-07T17:57:12Z")
> [@Mustangman](#): > > This excludes, of course, the older cars using 2G or 3G cell technology My '11 Camaro is in that group. ---
**Author:** ![texases](https://sea1.discourse-cdn.com/cartalk/user_avatar/community.cartalk.com/texases/32/862_2.png) [@texases](https://community.cartalk.com/u/texases)\ **Post date:** [February 7, 2024, 6:57pm UTC](https://community.cartalk.com/t/paid-in-full-truck-trackedown-through-onstar/194333/5 "2024-02-07T18:57:40Z")
How else would they be able to track and disable a stolen vehicle? ---
**Author:** ![jtsanders](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/c2a13f/32.png) [@jtsanders](https://community.cartalk.com/u/jtsanders)\ **Post date:** [February 7, 2024, 7:37pm UTC](https://community.cartalk.com/t/paid-in-full-truck-trackedown-through-onstar/194333/6 "2024-02-07T19:37:47Z")
Yes. One of our Cobalts was stolen from my daughter’s home at her university during a football game. We contacted OnStar and they located it quickly. The information was passed onto the police and the car was recovered within 45 minutes of the call to OnStar. ---
**Author:** ![keith](https://sea1.discourse-cdn.com/cartalk/user_avatar/community.cartalk.com/keith/32/5518_2.png) [@keith](https://community.cartalk.com/u/keith)\ **Post date:** [February 7, 2024, 8:55pm UTC](https://community.cartalk.com/t/paid-in-full-truck-trackedown-through-onstar/194333/7 "2024-02-07T20:55:06Z")
Every new vehicle on the market has a tracker in it whether the customer knows about it or not. It is supposed to be a part of the governments smart highway system that is being worked on. In a few years, every vehicle on the road will know exactly where every other vehicle on the road is so they don’t go bump in the night. IIRC it is supposed to start 20 years after the first vehicles started getting them. Of course that doesn’t help vehicles that are over 20 years old or pedestrians that wander out onto the highways. ---
**Author:** ![George\_San\_Jose1](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/e5b9ba/32.png) [@George\_San\_Jose1](https://community.cartalk.com/u/George_San_Jose1)\ **Post date:** [February 7, 2024, 9:17pm UTC](https://community.cartalk.com/t/paid-in-full-truck-trackedown-through-onstar/194333/8 "2024-02-07T21:17:29Z")
I wonder why that fellow thinks he needs a $92K truck? ---
**Author:** ![bing](https://sea1.discourse-cdn.com/cartalk/user_avatar/community.cartalk.com/bing/32/4619_2.png) [@bing](https://community.cartalk.com/u/bing)\ **Post date:** [February 7, 2024, 9:25pm UTC](https://community.cartalk.com/t/paid-in-full-truck-trackedown-through-onstar/194333/9 "2024-02-07T21:25:32Z")
Cars can be tracked but people are a little different. Couldn’t have gotten too far in that snow though on foot. Easy to track people and animals in the snow but you have to want to. Yeah on star switched from 2g so they wanted me to put the app on my phone and pay the monthly fee. I said no thanks. Why would I want to do that? I only used them a couple times to read an error code and tell me to see the dealer for warranty work. I just hid a key so I couldn’t be locked out and the motor club would take care of anything else. The motor club doesn’t track me or listen to my conversations. ---
**Author:** ![texases](https://sea1.discourse-cdn.com/cartalk/user_avatar/community.cartalk.com/texases/32/862_2.png) [@texases](https://community.cartalk.com/u/texases)\ **Post date:** [February 7, 2024, 9:39pm UTC](https://community.cartalk.com/t/paid-in-full-truck-trackedown-through-onstar/194333/10 "2024-02-07T21:39:19Z")
> [@George\_San\_Jose1](#): > > I wonder why that fellow thinks he needs a $92K truck? You wonder why a thief stole something that is expensive? ---
**Author:** ![George\_San\_Jose1](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/e5b9ba/32.png) [@George\_San\_Jose1](https://community.cartalk.com/u/George_San_Jose1)\ **Post date:** [February 7, 2024, 9:48pm UTC](https://community.cartalk.com/t/paid-in-full-truck-trackedown-through-onstar/194333/11 "2024-02-07T21:48:37Z")
If someone was going to make off w/a truck using a fraudulent check, common sense says to choose a mid-price version that doesn’t draw so much att’n, not the $92k model. A thief has got to know that returning a $92k truck is going to be a high priority for both the dealership and the police. ---
**Author:** ![jtsanders](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/c2a13f/32.png) [@jtsanders](https://community.cartalk.com/u/jtsanders)\ **Post date:** [February 7, 2024, 9:49pm UTC](https://community.cartalk.com/t/paid-in-full-truck-trackedown-through-onstar/194333/12 "2024-02-07T21:49:13Z")
A man floats a check to buy a $92K truck. He immediately sells it to a fence that loads it into a shipping container and sends it to, say, Nigeria, and it’s resold to someone that doesn’t car in the least where it came from or how it was procured. ---
**Author:** ![texases](https://sea1.discourse-cdn.com/cartalk/user_avatar/community.cartalk.com/texases/32/862_2.png) [@texases](https://community.cartalk.com/u/texases)\ **Post date:** [February 7, 2024, 9:50pm UTC](https://community.cartalk.com/t/paid-in-full-truck-trackedown-through-onstar/194333/13 "2024-02-07T21:50:54Z")
> [@George\_San\_Jose1](#): > > common sense says to choose a mid-price version that doesn’t draw so much att’n, not the $92k model. Mid price = $60,000. Is that really a difference? ---
**Author:** ![George\_San\_Jose1](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/e5b9ba/32.png) [@George\_San\_Jose1](https://community.cartalk.com/u/George_San_Jose1)\ **Post date:** [February 7, 2024, 9:52pm UTC](https://community.cartalk.com/t/paid-in-full-truck-trackedown-through-onstar/194333/14 "2024-02-07T21:52:14Z")
Ah, so you are thinking this wasn’t a whimsical attempt for the purpose of driving a cool truck around for a week or two? It’s an attempt at hard graft. … Makes sense. I can see what you are saying. ---
**Author:** ![asemaster](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/5f9b8f/32.png) [@asemaster](https://community.cartalk.com/u/asemaster)\ **Post date:** [February 8, 2024, 12:20am UTC](https://community.cartalk.com/t/paid-in-full-truck-trackedown-through-onstar/194333/15 "2024-02-08T00:20:25Z")
> [@George\_San\_Jose1](#): > > I wonder why that fellow thinks he needs a $92K truck? I don’t think that price is particularly out of range, for what I regularly see. People pay that much, even though it seems ridiculous to you and me, and even to the people who sell these pickups. I recently saw a case where a person wrote a check for $94K for a new pickup. 2 months in, the engine blew and needed to be replaced. Customer wanted his money back. In the ensuing arguments, even the dealer verbally stated “Who pays that much money for a truck?” ---
**Author:** ![bing](https://sea1.discourse-cdn.com/cartalk/user_avatar/community.cartalk.com/bing/32/4619_2.png) [@bing](https://community.cartalk.com/u/bing)\ **Post date:** [February 8, 2024, 12:33am UTC](https://community.cartalk.com/t/paid-in-full-truck-trackedown-through-onstar/194333/16 "2024-02-08T00:33:40Z")
There are a lot of holes in the story. Maybe the deposit was just delayed and didn’t have internet service out in the boonies. Sarc. ---
**Author:** ![shanonia](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/9de053/32.png) [@shanonia](https://community.cartalk.com/u/shanonia)\ **Post date:** [February 8, 2024, 1:19am UTC](https://community.cartalk.com/t/paid-in-full-truck-trackedown-through-onstar/194333/17 "2024-02-08T01:19:49Z")
Can this be a paid-in-full truck if the check bounced? ---
**Author:** ![Mustangman](https://sea1.discourse-cdn.com/cartalk/user_avatar/community.cartalk.com/mustangman/32/44130_2.png) [@Mustangman](https://community.cartalk.com/u/Mustangman)\ **Post date:** [February 8, 2024, 4:21pm UTC](https://community.cartalk.com/t/paid-in-full-truck-trackedown-through-onstar/194333/18 "2024-02-08T16:21:07Z")
The last 2 times I bought a car with a check, the dealer called my bank to make sure it was good. So, stupid dealer! ---
**Author:** ![Nevada\_545](https://sea1.discourse-cdn.com/cartalk/user_avatar/community.cartalk.com/nevada_545/32/41232_2.png) [@Nevada\_545](https://community.cartalk.com/u/Nevada_545)\ **Post date:** [February 8, 2024, 6:20pm UTC](https://community.cartalk.com/t/paid-in-full-truck-trackedown-through-onstar/194333/19 "2024-02-08T18:20:28Z")
Put the bank’s phone number on the check, your accomplice answers the call. ![image](https://global.discourse-cdn.com/cartalk/original/3X/8/3/834d5991129704689ef8439a103d9af02c7fbb17.jpeg) ---
**Author:** ![Mustangman](https://sea1.discourse-cdn.com/cartalk/user_avatar/community.cartalk.com/mustangman/32/44130_2.png) [@Mustangman](https://community.cartalk.com/u/Mustangman)\ **Post date:** [February 8, 2024, 9:51pm UTC](https://community.cartalk.com/t/paid-in-full-truck-trackedown-through-onstar/194333/20 "2024-02-08T21:51:57Z")
Both times they asked the name of the bank and called the number they had listed for the bank. Both were at CarMax. [Next page](https://community.cartalk.com/t/paid-in-full-truck-trackedown-through-onstar/194333.md?page=2)