AVT Sentinel™ uses a combination of GSM/GPRS mobile phone technology and GPS satellite technology to locate your vehicle with an accuracy of around 5 metres in the event of it being stolen. Unlike other systems that rely on an expensive ongoing payment for monitoring services, Sentinel™ uses the Vodafone network to send a text with your vehicle's current position directly to your mobile phone.

You can also see your vehicle's latest and historical positions updating live on a moving map on the internet or even on your mobile phone. Demo Vehicle

As well as being able to inform the police of your vehicle's position when reporting it stolen, you can also enable Sentinel™ to allow your vehicle's position to be seen on a web browser simply by entering it's registration number and a password. If the police controller wants to use this facility via their existing internet access, it is there.

Being able to tell the police the exact location of your vehicle gives them the opportunity to apprehend the thieves if they are still with the vehicle, or to make sure that the vehicle is secure and not a hazard to other traffic if already abandoned. The police know that a stolen vehicle is often driven badly or at excessive speed and is a hazard to other road users, but attempting to find most stolen vehicles is like looking for a needle in a haystack and can become a low priority. With Sentinel™ tracking the vehicle, they can know exactly where the vehicle is on a second-by-second basis and therefore it is practical for a patrol car in the area to be directed to intercept it. Not only does this remove potentially dangerous drivers from the road, but they might also arrest the thief which can only help improve 'clear-up rates'.

AVT Sentinel™ uses the Vodafone network, giving superb coverage thoughout the UK and Europe, and operates with an inbuilt PAYT (pay as you talk) SIM card avoiding monthly subscription costs. (Your own phone can be connected to any network. It doesn't have to be with Vodafone.) By using the latest generation of mobile phone and GPS receiver modules from Siemens, Sentinel™ is extremely sensitive and can obtain an accurate position in areas where a normal handheld GPS or Satnav unit will struggle.

You don't even need to discover your vehicle is missing - it can tell you! If your vehicle is moved without being started, or moves outside of a 'fenced area' even if started with the key, you are sent a text message and the unit starts tracking. The 'fenced area' can be set or reset as required with a simple text message - ideal for airport car parks, for example.

Other than the initial purchase price, if Sentinel™ is quietly protecting your vehicle, then the ongoing costs are less than £4 per year, these being the cost of an occasional message to the AVT servers to keep the SIM card active and to tell you that the unit is working. Even if your vehicle is stolen and the unit is activated, the costs only amount to about 30p per hour of tracking. A full list of text and data costs are shown here.