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An online article I read mentioned that last week Good Morning America did a story about how some car dealers are installing GPS tracking devices on the cars that they sell to people who do not have good credit. The idea is that this is a preventative measure: the car dealers will be able to easily find the cars in the event that they need to repossess them.

At least one columnist took no issue with this practice, commenting that if a car dealer was going to risk selling a car to an individual with bad credit, they need to have some way to protect themselves.

I do have one question though–Why not install GPS tracking devices on ALL cars then? Yes, experts will tell you that a credit store indicates spending patterns and habits, but one never knows. A person with good credit could also fall on hard times. Even with their good habits, they may find themselves unable to keep up with the expense of the car.

The same columnist, however, did find a thorny issue in this practice–disclosure. Is it fair for a car dealer to install a GPS tracking device on a car? Yes. Is it fair for a car dealer to install a GPS tracking device on a car and not give the buyer any indication that the device is there?

This same issue pops up when parents decide to track their teens driving habits using a GPS tracking device. But in the case of teens and parents, teens are under a parent’s guardianship and parents can use GPS tracking to keep teens out of harm’s way.

It gets a little trickier when we discuss GPS tracking and adults who are buying and selling a product like a car. There are some privacy issues at work here. For the most part a car dealer who installs GPS tracking devices on cars they sell is concerned with asset protection. It is unlikely that they will be snooping to figure out where you are going. But with the surveillance that GPS tracking provides, an unscrupulous care dealer might be able to do just that.

Rocky Mountain Tracking has GPS devices, such as the Smart Track solution that can be activated (and therefore only incur tracking charges) when you need to find a vehicle. Smart Track is a low- cost way to keep up with a vehicle without constantly monitoring it.