FollowWith the smart technology nowadays, you now can convert your phone into a homing device where you can track your car if it got stolen. This is basically an alternative to an anti-theft car system to protect your car. The only thing that you need to have is a cheap smartphone and a subscribed data plan. Some of the cheap smartphones available nowadays such as Nokia Lumia 610, Samsung Galaxy Mini 2 are affordable and cost around $150 to $200 dollars.
After that you will need to subscribe to a data plan. Just ask around your favourite network operator and ask them for the cheapest data plan that they can offer. This can range from $30 to $50 dollars per month. Now, once you have done all that, the next thing is to download an app that can track your phone accurately. One of my suggestion is the SeekDroid app. It cost around $4.99.
There are many free location app that you can install. Google Map app can also be used as it utilized the GPS of your phone. SeekDroid has the feature of using a website to track your phone. Once you installed it, you need to sign up for the SeekDroid website where it requires you to have a username and password. Make sure you do not lose the username and password. Once all that has been done, all you need to do is just hide the phone in your car (Under the seat, inside the compartment glove etc.).
Make sure you put it in silence mode and keep recharging it once a month depending on the phone battery that you used. And there you have it, a cheap alternative of a car tracking system that you can do it by yourself that requires probably less cost to install compare to a full blown anti-theft car system.