Car tracking in Kenya: prices, yearly fees and what an Uber car owner needs (2026)

If you own a car that someone else drives on Uber or Bolt, a tracker is one of the cheapest things you can buy to protect it. It shows where the car is and where it has been, it can stop the engine if the car is stolen, and most comprehensive insurers charge a far smaller theft excess on a tracked car.

In 2026 a tracker with installation costs about KSh 8,500 to KSh 15,000, plus a renewal of about KSh 2,500 to KSh 5,000 a year. Some providers charge monthly instead. Here are the real numbers.

Prices from named providers

Prices as listed on each provider's own website on 1 October 2026:

"With airtime" means the provider supplies and tops up the SIM inside the tracker. Without it, you keep a line loaded yourself, and if it runs dry the tracker goes quiet without warning. For a car you are not driving, pay for airtime.

Yearly or monthly fees: the difference over three years

The fee model matters more than the device price. Take iTrack's package with airtime: KSh 10,000 to install, then KSh 3,500 a year to renew. Over three years that is about KSh 17,000.

A monthly plan at TrackAlways' range of KSh 500 to KSh 1,500 a month adds up to KSh 18,000 to KSh 54,000 in fees alone over the same three years, before the device. Monthly plans usually come with fleet dashboards, driver scoring and reports. That suits a company with 20 lorries. For one to five cars on Uber, a yearly plan with an app is usually enough.

Before you pay, ask:

1. Is installation included, and where? Upcountry installation often costs extra.
2. Is the renewal yearly or monthly, and does it include the SIM airtime?
3. How long is the warranty? Most listed packages give 12 months.
4. How long is trip history kept? iTrack, for example, keeps three months.

The features that matter for an Uber car

Live location and trip history. This is the basic feature, and you will use it most. History shows when the car was moving, where it parked overnight and how far it went. It will not show you trips or fares, but it will tell you if a car that "was in the garage all day" was actually out.

Geofence. You draw an area on a map, for example Nairobi and its suburbs, and get an alert when the car leaves it. This is the earliest warning you get of a car heading out of town without your knowledge.

Remote immobiliser. This lets you stop the engine from your phone, usually by cutting the fuel supply. Not every car model is compatible, so ask first. Use it only on a parked car: never cut a car moving in traffic. Agree in writing with the driver when you would use it.

Power-cut and towing alerts. Thieves disconnect the battery or tow the car to strip out the tracker. A unit with a backup battery and a power-cut alert keeps reporting for long enough to matter. CarTech lists power-cut alerts with internal backup, and iTrack lists towing and battery alerts.

Speed alerts. These are useful for a driver who is hard on the car. You set a limit and get a message when the driver goes over it.

Who has access. Make sure you, the owner, hold the account and the password, and not the driver or the dealer who sold you the car. Change the password when a car changes hands.

Tell the driver the car is tracked and put it in your driver agreement. It avoids arguments later, and a driver who knows the car is tracked is less likely to take it on long unpaid trips.

What insurers require

Insurers reward a tracker through the theft excess: the share of the car's value you pay yourself if the car is stolen. Two published policy wordings use the same scale:

These figures are from Standard Chartered Kenya's car insurance terms and the private motor policy sold through Stanbic Bancassurance with Heritage Insurance. On a car valued at KSh 1.5 million, that is KSh 37,500 with a tracker, against KSh 300,000 with nothing fitted. A KSh 10,000 tracker pays for itself many times over on a single theft claim.

Two details catch owners out:

• "Approved" means approved by your insurer. The Heritage wording says "approved car tracking device", and an anti-theft device has to be one "approved by the company from time to time". Ask your insurer for its list before you buy.
• The device must be working. Directline Assurance, a PSV insurer, includes a theft warranty: every insured vehicle must have an anti-theft device fitted and working whenever the car is left unattended. If not, the theft excess rises to 20% of the vehicle's value. A tracker with an expired subscription may count as no device at all.

Some insurers make a tracker a condition of comprehensive cover on more expensive cars. We could not find a published value threshold from any insurer, so ask yours when you get a quote. See our PSV insurance guide and the PSV insurance calculator.

The "mulika mwizi" backup

Some owners hide a cheap phone with an active line in the car as a backup. Kenyans.co.ke put the cost at about KSh 1,000. If the car is stolen, the network provider can help locate the phone. It is a useful extra, not a substitute: thieves who strip the car may find it, and its battery runs out. Use it alongside a proper tracker.

If a car goes missing

Report to the police straight away, give them the tracker's live location rather than going alone, and notify your insurer. Our accident and theft claims guide has the claim steps.

Where Gariboss fits

A tracker tells you where the car is. Gariboss tells you whether the driver paid. Each driver pays the car's daily amount into your own M-Pesa till, payments are matched automatically, and rest and garage days are not counted as owed. Every evening you get a WhatsApp report of who paid and who did not. A car that shows up on the tracker but is missing from the evening report is the one to call about first. If a driver has stopped paying, see what to do.