Apple Airtag

twojman

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Jun 1, 2006
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We bought a new to us vehicle one week ago. Tonight when I pulled into our driveway I had an alert pop up on my Motorola phone that said there was a tracking device nearby. I clicked on it and it said there was an apple airtag near me. I hit a button to play/connect to it and I can hear it beeping in the car! The airtag seems to be on the interior passenger side somewhere near the center portion by where your lower left leg would be.

Any ideas or do you want to take bets on what and why it is there?

I did have the police come over and they opened up a case number for me. He was not able to find it either but we are both thinking the same area for its location. I didn't want to start tearing apart the interior and not being able to put it back together. He did ask if I had a crazy ex-wife/lover or if someone has a vendetta against me. I let him know I'm a pretty boring guy...
 
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NWICY

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Sep 2, 2012
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We bought a new to us vehicle one week ago. Tonight when I pulled into our driveway I had an alert pop up on my Motorola phone that said there was a tracking device nearby. I clicked on it and it said there was an apple airtag near me. I hit a button to play/connect to it and I can hear it beeping in the car! The airtag seems to be on the interior passenger side somewhere near the center portion by where your lower left leg would be.

Any ideas or do you want to take bets on what and why it is there?

I did have the police come over and they opened up a case number for me. He was not able to find it either but we are both thinking the same area for its location. I didn't want to start tearing apart the interior and not being able to put it back together. He did ask if I had a crazy ex-wife/lover or if someone has a vendetta against me. I let him know I'm a pretty boring guy...

Maybe someone was tracking the owner before you? No idea why it wouldn't have shown up sooner. Tech isn't my strong point.
 

3TrueFans

Just a Happily Married Man
Sep 10, 2009
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We bought a new to us vehicle one week ago. Tonight when I pulled into our driveway I had an alert pop up on my Motorola phone that said there was a tracking device nearby. I clicked on it and it said there was an apple airtag near me. I hit a button to play/connect to it and I can hear it beeping in the car! The airtag seems to be on the interior passenger side somewhere near the center portion by where your lower left leg would be.

Any ideas or do you want to take bets on what and why it is there?

I did have the police come over and they opened up a case number for me. He was not able to find it either but we are both thinking the same area for its location. I didn't want to start tearing apart the interior and not being able to put it back together. He did ask if I had a crazy ex-wife/lover or if someone has a vendetta against me. I let him know I'm a pretty boring guy...
The easy answer is so the previous could find it, either to find where they parked it or they were concerned about it being stolen and they forgot about it when they traded it in or sold it.

The unfortunate answer is they're standing right behind you.
 

twojman

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Jun 1, 2006
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I've got a couple of theories but I wanted to get some other thoughts too. One involves the previous owner but hasn't been mentioned yet.
 

RustShack

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Could the dealership put them in their cars and forgot to take it out? Or maybe it’s something the just started doing and didn’t think to take it out?

Was the car left unlocked where someone could have put it in after you bought it?

Does your wife not trust you and put it in?

Previous owner live in a sketchy neighborhood or sell drugs?
 

twojman

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Jun 1, 2006
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Could the dealership put them in their cars and forgot to take it out? Or maybe it’s something the just started doing and didn’t think to take it out?

Was the car left unlocked where someone could have put it in after you bought it?

Does your wife not trust you and put it in?

Previous owner live in a sketchy neighborhood or sell drugs?
That's one of my theories.
 
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RustShack

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Or the person who sold it plans to steal it, paint it, change the vin, sell it, rinse and repeat.
 

Clonehomer

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Apr 11, 2006
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Previous owner used it for a lowjack device? Pretty cheap solution for finding stolen cars if that’s a thing in your neighborhood.

Or maybe just tracking their kid that’s driving.
 
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twojman

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Jun 1, 2006
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I emailed the salesman last night and I'm going to the dealership today. Hopefully it is theirs. Previous owner could have had a crazy ex of some sort too...
 

Agclone91

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Feb 5, 2011
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Pretty unlikely the dealership would use air tags IMO. They would more than likely use fleet tracking devices that plug into the OBD port.

Most logical explanation is the previous owner used it to track the location of their own car, otherwise anyone else driving (ex, child, etc) would have received the same unknown device notifications you did.

I don't know much about them, but don't they have some sort of battery that would need to be charged or replaced? I can't think it's hidden in too deep of a location if so.
 
Last edited:

Tailg8er

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Feb 25, 2011
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I'm guessing someone was carrying the air tag for some reason & it slipped out of their pocket between the seats. They probably never even knew it fell out in the car.
 
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Jer

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Feb 28, 2006
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The easy answer is so the previous could find it, either to find where they parked it or they were concerned about it being stolen and they forgot about it when they traded it in or sold it.

The unfortunate answer is they're standing right behind you.
The beeps are coming from inside the car!


That's a reference to the original Scream movie 20 years ago for you young snappers.
 

twojman

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Jun 1, 2006
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  • Wow
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