Motorbike trackers in South Africa: prices, insurer rules and theft figures

How much does a motorbike tracker cost?

You pay for it in one of two ways. A tracker on a plan is paid every month of the contract: our motorbike deals start from R89pm, and every plan in our quote form includes free installation and a 36-month contract. Scooters are quoted as motorbikes. A self-monitored GPS tracker is bought once. At Takealot we found a waterproof GPS tracker listed for motorcycles and electric vehicles at R262, and at Makro a small motorbike and vehicle GPS tracker with an “oil cut relay” at R3 060.^1,2

The monthly fee pays for the service behind the device. King Price’s glossary puts it plainly: “Bike trackers transmit location for recovery operators.”¹⁰ With a self-monitored tracker, watching it and finding the bike are up to you. We found no figure for fitting a bike tracker on its own from a source that isn’t a tracking company, so we don’t give one.

Do you need a tracker to insure a motorbike?

Only if your insurer asks for one, and most decide bike by bike. MiWay is the one insurer we found that publishes a value: “If the value of your motorcycle is R180 000 or more, you can only get cover for theft and hijack if you have a Miway-approved tracking device on your bike.”³ Its policy counts a motorcycle among its Miwheels, so the clause that makes theft and hijack cover “conditional upon the security devices, as declared by me and noted on my Coversheet” applies to a bike too.⁴

King Price’s motorbike section says “You may need to fit an anti-theft device to your motorbike, the details of which will be confirmed with you at the inception of your cover, and will also be noted on your policy schedule.”⁵ Discovery Insure gives no cover unless you install “all stipulated security, tracking or recovery devices” and keep them working,⁶ and OUTsurance says you “may need to fit additional anti-theft devices”, or can “pay an additional premium for theft and hijack cover rather than installing the required devices”.⁷

Santam’s example policy defines a motorcycle as “a motorcycle, scooter, scrambler or quad bike”, and shows how a tracker becomes a condition in the policy summary: “It is a condition of this policy that you must have an accredited tracking device installed in or on your vehicle.”⁸ Dialdirect’s policy book covers a motorcycle that is “damaged or stolen”, and we found no device clause in it.⁹ AutoTrader sums up the market without naming an insurer: “Fitting an approved tracking device, alarm, or immobiliser is often a requirement”.¹¹

Which tracker is best for a motorbike?

We found no independent South African test that ranks motorbike trackers, so we don’t name one. What we can show is what insurers look for when they require a tracker. Naked, writing about cars, lets you use “any reputable provider, as long as it includes vehicle recovery”, and its checklist asks for a tracker that “Is professionally installed”, “Has an active subscription” and “Is in working order”.¹² Pineapple requires a tracker on the vehicles it rates high risk, and “The tracking device must have Stolen Vehicle Recovery (SVR) capabilities!”¹³

Neither mentions motorbikes, and MiWay’s rule for a bike worth R180 000 or more asks only for a tracker it has approved.³ Together they show what an insurer that requires a tracker is likely to look for: a recovery service, professional installation and a paid-up subscription. A tracker you monitor yourself may not pass that test, so read your policy schedule before you buy one.

What happens to a theft claim if the tracker isn’t working?

Where a tracker is a condition of your cover, a theft or hijack claim depends on it working on the day. Santam’s example policy lists the conditions: a valid contract with the tracker’s supplier, monthly fees “paid in full at the time of any theft or hijacking”, a device “activated and in operation”, the theft reported to the supplier straight away, and a device that tests itself or is tested at least once every six months. “If you do not comply with this condition, we will not cover loss of or damage to your vehicle caused by theft”.⁸

Discovery Insure excludes theft or hijack “where the vehicle is not fitted with security or tracking recovery devices as stated in the Plan Schedule”.⁶ In November 2025 its chief commercial officer, Precious Nduli, warned that without a working tracker, cover “could be limited to basic third-party insurance or future claims rejected.”¹⁴ King Price asks you to tell the tracking company “immediately after a theft or hi-jacking takes place”.⁵

One such condition reached the High Court. In Ngako v Bryte (January 2025) the policy required the device to be “in working order and activated”, the proposal form said theft and hijacking would not be covered if a tracker was not “fitted & operational as date of loss”, and the High Court dismissed Ngako’s application with costs. The vehicle was a minibus, but the same kind of condition can sit on a bike policy.¹⁵ MiWay’s own warning is shorter: if “the device wasn’t working or the service wasn’t active at the time of loss, you can land in a claim dispute.”¹⁶

How many motorbikes are stolen and hijacked?

SAPS counts motorcycle hijackings, but not motorcycle thefts on their own. From April to June 2026, 360 of the 3 788 carjackings it sorted by vehicle type were of motorcycles.¹⁷ A bike stolen while parked goes into one category with cars, “theft of motor vehicle and motorcycle”, which came to 6 994 in those three months against 7 523 a year earlier.¹⁸

There are more bikes on the road each year. TopAuto reported that “South Africa’s motorcycle population grew from 355,351 to 369,286” between September 2024 and September 2025, without naming its data source.¹⁹ Delivery bikes are among the targets: in November 2024 BusinessTech reported that SAPS had identified two delivery services’ motorcycles “as particularly frequent targets”,²⁰ and on 19 July 2026 a delivery bike was taken at gunpoint in Brackenfell, Cape Town. SAPS confirmed that the bike was recovered and that two suspects, aged 22 and 28, were arrested.²¹

Installation, and keeping the bike where you left it

Installation is free on every motorbike deal in our form, and a tracker fitted by a professional is what an insurer that requires one expects: Naked’s checklist asks for one that “Is professionally installed”.¹²

The tracker is one part of it. SAPS in Nelson Mandela Bay told bike owners to “put a chain lock or clamp on the wheels”, never to leave keys in the bike or in a garage cupboard, and to park near cameras “so that footage is easily available of the suspects.” The same statement said: “It is important to install a tracker on your vehicles.”²² It is an older statement, counting thefts from January 2021, and we found no newer SAPS advice on bike locks. Insurers, AutoTrader says, “prefer a locked garage for overnight parking.”¹¹

For a motorbike, our tracker deals start from R89pm, with free installation on a 36-month contract. If you’re covering a car as well:

Our deals start from R99pm for a wireless recovery unit, or R149pm for a full insurance-approved tracker. Free installation, 36-month contract.

Choose Motorbike in the form to compare the deals for your bike.

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