Used car dealers GPS’ing their cars; what will the police do with that information?

I found out from a client this weekend that some used car dealers here are hardwiring GPS devices into the cars they sell so the car can be easily found to repossess. The client was offended because she lost her car while detained. My curiosity leaped over that to the larger question: what if the police know that the car came from this used car dealer. [Tip off? The DMV lienholder?] Can they then subpoena the GPS records of this car for the life of the buyer’s use of the car?

A motion to suppress would fail here on standing and no state action grounds. But, if the time is right, what about third party recordkeeping and intrusiveness and limited consent? If the records are kept solely for repossession purposes, is there at least a glimmer of an expectation of privacy in the information because the consent (if any) is strictly limited? Sounds a little Quixotic to me.

We are coming to the time when a property third party recordkeeping challenge can be made, but it’s still a few years away before it would be successful, I’m afraid. At a CLE to the Public Defender Commission here a month ago, I counseled them to wait to make it until it’s got a better chance of being accepted, rather than making it just to have it unceremoniously shot down.

This entry was posted in Uncategorized. Bookmark the permalink.

Comments are closed.