Autowatch Ghost Installed in Leeds

I, Mark Ingham, am proud to say that my company, Safe & Sound Vehicle Systems LTD who are based in Leeds were one of the first original registered installers of the Autowatch Ghost Immobiliser as of its launch back in July 2016.  

Autowatch approached us, told us of the immobiliser at which point we booked a meeting in our then workshop based just outside Leeds city centre, played with it, bought a few devices and started trialling them on my family vehicles, BMW 3 Series, Mini, VW Transporter and VW Touareg were the vehicles.  

Once it became apparent the Autowatch Ghost Immobilisers were perfectly reliable, easy to use and actually worked I started trialling them on close customers vehicles such as Range Rover, BMW, VW and Audi which were all based around Leeds. Their feedback was the same as my families, brilliant.  

It was then, a few months later, we started offering them for general sale to all customers, not just in Leeds but across the county and beyond.

You have to remember the Autowatch Ghost Immobiliser was an industry first, game changing and much needed product. Vehicle crime in Leeds and other big cities was on the rise, and still is. I didn’t want to just sell the product, I wanted to understand it, offer it, develop it and find ways of adapting it so I could be safe in the knowledge my customers weren’t going to be stranded, unable to start their vehicles. Even worse, suffer a theft.  

Many industry colleagues ignored the Autowatch Ghost Immobiliser and played it down, they weren’t interested as they thought it was “too risky” to connect to a vehicles CAN lines, after all you can’t see CAN data without interrogation and logging the information, some companies chose to bad mouth it without even trialling it. Unlike a Category 2 immobiliser on your Ford Orion the Ghost is tiny, you can’t really physically see how it works and it’s operation is ergonomic for the user.  

I decided early on to invest in £1,000’s worth or diagnostic equipment which allowed me to approach vehicles safe in the knowledge that should I run into any warning light issues I would have the ability to rectify them. Many installers didn’t want to do this, they weren’t prepared to support the product, invest in the time or the equipment.  

Over the coming 12 months we started selling more and more of the devices in Leeds and in the surrounding areas, at which point we began to sponsor the VWROC (VW R Owners Club) where we ran a nationwide group buy and also became involved with various Audi and BMW forums.  

Our reputation for the Autowatch Ghost Immobiliser in Leeds and across the country along with the reputation of the product itself began to grow and gain some real traction, I would go as far as to say that my company along with a select few others made the Immobiliser the go to product for vehicle enthusiasts. It’s pretty much a household name when it comes to vehicle security.  

By this time the devices had thwarted a quite few would be thefts, and its reliable, easy to use reputation was growing thanks to our dedication and early research.  

The installation companies who played it down, discredited it and showed no interest in the early days now wanted to be a part of its success. It’s many of these companies selling the product that really bug me, they don’t understand it and nor do they take the time to. They just want your money.  

There’s so many so called “nationwide installation companies” that have sprung up over the last few years by individuals who have never been in the industry until now. A quick search of Companies House shows these companies have only been trading months, a year or two at best. They’re here to try “cash in”, they don’t really care. I do.  

This is where we stepped it up a level and built our technical support section of the website. It allowed us to offer customers out of hours service when the Leeds office was closed. Should customers need assistance with service buttons, warning lights (which can display after a false start) or just want to know how to change their PIN then all this information is available. Along with this we built our YouTube channel with demonstration videos on changing the PIN, pairing a mobile phone, how to clear warning lights, starting scenarios, gear box lock and engine lock. Again, others followed suit but still lack, to this day, the in-depth product knowledge that I have.  

As of February 2020 I personally have completed well in excess of 1,000 Autowatch Ghost Immobiliser installations to a variety of cars in Leeds and further afield with no thefts, no stranded customers and no problems, making me the largest installer in the North of England.  

I do not want to appear arrogant, but more passionate and it is with the above in mind I can happily call myself an Autowatch Ghost Immobiliser specialist and certainly the only one in Leeds. You can be sure of a first class, reliable, faultless service when choosing my company for your installation.  

Please feel free to contact me, ask any questions or even call for advice on a system we did not install. I’ll be happy to help.