Kentucky GPS Tracking Laws: Is It Legal to Put a Tracker on a Car? (2026)

Kentucky GPS Tracking Laws: Is It Legal to Put a Tracker on a Car? (2026)

Until the summer of 2023, Kentucky had no law that directly addressed slipping a GPS tracker under someone's bumper. That changed when the General Assembly created KRS 508.152, which makes it a Class A misdemeanor to install a tracking device on a motor vehicle, or to track a vehicle's location, without the right person's consent.

The statute is one of the newer vehicle-tracking laws in the country, and it has a few quirks you should know about: eight specific exceptions, no carve-out for private investigators, and a scope limited strictly to motor vehicles.

Information last verified on June 10, 2026. This article has not yet been reviewed by a licensed attorney.

Is It Legal to Put a GPS Tracker on a Car in Kentucky?

Only if the vehicle's owner or lessee consents. In practice, that means you can track a car that is titled or leased in your own name, and you can track someone else's car only if they agree to it.

What you cannot do is hide a tracker on a vehicle that belongs to someone else, including a boyfriend, girlfriend, ex, or estranged spouse, just because you want to know where they go. Since June 29, 2023, that is a crime in Kentucky, full stop.

The married-couple question comes up constantly, and the answer turns on the paperwork. If your name is on the title or the lease, you are an owner or lessee and can consent to the device. If the car is titled solely to your spouse, you are in the same position as a stranger: no consent, no tracker. Divorce lawyers in other states with similar laws warn clients about this regularly, and the same logic applies in Kentucky.

For a state-by-state comparison, see our GPS Tracking Laws by State hub.

Kentucky's New Tracking Device Law (KRS 508.152, 2023)

KRS 508.152, titled "Unlawful use of a tracking device," was created by the 2023 General Assembly (2023 Ky. Acts ch. 163) and took effect on June 29, 2023. It sits in Chapter 508 of the Kentucky Revised Statutes, the chapter that covers assault, stalking, and related offenses against persons.

The statute prohibits four things when done intentionally:

1. Installing or placing a tracking device on a motor vehicle, or causing one to be installed, without the consent of the vehicle's owner or lessee.
2. Tracking a vehicle's location with a tracking device without the consent of the owner or operator.
3. Tracking the vehicle of a protected person while you are the person restrained by a protective order.
4. Tracking the vehicle of a victim or the victim's family member while you are on probation or parole for a crime under Chapter 508.

Notice that items 3 and 4 apply even in situations where ownership might otherwise muddy the waters. If a domestic violence order or interpersonal protective order names you as the restrained party, tracking the protected person's vehicle is a crime regardless of any consent argument you think you have.

Who Can Legally Track a Vehicle in Kentucky?

KRS 508.152 lists specific exceptions. The conduct is legal when it involves:

• The owner's or lessee's consent, which is the everyday exception that covers tracking your own car
• Built-in navigation, mechanical, weather, or traffic devices that report location as part of how the vehicle normally works
• Emergency assistance subscriptions, the OnStar-style services that locate a car after a crash
• Locating missing or stolen vehicles, such as a manufacturer or service provider helping police recover a stolen car
• Vehicle diagnostics subscriptions that transmit location as part of a connected-car service
• Lessors who give notice, meaning a leasing company can use a tracker on its own fleet if the lessee is told; any tracker the lessor installs after the vehicle's original manufacture requires written notice with the lessee's signed acknowledgment
• A parent or guardian of a minor, tracking a vehicle the parent owns or leases that the minor operates
• Law enforcement officers lawfully performing their duties

Two omissions matter. First, there is no private investigator exception. A Kentucky PI who plants a tracker on a subject's car without the owner's consent commits the same misdemeanor as anyone else. If a PI tells you "it's fine, we do this all the time," that may have been arguable before mid-2023. It is not anymore.

Second, the parental exception is narrower than people assume. It covers a parent or guardian of a minor, tracking a vehicle the parent owns or leases. Tracking your adult child, or tracking a car your 17-year-old bought and titled in their own name, does not fit the exception.

Can My Employer Track My Car in Kentucky?

If it is a company vehicle, yes. The employer is the owner or lessee, so the owner-consent exception covers GPS units on fleet trucks, delivery vans, and company cars. Kentucky has no statute requiring employers to notify employees that company vehicles are tracked, although most employment lawyers recommend a written policy anyway.

Your personal vehicle is a different story. An employer who hides a tracker on a car you own, even one you drive for work, needs your consent like anyone else. If you use your own car for deliveries or sales calls, an employer who wants location data should be asking you to sign something or to run a tracking app, not bolting hardware to your frame.

Workplace monitoring questions often travel together. If your employer also records calls or films the workplace, see our guide to Kentucky recording laws for the consent rules on audio and video.

AirTags and Item Trackers: The Vehicle-Only Limit

Here is the biggest gap in Kentucky's law: KRS 508.152 covers motor vehicles only. An AirTag, Tile, or SmartTag slipped into a purse, coat pocket, or suitcase is not an "install or place on a motor vehicle" situation, so this statute does not reach it.

That does not make bag-tracking legal. Kentucky's stalking law reaches it, and as of July 15, 2026 it reaches it more directly than before. The 2026 General Assembly consolidated stalking into a single section, KRS 508.130, and repealed the old two-tier offenses of stalking in the first degree (KRS 508.140) and stalking in the second degree (KRS 508.150).

Under KRS 508.130, a person is guilty of stalking when he or she intentionally engages in a course of conduct directed at another person that seriously alarms, annoys, intimidates, or harasses that person, serves no legitimate purpose, and causes them to suffer substantial mental distress, while consciously disregarding a substantial and unjustifiable risk that the conduct would cause that distress. A "course of conduct" means two or more acts showing a continuity of purpose, and the statute says those acts may include following, monitoring, observing, or surveilling a person, and may be carried out through any device by which information is transmitted.

Two points matter for item trackers. First, the current statute has no threat element. The pre-2026 version required an explicit or implicit threat placing the victim in reasonable fear of physical injury, sexual contact, or death; that language now survives only as one of the aggravating factors, so a stalking theory built on a planted tracker is easier to state than it used to be. Second, the exposure is higher, because Kentucky no longer has a misdemeanor stalking tier at all.

Repeatedly tracking someone through a planted item tracker is exactly the kind of conduct prosecutors fold into a stalking charge, and federal prosecutors can charge interstate cases under 18 U.S.C. 2261A, which expressly covers stalking through electronic monitoring.

Kentucky lawmakers know about the gap in the tracking-device statute itself. House Bill 20 in the 2025 session would have expanded KRS 508.152 to cover tracking devices placed on the person or property of another, not just vehicles. It passed the House 90 to 1 but stalled in the Senate Judiciary Committee. A similar bill, House Bill 64, was filed for the 2026 session and was referred to the House Judiciary Committee in January 2026, but it did not advance before the session adjourned in April. As of June 2026, neither has become law, so the vehicle-only limit still stands. If you are reading this later, check the Kentucky legislature's site for the current text.

Penalties for Illegal Vehicle Tracking in Kentucky

Since July 15, 2026, stalking is a Class D felony at baseline in Kentucky, and it becomes a Class C felony when any one of five aggravating factors listed in KRS 508.130(3) is present: a protective order already issued to protect the same victim, where the defendant was served or given actual notice; a criminal complaint by the same victim currently pending, with the same notice; a felony or Class A misdemeanor conviction against the same victim within the previous five years; a deadly weapon on or about the defendant's person during the acts; or acts that place the victim in reasonable fear of sexual contact, physical injury, or death. Kentucky felony sentencing ranges come from KRS 532.060: one to five years for a Class D felony, five to ten years for a Class C felony. A tracker case that starts as a misdemeanor under KRS 508.152 can climb quickly once a protective order is in the picture.

Civil Options and Protective Orders

KRS 508.152 is a criminal statute and does not create its own right to sue. Victims are not without civil options, though.

Kentucky recognizes the privacy tort of intrusion upon seclusion. In McCall v. Courier-Journal (1981), the Kentucky Supreme Court adopted the Restatement (Second) of Torts Sec. 652A, under which the right of privacy is invaded by "unreasonable intrusion upon the seclusion of another." The court decided that case on false light, though, and did not rule on whether the concealed recording device used there was an actionable intrusion.

Kentucky also offers two protective order tracks. Family members and dating partners can seek a domestic violence order, while stalking victims with no domestic relationship can seek an interpersonal protective order. Either order makes continued tracking both a crime under KRS 508.152 and a violation of the order itself. Our guide to Kentucky restraining order laws walks through the process and the evidence judges want to see.

What to Do If You Find a Tracker on Your Car

1. Do not smash it or throw it away. The device is evidence, and its serial number can identify who registered it.
2. Photograph it in place before anyone touches it: where it was mounted, how it was attached, the date and time.
3. Call your local police or sheriff and report it. Since 2023 this is a chargeable misdemeanor, and officers can trace the device through the manufacturer.
4. Think about your safety first. If you suspect an abusive partner or ex, contact a domestic violence advocate before confronting anyone, since removing a tracker can escalate behavior.
5. Ask about a protective order. A documented tracker is strong evidence of stalking for an interpersonal protective order petition.
6. Get a professional sweep. A mechanic or counter-surveillance specialist can check wheel wells, the OBD-II port, bumper cavities, and the battery compartment for additional devices.

If the harassment extends beyond your car, such as cameras pointed at your home, our overview of surveillance camera laws covers what neighbors and landlords can and cannot record.

Sources

• KRS 508.152, Unlawful use of a tracking device, Kentucky Legislative Research Commission
• KRS 508.130, Stalking, Kentucky Legislative Research Commission
• KRS 532.060, Sentence of imprisonment for felony, Kentucky Legislative Research Commission
• House Bill 20 (2025 Regular Session), Kentucky General Assembly bill record
• House Bill 64 (2026 Regular Session), Kentucky General Assembly bill record
• United States v. Jones, 565 U.S. 400 (2012), Legal Information Institute, Cornell Law School
• 18 U.S.C. 2261A, Stalking, Legal Information Institute, Cornell Law School

Disclaimer: This article is for general informational purposes only and is not legal advice. Laws change, and how they apply depends on the facts of your situation. If you are dealing with unwanted tracking, stalking, or a dispute over vehicle monitoring, consult a licensed Kentucky attorney. If you are in immediate danger, call 911.

More Kentucky Laws

• Kentucky Dashcam Laws
• Kentucky Data Privacy Laws
• Kentucky Drone Laws
• Kentucky Employee Monitoring Laws
• Kentucky Recording Laws
• Kentucky Restraining Order Laws

Frequently Asked Questions

Is it illegal to put a GPS tracker on someone's car in Kentucky?

Yes, unless the vehicle's owner or lessee consents. Since June 29, 2023, KRS 508.152 makes it a Class A misdemeanor to intentionally install a tracking device on a motor vehicle, or to track a vehicle's location, without consent. The penalty is up to 12 months in jail and a fine of up to $500.

Can I put a GPS tracker on my spouse's car in Kentucky?

Only if you are an owner or lessee of that vehicle. If your name is on the title or lease, you can consent to the device. If the car is titled solely to your spouse, hiding a tracker on it is a misdemeanor under KRS 508.152, and evidence gathered that way can backfire badly in a divorce case.

Can a private investigator legally place a GPS tracker in Kentucky?

Kentucky's tracking statute contains no exception for private investigators. A PI can install a tracker only with the consent of the vehicle's owner or lessee, for example when a suspicious spouse who co-owns the car hires the PI. Tracking a vehicle the client does not own or lease is a crime for the PI just as it would be for the client.

Can I track my teenager's car in Kentucky?

Yes, if you are the parent or guardian of a minor and the vehicle is one you own or lease that the minor operates. The exception does not cover adult children, and it does not cover a car titled in the teenager's own name.

Do police need a warrant to put a GPS tracker on my car?

Yes. In United States v. Jones (2012), the U.S. Supreme Court held that attaching a GPS device to a vehicle and using it to monitor movements is a Fourth Amendment search, which generally requires a warrant. KRS 508.152 separately exempts officers lawfully performing their duties, which presumes they have the legal authority the Fourth Amendment requires.

Does Kentucky's law cover an AirTag hidden in my bag or coat?

No. KRS 508.152 applies only to tracking devices on motor vehicles. A tracker planted in a bag, coat, or other belongings is not covered by that statute, but repeated tracking can be charged as stalking under KRS 508.130, which since July 15, 2026 is a Class D felony at baseline and a Class C felony when an aggravating factor such as a protective order is present. Kentucky no longer has a misdemeanor stalking tier. Interstate cases can be charged federally under 18 U.S.C. 2261A. Bills to close the vehicle-only gap in KRS 508.152 (HB 20 in 2025 and HB 64 in 2026) have been filed but had not passed as of June 2026.

Can my employer track the company car I drive?

Yes. As the vehicle's owner or lessee, the employer can consent to GPS tracking of its own fleet, and Kentucky has no statute requiring employee notice. Your personal vehicle is different: an employer needs your consent before placing a tracker on a car you own, even if you drive it for work.

Can I sue someone for tracking my car in Kentucky?

KRS 508.152 does not create its own civil claim, but Kentucky recognizes the intrusion-upon-seclusion privacy tort (adopted in McCall v. Courier-Journal through Restatement (Second) of Torts Sec. 652A), which a person may assert against secret GPS tracking, and victims can also seek a domestic violence order or interpersonal protective order to stop the conduct.