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

Maybe you spotted an unfamiliar gadget zip-tied under your rear bumper. Maybe you are tempted to slip a tracker onto someone's car to confirm a suspicion. In Maryland, the law treats those situations very differently, and the wrong choice can mean up to five years behind bars.

Maryland has no statute that makes attaching a GPS device to a car a standalone crime. Instead, secret location tracking is prosecuted under the state's stalking law, Md. Criminal Law 3-802, which expressly covers pursuing someone "through the use of a device that can pinpoint or track the location of another without the person's knowledge or consent."

This guide explains when vehicle tracking is legal in Maryland, when it becomes criminal stalking, why the state's famous two-party consent wiretap law does not apply to GPS, and what to do if you find a tracker on your car.

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

The short answer: it is legal to put a GPS tracker on a vehicle you own or lease. It is a crime to use a tracker to follow another person's movements without their knowledge or consent when that tracking is part of a malicious course of conduct that frightens them or causes serious emotional distress.

Maryland never passed a law that bans the physical act of planting a tracker on someone else's car. That gap does not make secret tracking safe. The General Assembly solved the problem a different way, by writing location-tracking devices directly into the stalking statute.

In practice, three questions decide which side of the line you are on. Whose vehicle is it? Did the person being tracked know about and agree to the tracking? And why are you doing it? A landscaping company watching its own trucks is running a business. Someone secretly following an ex's hatchback around Baltimore is committing a crime.

Maryland's Stalking Law and Its Tracking Device Clause (Crim. Law 3-802)

The statute that matters is Md. Criminal Law 3-802. It defines stalking as a malicious course of conduct that includes approaching or pursuing another person, and since 2022 it has spelled out that pursuing someone "through the use of a device that can pinpoint or track the location of another without the person's knowledge or consent" counts.

A GPS puck under a bumper, an AirTag dropped in a bag, and a location-sharing app installed on a phone without permission all fit that language.

Tracking alone is not the whole offense. The course of conduct must be one where the tracker knows, or reasonably should know, that it would place the victim in reasonable fear of serious bodily injury, assault, rape or a sexual offense, false imprisonment, or death, or fear that a third person will suffer one of those harms. The statute also reaches conduct that would cause the victim serious emotional distress.

The tracking language is recent. In 2022, the General Assembly passed House Bill 148, which rewrote the definition of stalking to cover conduct that occurs in person, through electronic communication, or through a device that can pinpoint or track another person's location. It took effect on October 1, 2022. An earlier 2016 amendment had already extended the statute to conduct that causes serious emotional distress, so stalking in Maryland now plainly covers monitoring that happens through technology, not just someone physically lurking outside a home.

The statute contains three built-in exceptions. It does not apply to conduct performed to ensure compliance with a court order, conduct performed to carry out a specific lawful commercial purpose, or conduct that is authorized, required, or protected by local, state, or federal law.

Why Maryland's Wiretap Law Does Not Cover GPS

Maryland is famous for its strict two-party consent rule. Under Courts and Judicial Proceedings 10-402, it is a felony to intercept a wire, oral, or electronic communication without the consent of all parties.

People often assume that law makes GPS tracking illegal too. It does not. The Wiretap Act punishes the interception of communications. A silent GPS tracker intercepts nothing. It transmits its own location data and never listens to a conversation or captures a message, so it falls outside the statute entirely.

That distinction matters if you are choosing a device. A plain GPS tracker raises stalking questions. A tracker with a built-in microphone that captures audio inside the car raises felony wiretap exposure on top of them. Our guide to Maryland recording laws covers the consent rules for audio in detail.

Who Can Legally Track a Vehicle in Maryland

Some tracking is clearly lawful in Maryland:

• Your own vehicle. You can put a tracker on a car you own or lease, including a vehicle you share with a spouse, though tracking an estranged spouse on a jointly titled car can still feed a stalking case if the conduct turns threatening.
• Parents of minors. A parent or guardian tracking a car driven by their minor child is acting with lawful authority and is not engaged in a malicious course of conduct.
• Fleet and commercial operators. The statute's exception for a specific lawful commercial purpose covers businesses tracking their own vehicles, lenders using GPS on financed cars, and telematics programs drivers sign up for.
• Court-order compliance. Tracking performed to ensure compliance with a court order is exempt.
• Law enforcement with a warrant. In United States v. Jones (2012), the Supreme Court held that attaching a GPS device to a vehicle and monitoring it is a Fourth Amendment search, so police generally need a warrant.

What is never covered: tracking an ex, a dating partner, a neighbor, or anyone else's personal vehicle without their knowledge or consent as part of conduct that frightens them or wears them down emotionally.

Can My Employer Track My Car in Maryland?

Maryland has no statute that specifically regulates employer GPS tracking, and the stalking law's lawful commercial purpose exception gives employers room to track their own fleet.

Company vehicle? Your employer can track it, and most fleet operators do. Disclosure is good practice but not legally required by a Maryland tracking statute.

Your personal car is different. An employer that secretly plants a tracker on an employee's private vehicle is not protecting company property, and the commercial purpose exception is a poor fit for off-the-clock surveillance of someone's personal movements. That conduct invites a stalking charge and an invasion of privacy lawsuit.

If a work vehicle also has cameras, our guide to surveillance camera laws explains the separate rules for video monitoring.

AirTags and Item Trackers in Maryland

Apple AirTags, Tile trackers, and Samsung SmartTags are covered by the same rule as a hardwired GPS unit. Criminal Law 3-802 speaks of any "device that can pinpoint or track the location of another," and a coin-sized Bluetooth tracker slipped into a purse, jacket, or wheel well fits squarely.

Maryland prosecutors do not need to prove the device was expensive or sophisticated. They need to show a malicious course of conduct, lack of knowledge or consent, and the fear or serious emotional distress element.

Using an AirTag to find your own stolen luggage is lawful. Hiding one on a person you are not supposed to contact is evidence in a criminal case.

Penalties for Illegal GPS Tracking in Maryland

Do not let the word misdemeanor fool you. Most states cap misdemeanors at a year. Maryland's stalking misdemeanor carries a five-year maximum, which matches the felony exposure many other states attach to the same conduct, and judges can stack it on top of related convictions.

Federal law adds another layer. 18 U.S.C. 2261A makes it a federal crime to use an electronic communication service or electronic communication system in a course of conduct that places someone in reasonable fear or causes substantial emotional distress, including across state lines, which is easy to trigger in a state that borders Washington, DC, Virginia, Delaware, Pennsylvania, and West Virginia.

Peace Orders and Civil Options

If someone is tracking you, Maryland gives you civil tools alongside the criminal process.

A peace order under Courts and Judicial Proceedings 3-1503 is available against people who are not family or household members, such as an ex you never lived with, a coworker, or a neighbor. Stalking and harassment are qualifying acts, and the court can order the person to stay away and have no contact. For family and intimate-partner situations, a protective order is the parallel tool. Our guide to Maryland restraining order laws walks through both processes.

On the civil damages side, Maryland recognizes the tort of intrusion upon seclusion. Secretly monitoring someone's movements can support a lawsuit for money damages, separate from any criminal charge.

What to Do If You Find a Tracker on Your Car

1. Do not destroy it. The device is evidence, and it may carry fingerprints or a registered owner account.
2. Photograph it in place before touching anything. Capture where it was mounted and any wiring.
3. Call the police. Ask for a report documenting the device. If you suspect a specific person, say so; account records can identify who registered a Bluetooth tracker.
4. Check your phone too. If you got an alert that an unknown AirTag is traveling with you, follow the prompts to make it play a sound and view its serial number.
5. Consider a peace or protective order if the tracking is part of a pattern of unwanted contact.
6. Talk to a lawyer about a civil invasion of privacy claim, especially if the tracker ties back to an ex, an employer, or a private investigator.

If the device also records audio or video, the legal picture changes sharply, so mention that to police. For the bigger picture across all 50 states, see our hub on GPS Tracking Laws by State.

Frequently Asked Questions

Sources

• Md. Code, Criminal Law 3-802, Stalking (Maryland General Assembly)
• Md. Code, Courts and Judicial Proceedings 10-402, Interception of Communications (Maryland General Assembly)
• Md. Code, Courts and Judicial Proceedings 3-1503, Peace Orders (Maryland General Assembly)
• House Bill 148 (2022), Criminal Law - Stalking (Maryland General Assembly)
• 18 U.S.C. 2261A, Stalking (Cornell Legal Information Institute)
• United States v. Jones, 565 U.S. 400 (2012) (Cornell Legal Information Institute)

Disclaimer: This article is for general informational purposes only and is not legal advice. Laws change, and how they apply depends on your specific facts. If you are facing a stalking situation or a criminal charge, talk to a licensed Maryland attorney, and call 911 if you are in immediate danger.