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

Washington treats GPS tracking more seriously than almost any other state. Secretly putting a tracker on someone's car here is not a gray area or a civil slap on the wrist. It is criminal stalking.

The rule lives in RCW 9A.46.110, Washington's stalking statute, and a single act is enough to be charged. Many older articles still cite RCW 9A.90.130, the cyberstalking law. That statute was repealed in 2023, so if a guide cites it, you are reading out-of-date law.

This guide explains what the current statute says, the short list of people who can legally track a vehicle, the penalties, and what to do if you find a device on your car. It is part of our GPS Tracking Laws by State series.

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

No, not unless the person being tracked consents or you fit one of the narrow exceptions written into the statute.

Under RCW 9A.46.110(1)(a)(iv), a person commits stalking when they knowingly and without consent install or monitor an electronic tracking device, or cause one to be installed, placed, or used, to track the location of another person.

Notice what the statute targets: tracking a person, not a vehicle. Ownership of the car does not settle the question. The law contains no exception for co-owners or spouses, so putting a tracker on a jointly titled car to follow your husband or wife still means tracking another person without consent.

The statute also closes the middleman loophole. Hiring someone to plant the device, or otherwise causing it to be installed or used, counts the same as doing it yourself.

One Act Is Enough: RCW 9A.46.110's Tracking Prong

Washington reorganized its tracking law twice in two years, which is why so many articles get the citation wrong.

In 2022, the Legislature added electronic tracking devices to the cyberstalking statute, RCW 9A.90.130. One year later, the Legislature repealed that statute outright and moved the tracking prohibition into the main stalking law. The Legislature's own disposition record confirms RCW 9A.90.130 was repealed by 2023 c 461. The current, correct citation is RCW 9A.46.110.

The placement matters because traditional stalking requires repetition. The harassing and following prongs of the statute both require that the defendant acted "intentionally and repeatedly." The tracking prong in (1)(a)(iv) has no such language. A single installation, or a single session of monitoring, completes the act.

Two more features make tracking cases unusually easy to prove:

• No warning required. Under subsection (2)(a), it is not a defense that the victim never told the defendant to stop.
• The victim does not need to discover the device in real time. For the tracking prong, it is enough that knowledge of the device "would reasonably elicit" substantial emotional distress or fear. A hidden tracker found weeks later still qualifies.

Who Can Legally Track a Vehicle in Washington

Subsection (4) of the statute lists everyone the tracking prohibition does not apply to:

• Law enforcement, judicial officers, and probation or parole officers performing lawful official duties. Even then, police generally need a warrant to attach a GPS device to a car. In United States v. Jones, 565 U.S. 400 (2012), the U.S. Supreme Court held that installing a GPS tracker on a vehicle is a Fourth Amendment search.
• Anyone acting under a state or federal court order that authorizes the device.
• Legal guardians of a disabled adult, along with individuals or organizations designated to provide protective services to that adult.
• Parents and legal guardians of a minor, tracking that minor. This exception evaporates if the parent is under a court order not to assault, threaten, harass, follow, or contact the child.
• Employers, schools, and organizations that own a device and provide it to someone, but only when the tracking is limited to recovering lost or stolen items.
• Fleet vehicle owners tracking their own fleets. The statute defines fleet vehicles to include business and government vehicles operated by employees, rental cars, and dealer inventory such as loaners and test vehicles.

Separately, subsection (3) gives licensed private investigators a defense when they act within the capacity of their license under chapter 18.165 RCW. That is narrower than it sounds. The license is not a blank check, and a PI who plants trackers to feed a client's harassment campaign is acting outside the capacity of that license.

Just as important is what the list leaves out. There is no exception for suspicious spouses, dating partners, lienholders, buy-here-pay-here lenders, or repossession companies. Several states write lender and repo carve-outs into their tracking laws. Washington does not, which makes its business exceptions among the narrowest in the country.

Can My Employer Track My Car in Washington?

It depends on whose vehicle and whose device.

Company fleet vehicles: yes. The fleet exception expressly covers motor vehicles owned by a business or government entity and operated by its employees. An employer can put GPS on its own trucks and vans without violating the stalking statute.

Your personal car: not without consent. No exception covers an employee's personal vehicle. Tracking it secretly, even during work hours, fits the elements of the offense. Careful employers that need location data from personal vehicles use disclosed apps and signed consent forms, because consent removes the "without consent" element entirely.

Company phones and laptops: limited. The employer-owned-device exception only allows tracking that is limited to recovering lost or stolen items. Continuously monitoring an employee's off-hours location through a company phone is not lost-device recovery.

Washington employers should also remember the state's strict communication privacy rules. Washington is a two-party consent state for recording conversations, so a tracking tool that also captures audio creates a second, separate criminal exposure. For video monitoring rules, see our surveillance camera laws guide.

AirTags, Apps, and Stalkerware

Washington wrote its definition of "electronic tracking device" with modern tools in mind.

Subsection (6)(e) covers any electronic device that lets a person remotely determine or monitor the position and movement of another person, vehicle, device, or other personal possession. It then states that an electronic device includes "computer code or other digital instructions" that, once installed on a digital device, allow someone to remotely track that device's position.

That second sentence reaches software directly:

• An AirTag or Tile dropped in a bag or magnet-mounted under a bumper is hardware tracking.
• A stalkerware app secretly installed on a phone is code-based tracking, and equally criminal.
• Quietly turning on location sharing from someone else's phone, or misusing a find-my-device feature to follow them, can also fit the definition when done without consent.

Both iPhone and Android now alert people when an unknown tracker appears to be traveling with them. If you keep getting that alert, take it seriously and follow the steps in the section below.

Penalties for Illegal GPS Tracking in Washington

Maximum terms come from RCW 9A.20.021. Under subsection (5)(b) of the stalking statute, the charge becomes a Class B felony if any of the following applies:

• The defendant has a prior harassment conviction, in Washington or any other state;
• The stalking violates a protective order protecting the victim;
• The defendant has a prior stalking conviction;
• The defendant was armed with a deadly weapon while stalking;
• The victim is or was a law enforcement officer, judge, juror, attorney, victim advocate, legislator, corrections or court employee, or protective services worker, targeted in retaliation for official duties; or
• The victim is a current, former, or prospective witness, targeted over their testimony.

Tracking that crosses state lines or uses interstate systems can also be charged federally under 18 U.S.C. 2261A, which expressly covers using an electronic device to surveil someone in a way that causes fear or substantial emotional distress.

Civil Options and Stalking Protection Orders

The criminal statute does not create a right to sue for damages, but Washington victims have two civil tools.

Stalking protection orders. Chapter 7.105 RCW, Washington's consolidated civil protection order law, lets a victim petition for a stalking protection order without filing criminal charges and without a lawyer. A court can order the respondent to stay away and to stop contacting, following, or monitoring the petitioner. Violating the order is itself a crime, and once a protective order is in place, any further stalking becomes a Class B felony. Our Washington restraining order guide walks through the process.

Invasion of privacy lawsuits. Washington courts recognize the common law tort of intrusion into private affairs, a right the Washington Supreme Court confirmed in Reid v. Pierce County (1998). Covertly logging someone's movements day after day is the kind of highly offensive intrusion that can support a civil damages claim, independent of any criminal case.

What to Do If You Find a Tracker on Your Car

1. Photograph the device in place before touching it. Location, wiring, and mounting all matter as evidence.
2. Do not smash or throw it away. The device, its serial number, and the account it pairs to are how police identify who planted it.
3. Consider innocent explanations. Rental cars, employer fleet vehicles, and some used cars carry legitimate trackers. Your own household members may have a shared device in the car.
4. Report it to police. Because one act is enough under RCW 9A.46.110, you do not need to document a long pattern before officers can act.
5. Check your phone too. Run a tracker scan, review location sharing settings, and look for unfamiliar apps. Stalkerware counts under the same statute.
6. Consider a stalking protection order under chapter 7.105 RCW if you suspect who is responsible.
7. If you are in danger, call 911, and reach the National Domestic Violence Hotline at 800-799-7233 for safety planning before removing a device an abuser may be watching.

Frequently Asked Questions

Sources

Primary sources for this guide, including the current stalking statute, the repeal record for the old cyberstalking law, Washington's sentencing maximums, and the federal authorities, are listed below.

This article is general legal information, not legal advice. Statutes change and the facts of your situation matter. If you are dealing with a tracking or stalking situation in Washington, consult a licensed Washington attorney. If you are in danger, call 911 or the National Domestic Violence Hotline at 800-799-7233.