A Car Rental Customer Found a Hidden Apple AirTag in Their Vehicle

If you're renting a car from a particular vehicle rental service, you can expect a little wear and tear from years of usage and changing hands. You would hope that the previous owner would take care of the car or that the company would at least make sure that the vehicle doesn't have any overt signs of usage when renting it out to any and all customers. However, it isn't uncommon or necessarily unreasonable for folks to find some sign of previous ownership within their rental vehicle.

Interestingly enough, though, @that_naked_squid on TikTok is wondering if anyone else has ever found something like this in their rental car before.

In a TikTok posted in April 2023, this customer found a hidden Apple AirTag in their rental car. And folks in the comments section of the TikTok have been debating its potential usage. Here's what people are saying about AirTags in rental cars.

In case you aren't aware, an Apple AirTag is a small tracking device inspired by the iPhone's "Find My Phone" apps and features. By attaching it to a key ring or inserting it discreetly into a purse, folks can use their "Find My" apps to track the device itself, and in essence, the item that it's attached to. It's typically meant to be used for handheld valuables, allowing users to keep track of their other necessary items in the same way that they keep track of their smartphones.

However, someone apparently seems to be using it for cars now as well. @that_naked_squid on TikTok found an AirTag hidden within the trunk of their rental car. According to them, the AirTag was superglued to a magnet and placed on the speaker inside the trunk.

It's certainly an odd thing to find in a rental vehicle, with plenty of implications coming with finding a hidden tracking device in your vehicle that's likely been used by several customers.

Unsurprisingly, people in the comments section of the TikTok had plenty of questions. Many initially asked why the customer was taking apart their trunk in the first place, to say nothing of the fact that taking it apart yielded unexpected results.

However, TikTokers also had theories as to why the AirTag was placed there. One person suggested that "people steal rentals all the time, [so I] would be surprised if it wasn't tracked."

Another user even claims that they have an AirTag in their own truck as a countermeasure for theft, so the fact that there was one in a rental car didn't strike them as odd.

However, another person argues that "rental companies have their own trackers in their vehicles" and wouldn't typically use AirTags.

Tracking devices in rental vehicles don't seem too noteworthy for some folks, but finding AirTags seems to have raised a few eyebrows.