A system and method employing a combination of long-range and short-range asset location systems, preferable a GPS-based system combined with an RFID-based system. The short-range system regularly activates itself, or is remotely polled, to determine if the asset is within range of the short-range transceivers, and the long-range system is activated to determine the location of the asset when it is outside the range of the short-range transceivers. In at least some embodiments, the asset is an automobile equipped with both RFID and GPS-based transceivers.