A couple of questions on car alarms
 

Ok i'm shoping around for a car alarm for my car and i've got a couple of questions i'm hoping someone can help me with.

First off does anyone know a site like Tirerack where you can buy a car alarm and then find an installer near my location? I see that typical alarm installation costs about $100, is that the going rate? cuz i'm looking to save some $$$ when installing a good alarm.


Secondly i'm kinda stuck between an Autopage with an LCD Transmitter that costs $200 an autopage for $150 with no LCD or the Clifford 12.5x Matrix for $275. Supposedly Autopage has been around for years and are supposedly the best one when compared to Viper, Clifford, and Prestige which i find hard to believe that's it better than Viper and Clifford when me and my mom have used nothing but clifford and viper, my mom has used 2-3 vipers and now has a clifford and i've used nothing but clifford. I use to have the Clifford 10.5x Matrix which was wonderful to me for the 2 cars i had it mounted in. but i'm also looking for a decent alarm that's not too expensive and can protect my car. The thing is that i've seen i can get the 12.5x online for $165 with shipping and then maybe find a local installer that won't charge $100 for installation although i have been offered $275 with installation and lifetime warranty. Just a guy needing some second opinions before i decide what to do... i know everyone will say clifford but it would be nice to hear from anyone who has had autopage and their experience aswell.


Also i think i remember reading that my car has an electric trunk opener somewhere that can be used for car alarm truck opening aux but my car is old school, handle bar or key, can anyone confirm this cuz they wanna charge me $100 for aux trunk opening if my car doesn't have it built in.

I am not familiar with Autopage. however Clifford is a DEI product which I am extremely familiar with as I am an authorized installer for DEI products. Since 95% of DEI products have a lifetime warranty and with the great customer service DEI has I would stick with DEI but like I said I have not dealt with Auotpage before.

$100 is the average cost for labor when installing an alarm system.

Yeah i knew Clifford was owned by DEI which also owns Viper. I've always been a DEI guy and so has my mom and i've heard nothing but great things online for DEI just wanna hear if their are any autopage owners out there that can help me out. Thanks for your input and BTW nice roach on your sig, for a minute there i thought i had a roach on my 46" HDTV till i switched tabs :D

I am about to put an alarm in as well I was wondering though if don't really care about the warranty being voided, and I have a pretty decent understanding of wiring etc. should i be able to install it myself, on a scale of 1 to 10 how hard is it.

depending on your 12volt knowledge of vehicles i would say a 7 out 10, 10 being the most difficult.

yeah think ill at least give it a shot on my own i am sure i can find someone who can help me if i can't figure it out. While im at it I also plan on wiring a kill switch in. I know this may be a little off topic but here goes. I got a pretty good idea of what i am goin to do. I would be so surprised if a thief could figure it out. In any reasonable amount of time. Tell me what you think. I am thinking of using a 6 wire harness and i will wire in basically 3 kill switches( ecu, fuel pump, and starter), but instead of putting the wires in reasonable order on the plug i will connect them randomly on the female side, then on the male (which will be like my key) hook up the wires coming of the pins in the correct order. That way even if a thief can find the plug he would have to spend whoever knows how long figuring out which wires he need to hook up to each other. I know it may take a little while to hook up but it seems like it would work really well. Heck know that I think about it I could use like a 12 wire harness that has some bogus wires that are just goin to some body bolt, that would really throw somebody off.

okay scratch my previous idea i just got this from a guy at honda-tech... wire the remote wire for the radio to a relay for the ecu and fuel pump