I had my aftermarket alarm installed today. I park my car on the street in my neighborhood, and soon I'll be going off to school and parking it for long periods of time in the lots and I thought I would like to have the added protection.

Anyways the alarm (made by Karr) is really great. If you walk up to the car and rock it, or even just pound on the window hard enough, it gives you a warning honk. It also honks when you lock and unlock it. And when you turn the car on the doors lock and they unlock when you turn the car off. The other thing that is different is the flashing lights... instead of just the blinker lights flashing, the parking lights also flash when you lock/unlock the car. And of course it has all the features of the factory keyless system (trunk release, etc.).

My Nissan dealership installed it, and while they were installing it I got to drive a 98 black GXE Maxima (same as mine), and it had a spoiler (same as mine). It was just a car off the lot that was for sale, that they let me use with a dealer plate. I was really surprised how different one car can be from another, even though they are basically exactly the same. It seems like my car had SO much more power than that Maxima. And I have no performance mods (yet). My car springs off the line so much quicker. And they are both automatics. The car's steering was also really loose and "floaty", and my Max's steering is nice and stiff.

Just making an observation that I thought was interesting... strange how they all come off the assembly line exactly the same way, but no car feels alike.

 

could be that the car needed some work...

 

could be that the car needed some work...

 

How much was the alarm, if you don't mind me asking?

 

dealer installed is prolly gonna be atleast 400 bucks

 

hmm... you think that's worth it? or should i spend that money on like... say... an HID kit

 

The installation was actually a deal (I think), because I've had major problems with my dealer. My car ended up being a salvage, which they did not tell me about, and they also misrepresented a whole LOAD of things in the car to me. Well anyways, one of the things that the salesman told me that the car had in it was the aftermarket alarm system. The car even has the stickers for the aftermarket alarm on the windows. So I took it back to the dealership a few days ago and made a scene with them. They installed it for just the cost of labor. I think they are just sick of me, because I've already been in so many other arguments with them (i've reported them to the local news for selling me the salvage and not telling me and then not doing anything about it, and I reported them to the BBB for that and for selling the car to me as an SE).

SO... in the end, the labor cost was $150 (their labor is $75/hour... it took them two hours, so they say). I think its good because since they told me the car already had it, they owed it to me. I probably could have gone and gotten a system at Car Toys or Best Buy or something that did all the same stuff for maybe a little less, but, oh well