Car Alarm Variables: Value, Budget and Starter Kill

While motor vehicle theft rates have continued dropping over recent years compared with their high levels from previous decades, such thefts do still take place. You have a few good tools to guard your vehicle against this and other risks while parked anywhere in public (or even in private), and the primary such tool here is your car’s alarm system.

At Laketown Speed and Sound, we’re happy to offer a variety of automotive security features, including car alarm installation for vehicles without an alarm or alarm upgrades for those that do have an alarm, but not a great one. Our alarm systems are ideal for a variety of vehicle owners, professionally-installed and meant to last for years against a variety of threats. This two-part blog series will dig into why it pays to have a quality alarm system in your car, plus some of the important variables to be considering when you’re installing a new alarm.

car alarm value budget

Value of a Quality Alarm System

For starters, why does a car alarm even matter to you? If car theft rates are going down and you take the right care to lock the vehicle, do you really need one?

Absolutely, and for more than just security reasons – though these are the top of the list, of course. Many stock vehicle alarm systems are poorly tuned in terms of sensitivity or other factors and will not do a great job of protecting your car; aftermarket alarm systems, on the other hand, will augment your vehicle’s current features and provide much better protection. In addition, such a system will often lower your insurance costs for your car, help with future insurance claims, and raise the value of the vehicle if you choose to sell it down the line.

Our next several sections will go over themes to consider while installing a new alarm system.

Budget

First and foremost, you’ll want to keep your overall budget in mind for any new alarm. There are several alarm system types out there depending on the funds you have available; all of them will contain the most basic security themes, but as you move up the scale in price, you’ll be exposed to grander and more useful features. We’ll go over many of these features in our upcoming sections, which will span into part two of our series

Starter Kill

As many are well aware, the modern car thief doesn’t need your keys to drive away with your car – they can hot-wire most models. For this reason, many aftermarket car alarm systems will come with built-in starter kill features, which automatically cut the power to the vehicle if anyone tries to hot-wire it. For those in high-theft areas, the starter kill is a must-have for the alarm system.

For more on which car alarm features to prioritize, or to learn about any of our window tint, car audio systems or other services, speak to the staff at Laketown Speed and Sound today.