Remote Car Starter Buying Guide

Remote Car Starter Buying Guide

My job is to install remote starter car since the early 1990. This experience has taught us what is important in a quality installation of remote starter. With the cold season almost upon us, we thought it would be a good time to make our Top 10 (in no particular order) message:

10 Warranty

The current brain remote starter should be as long as the same car to be covered under warranty. Many companies offer this quality. If they do not, there is a possible sign of poor equipment.Remote controls, but are rarely used for more than a year covered by the warranty. Our Pro line remotes carry a warranty of 2 years and all our 2-way remote is planning a $ 25 replacement.

9 The engine speed

A good remote starter should be a method of controlling motor speed. Why is it important? There are a few reasons:

* In a very cold day, could not start the car in the first round of the key. The same goes with an infra-starter. Maybe not the first timeGoodwill is what it is. Without a method to detect the speed of the motor, the remote start is to have no way of knowing that the vehicle will not start. The end result is that you go by car and is still cold.

* The other main reason is over-rev protection. A remote starter as whether the engine speed is too high and out. A remote start, you can not not provide RPM sensor to determine if this level is exceeded, and damage to the vehicle to stop.

8Transmission range

We want to make sure that the remote start, you can purchase the start / stop / lock / unlock, etc. from a distance. Many people say that once the car directly in front of the house and should not ring long channel. Also, remember the trips to the movies, the mall, amusement park, etc. You want to use with your remote start and will not be parked so close to home. Our stations provide a minimum of 800 meters andsome are over a mile!

7. Hood Safety Switch

Make sure that there is an emergency cutoff installed under the hood. This cutoff is designed to prevent the vehicle from remote starting if the hood is up. This protects you and your mechanic from forever having someone else open your ketchup bottles! DO NOT OVERLOOK THIS! Many shops skip this step because it saves time. Mobile Edge integrates a hood cutoff on every single job.

6. Manufacturer

Make sure that the manufacturer is a company that specializes in remote car starters. There are many companies out there that simply throw a label on a product and call it their own. You want to avoid that. It is our experience that these companies provide little if any support for their products and many will not be in business next year. Stick with the experts.

5. New Car Warranty

Do not let your car dealer tell you that an aftermarket remote car starter will void your warranty . This is against the law. The Magnuson Moss Act prevents a dealer from voiding a warranty simply because of the addition of aftermarket equipment. If that equipment or associated installation causes damage to the vehicle, the dealer does not have to warranty the job. This is more of a reason to go to a specialist shop that sell good remote starters and installs them professionally. I have a detailed PDF on this subject.

4. Do it Yourself?

Unless you are a certified technician with experience in remote car starter installation, DO NOT attempt to install your own remote starter. I know... The one you saw at WalMart comes with an instructional video. That video will teach you enough to make you dangerous. Trust me! It will not teach you how to integrate the transponder in a 2004 Ford or bypass the security in an 06 Trailblazer. The instructional video may have worked in the early 1990's, but today's cars are very sophisticated. Save yourself a ton of expense and headache and have it installed by someone who does this for a living and can be responsible for the job. This brings us to number 3.

3. Buy it Here / Install it There?

Do not buy your remote starter on eBay (or WalMart or Amazon, etc) and expect to find a quality, reputable shop that will install it for you. While many aftermarket shops will install stereos and amps purchased elsewhere, few if any will install a remote start purchased elsewhere. During remote starter season, the good shops are busy enough trying to keep up with their own work. If you find a shop that will install someone else's remote starter, they are likely not very busy. Do you want to trust your vehicle to that guy?

There is another very important reason not to buy a remote starter at one place and have it installed at another. Let's say something goes wrong. A remote starter is an electronic product and can fail. The guy that puts it in will blame the product and the manufacturer will say that it was installed wrong. Guess who is stuck in the middle with no recourse. When you have the shop that you buy a remote starter from install it, you have one place to go in the event of a failure. There cannot be any finger pointing.

2. Go to a Specialist

Look for a specialty shop. Not to bash any of the chain stores, but they have a much higher turnover rate with installers than a specialty shop. These are people that likely have less experience than a long term employee at a specialty shop. It is my experience that many installer "cut their teeth" at a chain store and, once they have more experience, move on to a specialist (We pay more!).

Many specialists (not all though) will solder all of their connections. I feel that this is very important. Crimp connectors can save up to an hour of installation time, but when dealing with the vehicle's electrical system, I want a rock solid connection. The only way to get that is by soldering the wires together. Mobile Edge has soldered every connection on every job for nearly 15 years.

Will a remote starter from a specialty shop cost more than from a chain store? Sometimes yes. But put that into perspective. Even if the job cost 0 more from a specialist, that difference is less than 1/10 of 1% of what you probably paid for your car. Why take the risk. Not to mention, when you deal with a specialist, you can talk to the installer, salesman and, in many cases, the owner. There is definitely a value in that.

1. More than Just a Remote Starter

Make sure that you review all of the convenience features that can be added to your remote starter with your salesperson before the installation! Most higher quality remote starters will allow a ton of cool features to be added or controlled from the remote. Anything from heated seats to keyless entry and rear defrost can be integrated with most better systems. It is A LOT cheaper to have this done at the time of installation. If you want to add it later, you may be paying for several hours of additional labor.

The Bottom Line

In summary, the cheapest price does not always save you money! When selecting a shop to have a remote starter put in, ask a lot of questions. How long have they been in business? How much experience do their technicians have? Do they have sophisticated computer programs to aid with installation? How do they handle warranty issues? You get the idea. The better shops will clearly rise to the top. They might cost a little more up front, but that extra expense will pay dividends in quality and piece of mind. I am sure that you will find that Mobile Edge is one of the best shops for your Remote Car Starter Installation.

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