To be honest, I don't understand alarms. They've turned into "The Boy Cried Wolf". The noise they make is more of an annoyance to society than an effective preventive.

We've all had the experience of walking by a car and the alarm tripping for no reason. Or worse, getting woken up in the middle of the night by the neighbors faulty alarm.

If I were to get anything, it would be the Ravelco system, a site sponsor. It seems like a simple setup and from looking at their PR, an unbeaten system.

That being said, it seems to be very pricey for a cutoff switch. $400 + tax. I look at my deductible ($500) and it does not seem to make sense to spend $ on a system.

Maybe I'm looking at this incorrectly? I talked to a Ravelco sales guy yesterday and he didn't disuade me from that argument.

 

Hi Willyum4u,

At NoHotWire.com, we try not to put the 'hard sell' on people. We don't like trying to talk people into buying if they are not convinced they want the device.

Some poeple look at insurance (and their deductible) as their safety net. If you look at it that way, then it's kind of a done deal. But the reality that the deductible is just the first cost. The next is the time and hassle you have to go through post theft. Dealing with the insurance, taking time off work, rental car, belongings in the car, etc.

All that adds up to potentially thousands of dollars.

Then their's the issue of the car turning up again. Once your car is stolen, the police register it with the DMV, and the DMV provides the VIN to companies such as CarFax. When you go to trade in or sell your previously stolen car, the buyer would find that it was stolen and the value of your car drops.

Think of it this way: if you were looking at buying a used car and found two suitable cars that were the same model, color, options, condition, mileage, etc., but one was a recovered theft, would you pay the same price for the car that was stolen, or would you use that to negotiate a better deal? Most poeple wouldn't pay the same for the stolen car, and certainly any dealer that car was traded into wouldn't pay the same amount.

Unfortunately most of our customers call us after they've experience a theft. We're hoping that more customers will call us BEFORE they experience a theft attempt, and we keep them from losing their car.

Take care.

 

That being said, $400+ for two hours work and non-electrical or mechanical parts - as far as I can tell, it's the caps, a short piece of pipe, and mostly labor - it seems like a lot of $$$. And since it is mostly labor, why charge sales tax on the whole shebang?

 

We got that alarm too on mine, I switch over to the two way pager alarm tho. Scion Security sucks! They shouldn't even be selling it!! JMO! Theres NO way its worth what they charge!! My two way was only like 2 hundred something installed!

 

Willyum4u,

$400 and you don't have to worry about your car being stolen. It really isn't a bad deal.

The Ravelco is a more than a couple wires, a tube and two hours of installation. We've spent years developing the pins so that they don't corrode or get weak and loose over time. You could buy other products that wear out over time, or leave you stranded. The Ravelco won't. The female pins are a memory alloy that always go back to their original shape. The male pins are brass. They're both nickel plated to prevent corrosion. It's actually is pretty costly comparitively speaking.

The combination of the product and proper installation has not been defeated to date.

Plus there's a cost of running, growing, promoting, and advertising a business. It's not just a matter of paying the guy that shows up. Sponsoring ScionLife can't happen for free! ;-)

Take care.

 

Oh, on the sales tax, the Board of Equalization makes us charge tax on the whole thing. We sell it as a complete solution and have to charge tax on the entire amount. We tried to figure a way around it, but there really isn't.

 

If I were to get a system, it would by Ravelco. No unneccesary noise, no hassle, no theft.