Recommendation needed: alarm/stereo installer

[seg1959]

Hi there,
I might need to change the original factory fitted alarm/immobiliser on my 1990 964 Targa with a Thatcham approved model, for insurance purposes.
I also want (but do not have to) upgrade my car stereo to something that actually works.

Can anyone recommend a competent and reliable fitter/installer in the south, around the Croydon - Caterham - Redhill - Godstone area? Or anywhere nearby?

Any alarm/immobiliser device recommendations are also welcome.

Thanks a lot,
seg

 

[smallspeed]

I would spend the cash on a decent immobiliser if I were you, and if possible get one that has a proximity thing rather than a contact fob.. that way it can be installed behind the dash near the ignition barrel so you dont need any extra holes drilling anywhere visable! Alarms (IMHO) are a bit of a waste of time, plus I dont think insurance companies are too bothered about them, but if you need one they arent that expensive to add to an immobiliser with a multi-channel brain
I was going to replace immobiliser in mine as the insurance company we're unable to find a thatcham listing for it, but after a couple of hours of me doing their job for them I found the info and saved myself a few quid..

make wise, a friend swears by toad on his VW's and they seem good with older cars (their installers will come to you aswell which is nice; did his in the carpark at work). They dont seem to kill the battery too much when cars are parked for a while.. They are also (or were) modular, so you could get an immobiliser and add an alarm or a pager, or whatever at a later date which is a good feature.
Another friend has modern "chav cars" and swears by clifford, but I wonder if thats because its the make to have or perhaps because they have a carbon fibre effect keyfob! My sisters car had one, but it used to kill the battery in her car (90's fiat) so Im not sure I would recommend for an occasional use car or one thats stored over the winter
My MG has another make of alarm/immobiliser on it (think its Avatal?) and they are the previous gen clifford hardware sold under licence. Its a good alarm/immobiliser, but 1/2 the price of a clifford with the same features, so assuming they are still available, and provided you can put up with not having a CF keyfob and a clifford sticker in your window they are a good buy []

I cant help with an installer, but I think Toad and Clifford only use registered installers which they have certified, so you should be safe with them.. As I said my mates latest car (karmann ghia) was fitted with a new alarm system by toad in our work carpark which saves any messing about dropping your car off somewhere

ben

 

[smallspeed]

PS.. you might feel violated and dirty for doing this, but have a flick through a maxpower as a lot of the time companies advertising in there give a discount when presenting their advert, or have special "pocket money" prices for the 17yr old readers []

there's an audio company near me (who offer a lot of very high end stuff) who do about 35% off some of their standard kit like cd changers and headunits if you show them a copy of maxpower!..

PPS.. stereo wise, you might struggle in a 964; there's not a lot of sound deadening and adding weight seems contrary to the aim of the vehicle.. If you get a powerful enough headunit it should make plenty of noise, and there are quite a few sets of speakers that will fit.. I think the fronts are 5-1/4" in the standard car

I have a Kenwood headunit, which is pretty boring looking, but is plain black with two rotary knobs on the front so a bit more inkeeping with the car than a flashy silver one.. It has a USB input on the back (cable with a socket) to take a USB pen.. Mine has a 1gb pen which is ideal for loads of music, and its dead easy to take out, wipe and fill up again.. plays mp3, aac, wmv and wav files.. its about 4x 45w so plenty loud enough, although my standard speakers are getting a little tired! Its also got a decent radio and a cd player (that will play mp3/wav/aac/wmv cd's).. I think I paid about 70 quid for it from ebay, but they are still available new for about 150-ish I think..

I was tempted by a becker headunit with built in satnav so it looked like a standard porsche item, but they are still fetching quite good money, and my navman hasn't let me down yet []