The two main types of car alarm activation methods are passive and active.

After the ignition is turned off and the last door is closed passive alarms automatically enter an armed state.

Active alarms activate when the car owner to presses the transmitter button to arm and disarm the system.

If your alarm is set to arm passively you will possibly get an insurance discount. Make an agreement with your insurance provider. Actually, you may get a discount anyway. As a rule, good alarm systems can be set as active or passive arming.

Install the alarm system at the same time or earlier than a stereo system. Having the stereo system installed earlier than the alarm system is very risky as the chances of it being stolen are very high.

Don't be stingy when selecting the alarm. You can find an alarm of good quality for no more than a hundred dollars if you shop around. The alarm with special built in options would cost you about two hundred dollars.

The alarm installation fee will depend upon the number of its extra features and will run about one hundred dollars. Or you can carry out the installation by yourself. In this case the alarm provider should give you an instruction of how to do it. You can also find some installation video in the Internet.