Berkeley Parents Network: Car Alarms

Berkeley Parents Network

Car Alarms

Berkeley Parents Network > Reviews > Services & Businesses > Autos > Car Alarms

August 2006

I'm getting ready to buy a car stereo and maybe an alarm system at Best Buy in Emeryville. Anyone had experience with them Stu

Our Toyota Tacoma was recently broken into and robbed and we engaged the services of Rocco Lamanna, who is trained and certified to perform vehicle alarms and stereo installations. We have been very pleased with his knowledge and the quality of his work. His phone number is 510-292-9169. He will be relocating to El Sobrante next month and plans to open his own shop there Heike

We had a car alarm installed in our Dodge minivan at Best Buy (in Pinole) about 6 years ago or so. I wouldn't do it again. After installation (by, what looked like, a high school kid), certain electrical items didn't work quite right (e.g., the interior lights wouldn't automatically turn on when you dis- armed/unlocked the doors). Then, a couple years ago, more serious electrical problems started happening-- headlights turning on and off by themselves, and, more rarely, the alarm triggering by itself (without anyone being near it). We put up with it for a while, but finally decided to look into getting it fixed-- it turned out that we needed to replace the BCM (body control module- central computer of the car), which was very expensive, since I had to go to the dealership for that. Noted on the dealership receipt: ''after-market car alarm poorly installed'', insinuating that it may have caused, in part, the failure of our BCM, through crossed wires, short, etc. I wouldn't buy American (Dodge) again, and I wouldn't have Best Buy install an alarm again. Jim

Sept 2005

After multiple visits to different car mechanics, we've finally been told that the electrical glitches our minivan has been experiencing are 'possibly' the result of the after-market car alarm we had installed 5-6 years ago. (so much for getting a car alarm from Best Buy) Anyway, we're looking for a reputable car alarm specialist that might be willing to troubleshoot our Ungo alarm installation. One mechanic told us that these guys could charge a lot. Thanks for any advice/recommendations! Jim

Try Franks of Berkeley. They install stereos and alarms exclusively. I have used them to install and repair stereos and found them to be quite good. If they don't service the type of alarm you own, they can probably recommend someone. Kim

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