The other authorized viper dealers I called all gave me prices of $500 and above. One told me it would take 8 hrs so he quoted me $700 plus tax.

 

That seems like s lot..

 

Should I spend the extra $100 at mobile one aka audio express? They quoted me $500.

 

I'm about to just throw that alarm in my backseat and tell ppl I have an alarm system in my car. Would be cheaper.

 

Its up to you, I've only heard horror stories about best buy installs.. If u feel they are qualified then have best buy do it.. Do u know of anyone getting work done there??

 

They have certifications just like any other shop, and see lots of business. They can do the work.

That being said, my parents surprised me on my 17th birthday with a remote install from them while I was gone for the weekend. It worked for a few weeks and then it would not start and just crank until you canceled it. Not a problem for me at first, but when your mom auto starts your car when your not around... Goodbye starter.

 

Every store is different - you can't just assume that every Best Buy installer doesn't know what they were doing or they wouldn't even be installing alarms and remote starts.

While I was in college I installed for Circuit City and I spent more time fixing "ma and pa" installs then I ever did my own (we had a ma and pa shop that was visible from our bay).

The big difference between the two is that at Circuit City installers were paid by the hour, at most "custom" shops installers are paid by the job. I could take my time and do it right where everyone else hacked cars up to make more money.

Now, with that being said, I worked with some installers along the way that I would not let touch my car but I worked with many more that I would trust working on my own car. Ultimately, it comes down to WHO works on your car and the expectations that the CUSTOMER sets before hand. If you tell the installer that you want to see the work before they put the car back together you, in theory, should get the installers best work as if he doesn't do a nice, clean job the first time he knows he will have to do it again.

 

Some real good points guys. Thanks for the input. And good idea kpierson. I will let them know I want to check out the finished product. Even though I will have no idea what I am looking at. It should be good as long as I get my point across. Maybe I could say I will be having a buddy who knows his stuff go with me to check it out.

 

THIS! You can't make a blanket statement saying all bestbuy installers are kids who don't know what they're doing. I may/may not be/know someone at Bestbuy who has been doing this for 10 years and IMO is good at what he does, also the guy he works with has been doing this for 20+ years.

If you take it to a bestbuy they will most likely charge you $200 just for the install on the unit, the bypass you need is $100 and additional labor can be anywhere from $60-$120 on top of that, depending on options you have installed. Depending on where you purchased the unit, DEI(manufacturer of Viper) may not give you their lifetime warranty on the parts. IF you purchased it from bestbuy the price for the part includes the labor on the unit itself and you will have a lifetime warranty on parts and labor. Most mom and pop shops will just give you a blanket price for parts and labor total for everything, and if they're an authorized dealer you will have a lifetime parts, and whatever they offer on labor.

If you lived near OH I wouldn't have a problem putting it in for you but that's obviously not the case.

 

Hey... I'm visiting Cleveland in a couple weeks whats your turnaround time, cost, and do you work on weekends?

 

takes a couple hours depending on add ons and features, price also dictated by the same. PM me if you're interested.