No more sales

Gm is now putting remote starts in from the factory on some of the 2005 models and many more on the 2006 models. I see a trend from other car makers in the near future. Does anyone think remote start sales will drop drastically (running many shops out of business) in the near future?

we are going to have to let people know how incredibly expensive that factory equipment is compared to how well it works.  i havent heard any opinions on them yet, but if factory rem. starters have the same range as factory keyless entry, then you might as well go and start your car manually to let it warm up.  if the 20ft factory range is the option in new cars, then i think business may get even better.  as far as audio and video goes, when something goes wrong the customer usually goes to the dealer first.  they go to the dealer and find out a new head unit will be over $500 or a new overhead screen will be well into the $1000-2000 range.  thats when they come to shops and let us know how the dealers want to rip them off and how the equipment shouldnt have failed in the 1st place.  hopefully, (so we all still have a job/hobby), people will realize that aftermarket equipment installed properly always works out to be cheaper and of better quality than the factory equipment.

have any of you heard of the new 42 volt standard for vehicles?

check it out - http://www.caraudiomag.com/specialfeatures/0307cae_42volt/

seems like its going to change everything.  what do you guys think about this???

The mopar remote starts are nothing more than aftermarket units with a fancy harness that plugs into the ignition switch.  They still use a bypass module with antenna that goes around the ignition switch, a tach wire, etc...  Essentially the same as installing an aftermarket, except the wires going to the ignition switch plug in.

I've done a ton of them so far (carvans, rams, pacifica's, 300's, Magnums and 05 dakotas) and they seem to work well.  They have range comparable to the aftermarket units we install (designtech). They are available for virutally all chrysler products now, except I Think Neon.

They are just a basic remote start, nothing fancy.  They do have some distinct advantages, including individual fuses for the ignition and parking light ckts, and relays of sufficient capacity to operate the blower motor on the new rams (use a relay to run the blowers on these trucks!).

The disadvantages are cost (they are far from cheap), and it's just plain boring to put them in, no fun to it at all ;)

Leo

i agree with mobil1

our sales will more than likely increase with the remote starters

not all vehicles will come like that, and once the vehicle is on the lot, the dealer is reluctant to install the factory unit when the aftermarket is better and less expensive

KIA offers it on their sorento, works from about 50 ft

the only thing i have seen affect sales is ebay and online stores that sell near wholesale...

im actually involved with a project to kinda join retail shops across america together.. its a way of increasing sales and keeping them in their hometown.  hopefully this will help increase sales in the aftermarket sector, and not the dealer sector. 

more and more, and now at a faster pace, manufactures are trying to keep more profits in their pocket, i guess they dont know how to sell cars anymore, so they have to infringe on our business.