Out of curiosity what part of NC do you live in?? Because I live in NC too. Anyway DEI is definently the way to go when it comes to alarms, they make the best. I had to find this out the hard way though. After having a top of the line Alpine alarm attempted to be installed on my car, four hours later, I found the alarm wouldn't work. Apparently, at least on my mercedes, the alarm output must send a signal to the vacuum pump to unlock or lock the doors for at least 3 seconds. The highest was about 2.5 seconds. This meant that the Alpine alarm could not lock or unlock the doors. Sometimes it could unlock the doors if you tried a few times, but I never saw it lock the doors. The DEI unit on the other sends the signal for 3.3 seconds I think (more than 3 I know) so the lock and unlock feature works great. The DEI unit I purchased, which was a top of the line model at the time functions great. The only time I have ever had problems with it, it was because I messed it up, trying to power police strobes without a relay, but it was replaced for free under warranty. DEI offers a lifetime warranty on their alarms. As to your getting charged for installation,did you go to a smaller audio shop. Because I know everywhere I priced alarms, installation was always included. In fact you could not even by the alarm by itself, installation was included in the price. Go to Best Buy, the now carry viper and other dei brands such as sidewinder and python. You should be able to get a good model which includes an alarm and remote entry for around $225 installed. If you have any more alarm questions just let me know and I'll be glad to help you.