Since I work for an Insurance company and have experience with auto theft claims, I can tell you that cars without alarms get taken much more than with.
I installed a fairly generic alarm system on my 69 that I actually got from J.C. Whitney. It caught my attention because it was cheap, and gave me the added funtion of keyless entry, remote toggle access to other accesories, and would turn my parking lights and interior lights on for 30 seconds each way. This is a nice feature no matter what.
I actually HATE the Alarm horn portion of the unit.
However, I am backing it all up with a Lojack. The basic Lojack unit has nothing to do with the alarm system. The Lojack installer can put an alarm on as well, but the two are not related.
The Lojack unit will run you a one time fee around $650 that includes the unit, monitoring, and installation. They do not let you watch them install it. In most cases they will come right to your house to put it in. It has to have access to a power source/battery back up, and that is it.
Basically if the car is stolen, the owner will call it in to the police, and call Lojack. At that time they can start tracking the car. The thief has no idea it is even in the car. Most Lojack cars are found inside two hours from the time they are reported.
It is usuall for a stolen recovered car to have all kinds of damage on it, and the owner is stuck paying a deductible and having to get it fixed as well as that sick feeling in your stomach of the fact somebody defiled your car. Well, THEY say with the Lojack that since they are recovered so fast, there is usually no time for the thief to strip the car or do any other damage, so you usually get it back with minimal worries.
The Lojack is much like an insurance policy. You pay for it but hope and pray you never have to use it.
