I'm thinking about buying a Viper SmartStart setup for my F-150, but I'm loathe to let any of the certified Viper dealers around here to touch my truck based on reputation.

So, keeping in mind that I'm not experienced working on my own vehicles, how hard are these things to install?

 

It depends on who you talk to. Some say not that hard, if you know what your doing but you gotta know what your doing because of the wires and such. I looked into last winter for my truck and was turned away because of the price. I then asked myself the same question, can I install it? I could if I really wanted to but the more I looked into it the more I didn't want to deal with the hassle of it all. I talked with some guys on here who had installed it themselves and they had some errors such as the windshield wipers got programmed or cross wired so it took them some time and fiddling around to get it all worked out. I would say if you have the patients and time to do it right then go for it. Definitely do the research of what you will need and how to do it before hand. It may just be easier to have someone else do it. There are many places out here in CO that install. Do some research. Car toys, best buy, quality auto sound, Sears...and the list goes on. Good luck! !!

 

We have a couple of Best Buy's in town, but I work in IT and as such have a pretty low opinion of their "Geek Squad" people. If they hire people like to represent them in that field, to me it's a pretty safe assumption that bleeds over into the other things they do.

I may give it a shot myself just to see how it goes if it's just wiring.

 

Like I said, look around and do your research first. I'm sure there are many other places that can install them as well or just try it yourself and if it fails then take it somewhere. The "stealership" would be more than happy to do it was well and for a pretty penny. If you look under my page there is a post I put up about a year ago with some tips and advice on which company and remote to buy. Good luck and let me know how it goes!

 

As far as I'm concerned, these places are all hiring the same kind of folks. The point is, as long as you go to a place that guaranties then I think you'll be fine. I've had car stereos installed but best Buy with no issues what so ever.

My sister had a remote start installed by Circuit City as they were going under and she's had no issues.

 

I just had a Viper 5301 installed at BestBuy yesterday. They did a very basic install and had it finished in 2 hours. Now that I have the manual in hand, I'm glad I had it done. Every year, make, and model of vehicle has different color codes for wiring. I could have probably installed it myself, but it would have been a real pain tracking down the different wires.

One word of advice. Be clear about what's covered in the basic install. Hooking up the horn, factory alarm, and any other auxiliary options is extra.