Car alarms come in an astounding variety of price points and security options. While a cheap car alarm offers very limited protection, it might be considered sufficient by a car owner depending on the car's location and value. Remember, though, that your car is not always located in the same safe location if you are using it. And, if you use your car it would be a shame to lose it. It may be better to avoid cheap car alarms for a better measure of protection.

At the very least, a cheap car alarm will make a lot of noise when a car is broken into. Car owners hope that the loud ringing of a cheap car alarm will scare off a potential thief, or at least let everyone in the vicinity know that there is a problem. The trouble with this is that the cheap car alarms rarely put off a determined thief, who will often continue the theft even with the loud alarm ringing.

Many cheap car alarms activate only when a door is opened. A savvy thief can circumvent this by entering the car through a broken window instead. Since your automobile comes with its own "getaway system," it makes a lot of sense to invest in something beyond a cheap car alarm to protect it from being stolen.

The primary purpose of a cheap car alarm is to chase off an invader with attention-getting noise. Faced with a choice of breaking into a car with alarm or without, many thieves will choose to pursue the car without an alarm. Many of the older style cheap car alarms might have an on/off switch hidden inside of the vehicle with a small delay to enable the driver to arm or disarm the car as needed. This delay, and primitive technology, mean that many car thieves will not see this car as any challenge. They will just enter and quickly disable the alarm, then proceed with the theft.

Technology continues to advance, even in the smaller price points, and the cheap car alarm is slowly disappearing from the marketplace. Cheap car alarms are still used, though, as a deterrent to amateurs and first time thieves. The owners still using these cheap car alarms rationalize that a seasoned thief will figure out a way to steal the car regardless of the quality of the alarm, so the cheap alarm is used to stop the thieves that it can.