Last Modified ages ago

The car has a Cat 1 alarm system fitted by the previous owner but the thing was a pain in the butt when I first got it. The following standard 'features' really really annoyed me to the point of swearing loudly several times

• the chirps on the lock unlock just annoyed me to the extreme
• the auto lock when the ignition turned on and auto unlock when ignition turned off
• the auto arm when key removed from ignition

The chirps were just a pain full stop. That's all that needs to be said. Wasn't like they were quiet either. Half the damn street could hear me entering and exiting the car or more likely playing with the key fob trying to get into the damn thing. I had soo many problems and trying to do the manual quiet chirps sometimes unlocked the car and sometimes it didn't. Real pain in the ass.

Now I'm sure when these features were thought of it was a great idea but they are not. Trust me on this. Auto locking the central locking when the ignition is turned on is not good. If I want to lock the doors when I'm driving I will hit the damn central locking button on the armrest and not before.

When I was trying to wash the car, or more correctly John was washing the car the damn alarm kept alarming itself and then going off because the doors were open or something else was open or it just felt like it. I fill up with petrol and if I have a passenger in the car the damn alarm would go off before I had finished filling up or paying for the petrol. Even leaving the drivers door open didn't always prevent the alarm from auto arming even though it should have. It wasn't always practical either to leave the door open. Now, after having read the manual several times I now know there is a valet mode that can be entered in two ways fairly quickly but its sorted now.

I went to Drivers in St Georges Road and they sorted the alarm to suit my wants. Now I could have done myself but I couldn't get to grips with the programming sequence, I could do the valet mode thing but not the next step to enter the options mode. The alarm man from Drivers just got straight in there and altered the settings. What a guy. Didn't charge for it either so I am returning the favour by getting the four wheel alignment done in their workshop. Could have got it done elsewhere sooner but I owe them one anyway so I'm not quibbling.