The remote start came with the alarm I bought. It's pretty damn useful, specially for those cold morning, where you don't wanna go outside yet. Or even when it's really hot, just leave your car off, but with the ac on , and if you remote start it for a while, by the time you get to your car from the parking lot, it'll be nice and cool inside. The transponder bypass kit is about $19-25. So it's not that expensive to get it on the car.