Are Car Alarms Necessary?

Last night as I was laying in bed attempting to get some much needed sleep, someone's car alarm was annoyingly going off for an hour and a half.  Okay, it was probably closer to 5 or 10 minutes but it felt like an hour and a half.  All I kept thinking was that I wanted to take a baseball bat to the car alarm and then to the owner. Therefore, I ask you: are car alarms really necessary anymore? Does anyone pay any heed to them or think that someone is actually stealing another person's car? And if someone is stealing the car, do we really care?  All we want is for the alarm to stop! 

I submit that these annoying alarms should go the way of the dodo bird.  I remember when I got my 'new' car a couple of months ago, I needed to get it inspected for my insurance company and the garage attendant asked if there was an alarm in the car. My response was "No, why would I need one. No one pays any attention to them."  He laughed and concurred.  Yet, insurance companies say that you can get a better rate if you have a car alarm.  Hmmm, I'd rather have a 800 pound gorilla in my back seat, because that's a better deterrent for a thief. Of course the cost of bananas would be astronomical, not to mention the clean up factor.

Actually the way I see it, if you want my car badly enough, just take it.  You'll get your penalty soon enough.