Thinking of adding bluetooth to your car but unsure if you can?

Been told you need to change your factory stereo in order to get bluetooth… even though you REALLY don’t want to?

The reality is that every car is different. And every person is different.

Some of my customers have no problem switching their stereos to aftermarket bluetooth radios… and yet, some don’t want to change the factory look at all.

Even still, I have others who WANT an aftermarket stereo, but their car won’t accept one.

So what do you do?

Well, in this post I’m going to show you 3 different ways you can add bluetooth to your car.

One of them involves replacing your stereo… while two of them don’t.

Sound good? Then let’s begin…

1. Replacing Your Factory Stereo With an Aftermarket Bluetooth Stereo

This is hands-down my favorite way of adding bluetooth.

It’s simple, effective, and it gives you a TON of options to choose from.

You could do a basic stereo with bluetooth, USB, CD and Auxiliary… or you can get a little “bourgeois” and do Apple CarPlay or even a navigation head unit

The world is your oyster!

But how do you know if you cars radio can actually be replaced?

Simple, you can either go to Pac Audio or Metra Online and punch in the year/make/model of your car.

From there you want to see if they have a kit and harness for your vehicle. (sometimes the harness is referred to as the interface)

However, the most important thing to look out for is the kit.

If neither company makes a kit for your car, then there’s a good chance the stereo can’t be replaced, or you may have to have us – or another professional – build you a custom kit.

But this can be expensive, so your next option is…

2. O.E.M Integration Bluetooth

This is just a fancy shmancy way of saying Bluetooth that hooks up directly to your factory system – that’s it!

And it works GREAT with European and high-end cars that don’t have radio replacement solutions.

BUT… that’s NOT to say you can’t add these to your everyday cars like Hondas and Subarus.

The best way to find out if they make this module for your car is by going to Grom Audio. Again, type in the year/make/model of your car and see if there’s a bluetooth adapter.

If there is, then great – you’re set to go.

But if there isn’t, don’t despair. There’s still one final solution and that is…

3. FM Modulated Bluetooth

OK, so this isn’t my first choice. In fact, this is really just a last resort.

Nine out of ten times we’ll find one or more of the first two solutions are available for our customers.

But in the rare case they aren’t, we’ll resort to an FM Modulated Bluetooth.

We actually don’t carry any in stock, but you could go to Best Buy or Amazon and find plenty being sold for dirt cheap.

Why don’t I like this type of bluetooth?

Because the Bluetooth is being hardwired to work with one of your FM stations. Meaning?

Your sound quality will only as good as the quality of the radio reception.

Yeah I know, it stinks.

I often get customers complaining about choppy and intermittent sound… so again, I won’t recommend this option if you can actually do the first two.