Milo;340627 wroteMost of the car talk type shows I listen to say that remote starters shorten the life of the battery, and related electronic components. Do not know if this is true or not, nor do I care. Me, I am too cheap to burn the gas letting it idle in the drive (I have also heard that doing THAT is bad for the engine, but who knows?). Why not just use a block heater? Even my '09 Nissan came with one.
I think the wife didn't want to be cold, thus warming the interior of the car not the engine block prior to entry was the priority. Myself, I'm going to be trying out the block heater in my new ('07 new to me) van this year. Everyone I've ever talked to said that letting your car idle in the lane for a period was good, not only for the engine, but the transmission as well.
When the trans died in my other van last winter, the tow guy asked "You don't just start the damn thing and slam it into gear and start driving do you?"