Connected Services Cost

CVODON · Jul 17, 2022

I recently renewed all the connected services as the free period expires this month. I see threads where people complain regarding the $300 cost, It is cheaper than On-Star which I have been paying for almost 20 years now so I see no problem with it. But point is I am buying a New GMC Ultimate P/U, GM has put a $905.00 charge on the Window sticker for the first three years, an this morning the news says BMW is taking away heated seats and other features unless you subscribe. All this Makes Genesis 3 years free a even better deal.

JEdwards · Jul 17, 2022

CVODON said:
an this morning the news says BMW is taking away heated seats and other features unless you subscribe.

I don't know where you read that, but it is false.

No driver will ever have a feature taken away. The plan is that some features will be put in cars whether the buyer opted to pay for it or not. They just won't be activated unless paid for.

If the buyer pays up front when they purchase, then the feature will remain active for the life of the vehicle. If the driver did not pay for it, they can enable the feature for a monthly fee, pay a lump sum for 3 years of functionality , or pay a larger lump sum to add the feature permanently.

EdP · Jul 17, 2022

JEdwards said:
I don't know where you read that, but it is false.

No driver will ever have a feature taken away. The plan is that some features will be put in cars whether the buyer opted to pay for it or not. They just won't be activated unless paid for.

If the buyer pays up front when they purchase, then the feature will remain active for the life of the vehicle. If the driver did not pay for it, they can enable the feature for a monthly fee, pay a lump sum for 3 years of functionality , or pay a larger lump sum to add the feature permanently.

Semantics. One way or another you have to pay extra for the feature or you don't get it. IMO, a chintzy was for a revenue stream. You paid to have them installed, used or not.

I just poured a good bourbon for you. If you want to drink it, send me $3 for the ice cubes.

JCtx · Jul 18, 2022

Sounds like crap, but Tesla is doing it with their stupid 'full self-driving capability', which is crap. It was included for 3 months with my ex-2021, and only used it once. My Hyundai Santa Fe Calligraphy works better. Ha ha. And KTM started doing that with their bikes too: You need to pay to activate the quick shifter, more riding modes, and cruise control (which also requires a different switch). The good thing is there's a lot less production variation, which helps save a lot of moolah for manufacturers, so guess we'll start seeing that more and more. Sign of the times, I guess. I never liked Tesla being able to basically do whatever the hell they want with the car, so hope not to see that at least on gas cars, for whatever time they have left. I always disabled Wi-Fi on the Tesla, so they didn't track my internet usage constantly... but there was no way to disable the car's modem, so they could track where we went all the time, and without getting paid. Ha ha. But again, it's probably what everybody else is doing now, so we're stuck with that crap. It's happening with our phones and computers anyway, even when switching off what we can find (cookies, etc).

Going back to the subject, I'm not paying for any of that crap, so when it expires, it'll stay that way. I have never used, or needed any of that, so not worth it to me. But it's nice to have the option for those find it valuable

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