The truth about subscription fees for your vehicle’s

chaseydog

chaseydog

Well-known member
Just finished Jill’s story on “The truth about subscription fees in your vehicle”, and sadly I’ve got to agree that the horse is likely out of the barn on these types of fees and that no degree of consumer backlash is going to change that.

Recently purchased a 2024 Sierra 1500 AT4 and have to say that GM has gone out of their way to make the subscription plans, and which ones are needed to get the features you want, as confusing as possible.

As near as I can tell my ’24 comes with 3 years of remote access, but only a month of the safety features and unlimited data. Giving them my cc info gets me another two months of the safety features but only an additional month of the unlimited data. Once that month is up unlimited data will cost me $15 a month, then the following month I’ll be out the $15, plus another $30 for the safety stuff. “So, is it going to cost me $45 a month?”, I ask the OnStar rep. “Oh no sir, call us back when your trial expires, and we will see what packages or discounts we can offer you.” As much as I like the in-built Google Nav and being able to say, “Hey Google, change my temp to 70 degrees”, I can’t see going for it unless those discounts are substantial.

Now that was my second conversation with OnStar. The first time I contacted them was when I was having a connectivity issue with the infotainment system. I let the rep know about the issue I was having, and she assured me that she would connect me with someone who could help me, but first she needed to tell me about all the wonderful features I was missing out on and why I should upgrade my plan. She eventually connected me to someone who helped me, after I made it clear I wasn’t interested in listening to a sales pitch, but I wondering if that encounter wasn’t a clear indication of where OnStar’s priorities lie.
 
I had a smilar experience when I purchased my '21 AT4. What I didn't realize was that if I went online and made an account with GMC/Onstar then I could see everything in my terms and it made more sense, easier to navigate the options. In the end I don't pay for anything extra. I don't need the data as we all have unlimited data with our phones. I don't care for voice commands, I would rather just turn the temp up amd I didn't see much value in the "remote access" with the app. I use the fob to start my truck on cold mornings, it's just as easy doing that as it is with my phone.
 
Oddly enough I’m not a big fan of voice commands either. Never use it on my iPhone, and even though I bought an Amazon Alexa I never use it. Not sure if using Google Assistant just clicks for me in the truck or if I’m just caught up in the novelty of it. I’ll see how I feel in 3 months.
 
After reading the article, it seems pretty favorable of these brand's practices. They are doing it because they see a potential revenue stream and that makes sense, but it seems like they banded together to ensure that they all add subscriptions. I suspect if they had done research, they would find that people do not want to pay for many these types of things. If they had done that, the alternative is to add the cost into the vehicle, which is what some of the trials are to a degree.

To really make this work though, manufactures should probably learn a bit from Tesla and Rivian and basically build the same vehicle for everyone, bringing the price down for the overall vehicle and allowing you to subscribe to the features/packages you want. That probably sounds awful, but if my new Taco only cost 45,000 and I was able to add only the software features I wanted, that would be nice. No $8800 upgrade cost off the top and then a sub on top of that. But I don't think this is how people want to buy cars anyway so I don't this subs work very well.

Jill mentioned the 9.99 Tesla sub. Beside the advanced auto-pilot that is the only one they offer and it give you radio streaming with live traffic updates on the maps. If you don't pay for it, your maps still work and are updated for the life of the vehicle. This type of sub I can live with. If I live in a city, I might want to pay for that, but if I live in a more rural area, it's probably not worth.

Lastly, Jill stated that the in car systems area sometimes better. With Android Automotive and the new in car CarPlay systems, they may be equivalent and only better because they are linked to the vehicle themselves. That being said, there isn't anything stopping manufacturers from adding the ability to give Android Auto and CarPlay the data it would need to better help drivers of things like EVs either. They just don't want to give up the experience and that is their decision to make.

Anyway, this has been on my mind for awhile as well. My Mom, who is retired and in her 70s, is frustrated that she lost the ability to remotely start here 22 Tucson. We looked at adding it back, but you have to add two packages, connectivity and remote start, making it $200/year just to keep that feature and she opted out because of that. She would have kept it for $100. So manufacturers need to figure out the right price/packaging if they want people to keep these features as well.
 
I do understand subscriptions for connectivity as that requires a third party, cellular networks. The problem is forcing a subscription to a feature that never before required it, remote start. I imagine aftermarket systems are gonna start showing up again to combat this.
 
X CD
Dusdaddy said:
I do understand subscriptions for connectivity as that requires a third party, cellular networks. The problem is forcing a subscription to a feature that never before required it, remote start. I imagine aftermarket systems are gonna start showing up again to combat this.
Click to expand...
The subscription is only required if you want to remote start using an app on your phone. No sub required, at least not yet, for remote starting with the key fob. At least on GM’s no idea if other manufacturers may be pushing a sub for any form of remote start.
 
chaseydog said:
X CD

The subscription is only required if you want to remote start using an app on your phone. No sub required, at least not yet, for remote starting with the key fob. At least on GM’s no idea if other manufacturers may be pushing a sub for any form of remote start.
Click to expand...
Yeah, this complaint is mostly about the ones that are getting rid of the fob altogether, like Toyota. You get a credit-card device as a key. Walk up, open the door, hit the button. Remote start must use the app. If the phone app was just a an extra "nice to have" is one thing but when it's a requirement, that's crap.
 
Im about to go down this road when I purchase the new GM truck, I'll allow GM to max out their options that are included for three years, after that all I want is the data, I like my privacy, during the three year usage I will start my adjustments that will almost start day one, I will lock down the infotainment system with a firewall and monitor incoming and out going data, I will choose who gets send me and receive data, it's not a hard job but it takes time to figure out who and where the data goes, I already done this with my home systems, you just have to make sure what your blocking is not affecting anything you need, I already know what Google and Apple wants, these two are not hard to cut off certain data without affecting things like maps or music, Im not about to give info on where I go and how fast, I will have to figure out what data GM's trying to pull.

Im also getting a dash cam and have it send the data to my own personal storage at home, basically a SSD into a Raspberry Pie into the router, I have zero interest in paying dash cam maker for the usage of their cloud service, mind you there are so many things you can do with a Raspberry Pie to enhance operation of your online infotainment system
 
Rogue Rkunk said:
Im about to go down this road when I purchase the new GM truck, I'll allow GM to max out their options that are included for three years, after that all I want is the data, I like my privacy, during the three year usage I will start my adjustments that will almost start day one, I will lock down the infotainment system with a firewall and monitor incoming and out going data, I will choose who gets send me and receive data, it's not a hard job but it takes time to figure out who and where the data goes, I already done this with my home systems, you just have to make sure what your blocking is not affecting anything you need, I already know what Google and Apple wants, these two are not hard to cut off certain data without affecting things like maps or music, Im not about to give info on where I go and how fast, I will have to figure out what data GM's trying to pull.

Im also getting a dash cam and have it send the data to my own personal storage at home, basically a SSD into a Raspberry Pie into the router, I have zero interest in paying dash cam maker for the usage of their cloud service, mind you there are so many things you can do with a Raspberry Pie to enhance operation of your online infotainment system
Click to expand...
Raspberry pie with ice cream and a dollop of whip cream🙄 Sorry, just had to be a wise guy. Found out that the RP is a single board computer. What dash cam model are you going to use?
 
NMTRUCKER said:
Raspberry pie with ice cream and a dollop of whip cream🙄 Sorry, just had to be a wise guy. Found out that the RP is a single board computer. What dash cam model are you going to use?
Click to expand...
Im looking at VIOFO T130 and Thinkware U3000, Im doing research on these two at the moment, both have stuff I want and don't need, Im looking for the best sensor as many have the same and just add on a few features to make it look attractive, I also want something that fits just below the upper console that I can mount behind the mirror.

​

 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Back
Top