What next? seat belts? air bags?
IMHO they should be ashamed.
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The adaptive high beam headlights cost $36 a month.
You will own nothing, and you will like it…
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Is there a Marketing class to teach people how to really make your potential customers mad and look at other competitors?
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Suppose you live someplace where seat heaters are only used 3 months out of the year. You can pay $415 for the option of unlimited use forever, or you can choose to pay $54 per year to have them during the 3 months you want them. If you drive a new BMW for 4 years, then trade for/lease a new one, it might make sense.
As for me, I would never pay any extra for a heated seat. But my wife loves them. To each his own.
I wonder though, if you pay the $415 for unlimited use, does that include a warranty forever?
Not just BMW, here’s more on it, including GM:
Car Buyers Expected to Pay Extra $135 Monthly for Subscriptions: GM | The Drive
I can see why car makers would charge for connectivity… there are features that perform better with an internet connection… But seat heaters? C’mon!
Considering how many drivers I see NOT using the Blutooth hands-free from their phones, making them turn on the internet hotspot on their phones would clearly be impossible.
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I agree, but the reality is that with many (perhaps most??) recently-manufactured vehicles, the mfr probably has the capability to remotely shut-down virtually any electrical/electronic feature if they desire. Let’s hope that BMW’s experiment is a resounding failure, lest this spreads to other car companies.
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And this is why I continue to buy older, non-Internet connected used cars…
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JMHO, but anyone who pays a subscription fee for something like adaptive headlights or seat heaters has a serious lack of monetary judgment and I have to wonder how many of them sit around carping to anyone who will listen how broke they are.
Maybe my opinion is swayed due to economics back in school being one of my favorite subjects.
What’s next? Subscriptions for operating brakes or a cabin heater? Sorry your husband is dead Ms. Smith but he failed to pay the monthly brake charge so we had to disable them. It may sound far fetched now but so did subscription seat heaters not many years ago.
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BMW = Bend to My Will
It’s an extension of the software model where you have an annual license to use the product. I don’t like that either. I use an older copy of Windows Office that I bought for $25 from my employer. It even included the discs. I’m not paying for Windows 365.
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Definitely a serious lack of judgment on their part.
IMHO, the free market will result in some (hopefully many) car companies avoiding that path in the interest of attracting customers. Some cars companies (VW comes to mind) already advertise that their models require less maintenance than their competitors, so an absence of these subscription fees could also be a selling point.
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hopefully some good white hat hackers will provide relief
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I think it’s covered in the Harvard mba program.
I have a subscription to Office 365, because I always have the latest versions of the apps, I get big fixes and patches automatically over the web, and it’s only a few bucks a year.
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Sorry folks, they are working me up again. And here I thought Mary was going to push Gm into bankruptcy. Little did I know she had an ace in the hole by eliminating dealers and charging subscriptions.
I’ve been trimming my useless subscriptions like consumer reports and motor trend. I’d happily add seat heaters to the list. So far I have free heaters. You know the have a pad in the seat and a switch to turn them on. Pretty simple really. I don’t like them though. I do pay a fee for the radio though because the wife likes the music. Come to think of it she likes the seat heaters too.
I never should have sold my 59 Pontiac. Life was so simple before the kids took over.
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I still have office '97 and of course the free Libre Office. No need to pay out big or proffer my docs to the cloud and who ever.
Who knows where it is going as far as subscription services. You buy it you own it is an obsolete model these days.
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Some progress on right to repair: Right to Repair is Real — The Repair Association
It passed in NY!
Some how this seems closely related:
The Right to Repair ~~ The Right to Use.
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If inactive seat heaters reduces the purchase price, I don’t have a problem with these options, I don’t need heated seats.
You paid for that feature when you bought the vehicle, and you don’t like them.
I had no choice with what came with the car. I don’t use other features either.