In the end, the KIA car company made its cars into subscription models, I really hate this because in the end the car we buy with our own money doesn’t feel like it belongs to us. Should we finally buy an old school car ? so as not to be affected by this subscription models or is there a way to crack the software installed in it ?
This type of subscription is actually kiiiiinda understandable because the company has to maintain servers, staff and keep the software secure because they’re handling sensitive data such as location etc.
I also remember that BMW I think? Had a heated seat subscription and that’s really not justifiable imo
I had a 2023 Elantra, and iirc it had these features for $30 a year after my subscription ended.
These prices are way higher. Seems like every company agreed that subscription = $10(ish) a month, regardless of the actual cost the features justify.
Yeah for connected features, there are those costs. A vehicle we own would let me remote start it and lock and unlock doors from the app…if I paid $15/month. It’s not worth it to me, so I’ve never paid for that service, and the vehicle works fine without it. I mostly even forget it exists. I might be more interested if it would report things like fuel level, oil and fuel filter replacement time, and so on, but it doesn’t (but even then I’m not sure it’d be worth $15/month).
A subscription for heated seats, though? No. I don’t want a subscription service for something that doesn’t have an ongoing cost to the manufacturer. For us in particular, we buy our cars with the intention of keeping them a long time, and I’m not paying that fee for the life of the car. I like cars that are paid off.
If I’m on a heated seat subscription and they break for some reason, who pays for them to be fixed?
Comparison on the heated seats repair question: I rent the water softener at my house for $29/month. (The previous owner set it up, and I haven’t gotten around to replacing it…it’s a “it’s working, and I have bigger issues” situation.) At this point I’ve paid for two of the highest-end home water softeners available, and I haven’t had a single issue with the one I have, so it’s definitely not the best setup financially. But, if my water softener dies today, I can call them, and they’ll come right out and fix it or replace it, no charge. So there is a benefit to that monthly subscription price; they take the risk of it failing, not me.
Totally agreed, it would be nice if you could set it up yourself but that’ll never happen. Even if you did set it up yourself it wouldn’t be free though
Qne is this not already part of the purchase? Cars like everything else went up in price. Labour and raw materials cost more. But not even for a second am i under an illusion they’re not baking the upkeep of servers and updates as part of the cost with a hefty margin.