Subscription service for heated seats, auto high beam and more

Forums › Transport (cars, bikes and boats) › Subscription service for heated seats, auto high beam and more

1 | 2 | 3 | 4 | 5

17159 posts

Uber Geek

Lifetime subscriber

#2942015 14-Jul-2022 21:41

Geektastic: As the WEF says, you will own nothing and you’ll be happy.

https://www.reuters.com/article/uk-factcheck-wef-idUSKBN2AP2T0

Dingbatt

6758 posts

Uber Geek

Lifetime subscriber

#2942032 14-Jul-2022 22:45

Geektastic: As Klaus Schwab of the WEF says, you will own nothing and you’ll be happy.

Fixed that for you. To adjust the “fact check”.

But to get back on topic,

As if BMWs aren’t expensive enough to own and maintain as it is, now they want squeeze the lemon just that little bit harder.

I guess only time will tell but I would suggest if it’s a stinker it will quietly be shelved.

“We’ve arranged a society based on science and technology, in which nobody understands anything about science technology. Carl Sagan 1996

mattwnz

20165 posts

Uber Geek

#2942044 15-Jul-2022 01:32

Linux:

Buy another make / model of car

I think you will find many will be doing it soon. I understand Toyota has a subscription too for a pretty basic key fob remote start feature https://www.thedrive.com/news/43329/toyota-made-its-key-fob-remote-start-into-a-subscription-service

IMO unless there is some regulation, manufacturers will try and get away with things like this. Built in obsolesce, and right to repair are also two major issues around cars and tech.

mattwnz

20165 posts

Uber Geek

#2942045 15-Jul-2022 01:34

Geektastic: As the WEF says, you will own nothing and you’ll be happy.

That has pretty much happened with music. I still have CDs and a CD player.

Handsomedan

7302 posts

Uber Geek

ID Verified

Trusted

Subscriber

#2942055 15-Jul-2022 07:56

mattwnz:

Geektastic: As the WEF says, you will own nothing and you’ll be happy.

That has pretty much happened with music. I still have CDs and a CD player.

Indeed - and now there are movies that have been digitally purchased, which are slowly disappearing from peoples' libraries, due to the content no longer being licenced by the party that they bought the title from.

I can see this happening with the cars - part way through ownership, heated seats no longer work. "Sorry sir, we lost the rights to that licence and you can only get that feature from Audi now".

Handsome Dan Has Spoken.
Handsome Dan needs to stop adding three dots to every sentence...

Handsome Dan does not currently have a side hustle as the mascot for Yale

*Gladly accepting donations...

Geektastic

17943 posts

Uber Geek

Trusted

Lifetime subscriber

#2942059 15-Jul-2022 08:38

Dingbatt:

Geektastic: As Klaus Schwab of the WEF says, you will own nothing and you’ll be happy.

Fixed that for you. To adjust the “fact check”.

But to get back on topic,

As if BMWs aren’t expensive enough to own and maintain as it is, now they want squeeze the lemon just that little bit harder.

I guess only time will tell but I would suggest if it’s a stinker it will quietly be shelved.

"Together with the article, World Economic Forum posted a video "8 Predictions for the World in 2030" to its website,[2] Facebook[3] and Twitter[5] (tweet no longer available). The first prediction in the video, based on Auken's essay, states "You'll own nothing and you'll be happy. Whatever you want you'll rent and it'll be delivered by a drone." The video (shown below) accumulated over 9,900 reactions and 766,000 views on Facebook in five years."

Obviously, BMW have taken this advice to heart!

I am surprised they have not stopped selling the cars outright as well - after all, leasing is already extant and a form of subscription in effect.

Handsomedan

7302 posts

Uber Geek

ID Verified

Trusted

Subscriber

#2942086 15-Jul-2022 09:57

Geektastic:

I am surprised they have not stopped selling the cars outright as well - after all, leasing is already extant and a form of subscription in effect.

"Pay as you use" vehicle subscriptions are already gaining traction. It'll likely go one of two ways - people want to own a car, or they want to use them like Lime Scooters.

If they are used like Lime scooters, prepare to see cars hanging from trees and sunk in a lake.

Handsome Dan Has Spoken.
Handsome Dan needs to stop adding three dots to every sentence...

Handsome Dan does not currently have a side hustle as the mascot for Yale

*Gladly accepting donations...

Quic Broadband

Move to New Zealand's best fibre broadband service (affiliate link). Free setup code: R587125ERQ6VE. Note that to use Quic Broadband you must be comfortable with configuring your own router.

Eva888

2447 posts

Uber Geek

Lifetime subscriber

#2942095 15-Jul-2022 10:10

Dealers and manufacturers can only do these things if we accept them. It’s up to us to refuse this nonsense. How ridiculous to have a starter key that needs a subscription. Time to speak up firmly and walk away from such value added sales attempts. We consumers hold the power.

gareth41

742 posts

Ultimate Geek

#2942801 16-Jul-2022 13:44

Later on down the track, if I ended up being the owner of a second hand BMW which had heated seats which required a subscription to use, I would just rewire them and install a switch somewhere to activate the heaters - probably not difficult - at the end of the day its likely just a 12V feed to the heating hardware in the seats

Rikkitic

Awrrr
18665 posts

Uber Geek

Lifetime subscriber

#2942863 16-Jul-2022 14:39

Subscriptions are for magazines. Consumers need to stand up to this kind of money-grubbing nonsense.

Plesse igmore amd axxept applogies in adbance fir anu typos

mattwnz

20165 posts

Uber Geek

#2942870 16-Jul-2022 14:47

Turning things from a product into a service is happening with many things these days. Even housing, where the number of rentals is increasing and there are big players entering NZ building lifetime rental units. We are being conditioned to renting and leasing things, rather than owning them. The same thing happened with software, and most software now seems to be subscription based, rather than being able to own it outright. Even though owning it is often cheaper long term. Cars are now basically computers and use software that will date over time. I don't think many cars will get hardware updates to cope with new software updates over a life of a car, and NZs life of a car tends to be a lot longer than it is overseas.

gareth41

742 posts

Ultimate Geek

#2943073 17-Jul-2022 11:06

Well if this nonsense does become more rampant, then car manufacturers will have to disclose exactly to consumers what needs a sub and what doesn’t before they buy a car. If they don’t, then it’s likely Joe Bloggs will buy his car and expect stuff to work like any other previous car he’s owned - if it doesn’t eg he can’t use the heaters or radio without an additional subscription, then it’s likely he will take the car back to the deader and complain, the fair trading act would apply as this would be misleading on the dealers part.

I sure won’t be paying a cent for any additional subs if that’s the way things will go in the auto industry. I’ll just look to the internet for methods to hack into the software and, flash new firmware or do whatever to get stuff back that I never used to have to pay extra for in any previous vehicle I owned. Likely we’ll see a underground pirate market emerging to “patch” firmware in cars to enable people to use their heaters and radio and anything else like that should the car manufacturers choose to go this path trying to suck every $ out of consumers

Technofreak

6531 posts

Uber Geek

Trusted

#2943075 17-Jul-2022 11:14

gareth41: Well if this nonsense does become more rampant, then car manufacturers will have to disclose exactly to consumers what needs a sub and what doesn’t before they buy a car. If they don’t, then it’s likely Joe Bloggs will buy his car and expect stuff to work like any other previous car he’s owned - if it doesn’t eg he can’t use the heaters or radio without an additional subscription, then it’s likely he will take the car back to the deader and complain, the fair trading act would apply as this would be misleading on the dealers part.

I sure won’t be paying a cent for any additional subs if that’s the way things will go in the auto industry. I’ll just look to the internet for methods to hack into the software and, flash new firmware or do whatever to get stuff back that I never used to have to pay extra for in any previous vehicle I owned. Likely we’ll see a underground pirate market emerging to “patch” firmware in cars to enable people to use their heaters and radio and anything else like that should the car manufacturers choose to go this path trying to suck every $ out of consumers

That's all very well and good except that will void the warranty on a new vehicle, which I suspect most owners will be reluctant to do. Once the vehicle is out of warranty then all bets are off, until then I'm not so sure.

Sony Xperia XA2 running Sailfish OS. https://sailfishos.org The true independent open source mobile OS
Samsung Galaxy Tab S6
Dell Inspiron 14z i5

Bung

6496 posts

Uber Geek

Subscriber

#2943130 17-Jul-2022 12:00

gareth41: I’ll just look to the internet for methods to hack into the software and, flash new firmware or do whatever to get stuff back that I never used to have to pay extra for in any previous vehicle I owned.

It's rare that you get stuff without paying extra. Just checking a popular Japanese car and there is about $20k difference between base model and the top model in that body shape.

Rikkitic

Awrrr
18665 posts

Uber Geek

Lifetime subscriber

#2943136 17-Jul-2022 12:22

Bung:

It's rare that you get stuff without paying extra. Just checking a popular Japanese car and there is about $20k difference between base model and the top model in that body shape.

Paying extra is fair and reasonable. The objection is to the subscription model.

Plesse igmore amd axxept applogies in adbance fir anu typos

1 | 2 | 3 | 4 | 5