Subscription car services

[mjheathcote]

The Mrs new Audi is rather well specified, but what it hasn't got over her previous Golf is roadsign recognition, and adaptive headlights. The roadsign recognition especially being useful in unfamiliar areas.
Set up "myAudi" on her mobile, and surprisingly (or not) it is the same app platform as my BMW.
Flicking through the app, discover that roadsign recognition and adaptive headlights are paid for services, at a cost!
£75 a year for roadsign recognition, and £30 a year for adaptive headlights, or £375/£135 forever.
It's not as though, like navigation map updates, it is something that can be updated, it's already fitted, just not switched on.
The car has as standard parking assist, that will probably never be used, but the roadsign recognition is a genuine useful tool that can contribute to road safety. Please no comments it should not be necessary if you are paying attention when driving, I agree here, but the same can be said of all the other nanny stuff too.
So I would say, shame on you AUDI.

 

[midlifecrisis]

Isn't roadsign recognition part of the driving test?

Its another feature that you don't need but we are upsold as 'necessary'. Boils my urine.

 

[CatmanV2]

Please no comments it should not be necessary if you are paying attention when driving, I agree here, but the same can be said of all the other nanny stuff too.

Too late

C

 

[highlander]

Boils my urine.

i am sure there is a cream for that.............

 

[Zep]

It’s been discussed before, here:

Thread 'Extra extra read all about it....'
https://www.sportsmaserati.com/index.php?threads/extra-extra-read-all-about-it.35763/

And here:

Thread 'When should we stop buying new cars?'
https://www.sportsmaserati.com/index.php?threads/when-should-we-stop-buying-new-cars.36396/

It’s quite useful, some company car policies limit the number of options, but you can buy it separately later. I happily paid for high beam assist on my BMW, the button was there, now it’s switched on. Some could argue that high beam assist contributes to safety, but really it’s just for convenience.

 

[mjheathcote]

Sent a disappointed message to audi uk.
Received a message back.
Basically, Tough.
That's me not buying an audi in the future then!
No loss really.

 

[Devonboy]

They are all doing it…..gouging is the word you are looking for!

 

[Felonious Crud]

All car manufacturers are looking for ways to turn one-time purchases into a longer-term stream of revenue. Expect more of this in the future. It's really no different from Sky upselling HD, Sport or whatever. Take your choice and pay your money. Or not.

Being a car manufacturer is a crappy business to be in, largely due to government policy that is effectively encouraging consumers to buy cheap Chinese EVs and Teslas. Arguably, non-Chinese manufacturers need all the help they can get.

 

[zagatoes30]

It's all about revenue streams, even we do it - buy a beauty product like a daily moisturiser and then subscribe to a repeat order and we will send it at the agreed interval and charge you a premium for it just so you don't have to remember to buy when you runout - I am always shocked how many people take up this option. Not quite the same as switching on something that is already there but subscribing is something that many people buy into especially the young

 

[Alex72]

Can’t you turn off it on yourself through OBD port if it’s already fitted? My X5 is the same, adaptive cruise is already in the car, but they want £750!!! to turn it on.

 

[Scaf]

Wait a few years and they will be saying they don’t support the software in that age of vehicle, or some such other excuse that means you won’t be ablue access features.

I am sure hacker’s will be in the case as well.

 

[MrMickS]

Can’t you turn off it on yourself through OBD port if it’s already fitted? My X5 is the same, adaptive cruise is already in the car, but they want £750!!! to turn it on.

Once it's out of warranty I can see this being a viable option. Under warranty, and on the manufacturer's finance, I can see this as being deemed breach of contract and used to invalidate warranty claims.

 

[Phil H]

The Mrs new Audi is rather well specified, but what it hasn't got over her previous Golf is roadsign recognition, and adaptive headlights. The roadsign recognition especially being useful in unfamiliar areas.
Set up "myAudi" on her mobile, and surprisingly (or not) it is the same app platform as my BMW.
Flicking through the app, discover that roadsign recognition and adaptive headlights are paid for services, at a cost!
£75 a year for roadsign recognition, and £30 a year for adaptive headlights, or £375/£135 forever.
It's not as though, like navigation map updates, it is something that can be updated, it's already fitted, just not switched on.
The car has as standard parking assist, that will probably never be used, but the roadsign recognition is a genuine useful tool that can contribute to road safety. Please no comments it should not be necessary if you are paying attention when driving, I agree here, but the same can be said of all the other nanny stuff too.
So I would say, shame on you AUDI.

Create demand for services that no one needs.
Install them with a timed auto-delete function.
Lock the subscribers into auto-renewal with a 50,000 word contract that they won't read.
Tell the tax man there's no money in the car business.

 

[mjheathcote]

Once it's out of warranty I can see this being a viable option. Under warranty, and on the manufacturer's finance, I can see this as being deemed breach of contract and used to invalidate warranty claims.

That is exactly the case.

 

[mjheathcote]

Can’t you turn off it on yourself through OBD port if it’s already fitted? My X5 is the same, adaptive cruise is already in the car, but they want £750!!! to turn it on.

£750!
I guess, would you tick the box at that price as an option at time of vehicle order?

 

[MrMickS]

£750!
I guess, would you tick the box at that price as an option at time of vehicle order?

I think that's the thing isn't it? At the moment some of the lifetime prices don't look unreasonable, as long as they transfer with a change of ownership. I've been through a couple of configurators and they are lower than if you were to spec the option at build time. How long this will last once it becomes the norm is the kicker.

I can see it from the manufacturers point of view. Simpler bill of materials, single sets of components, etc. This is especially the case with the recent issue of chip supply where each manufacturer will have been scrambling to find alternatives to allow them to keep building. If there are fewer component variants this becomes easier.

They are probably looking down the line for when they are entirely electrified. Single build, with the only variations being colours and trim levels. A single build for each of these and control the power output, battery capacity etc, via software. The additional cost of the components will likely be less than the complexity of having to manage many different ones.

Can't see me wanting to move into this world. I haven't seen anything like this from Stellantis yet.

 

[zagatoes30]

Just asked the 5 Series if it had any computer options to turn on features - its responses was "Computer says no"

So went to ask the Fulvia and its response was "What's a Computer"

 

[MarkMas]

The Mrs new Audi is rather well specified, but what it hasn't got over her previous Golf is roadsign recognition, and adaptive headlights. The roadsign recognition especially being useful in unfamiliar areas.
Set up "myAudi" on her mobile, and surprisingly (or not) it is the same app platform as my BMW.
Flicking through the app, discover that roadsign recognition and adaptive headlights are paid for services, at a cost!
£75 a year for roadsign recognition, and £30 a year for adaptive headlights, or £375/£135 forever.
It's not as though, like navigation map updates, it is something that can be updated, it's already fitted, just not switched on.
The car has as standard parking assist, that will probably never be used, but the roadsign recognition is a genuine useful tool that can contribute to road safety. Please no comments it should not be necessary if you are paying attention when driving, I agree here, but the same can be said of all the other nanny stuff too.
So I would say, shame on you AUDI.

So let me see if I understand this:

• You are quite upset that Audi want to charge you an optional fee for a feature you do want, ie 'Road-sign Recognition'.
• And you are (perhaps) a bit upset that Audi have already charged you for a feature you don't want, ie 'Parking Assist'.

So you have complained to Audi UK that you want them to guess in advance what extras you want, and then include them in the build and price of the car, and to guess what features you don't want, and to exclude from the build and price. Rather than just making some of the many questionable add-ons optional, so you can just pay for the ones you want. Or saying "Sorry, but when your car was built, we didn't include the Road-sign Recognition hardware, so you can forget having that."

My first QP didn't have heated seats, and I would have been delighted to have been able to 'switch that on' for, say £50 a year, rather than having someone spend a whole day retrofitting the necessary hardware for £500.

I am delighted when an airline says "Would you like to pay £19.99 for our crappy meal, or would you rather buy a much nicer takeaway for yourself at Pret in the airport?"

It seems like a very sensible way of pricing add-ons to me. The only hazard is making clear to buyers (especially used buyers) what is in and what is out. I used to have this problem selling complex software: "Yes, my product can to that thing you want, but only if you actually buy the module that does it." Every feature was in the software package we shipped, but it was good for us and for the customer to price according to what they actually wanted, and just switch that on.

 

[mjheathcote]

So let me see if I understand this:

• You are quite upset that Audi want to charge you an optional fee for a feature you do want, ie 'Road-sign Recognition'.
• And you are (perhaps) a bit upset that Audi have already charged you for a feature you don't want, ie 'Parking Assist'.

So you have complained to Audi UK that you want them to guess in advance what extras you want, and then include them in the build and price of the car, and to guess what features you don't want, and to exclude from the build and price. Rather than just making some of the many questionable add-ons optional, so you can just pay for the ones you want. Or saying "Sorry, but when your car was built, we didn't include the Road-sign Recognition hardware, so you can forget having that."

My first QP didn't have heated seats, and I would have been delighted to have been able to 'switch that on' for, say £50 a year, rather than having someone spend a whole day retrofitting the necessary hardware for £500.

I am delighted when an airline says "Would you like to pay £19.99 for our crappy meal, or would you rather buy a much nicer takeaway for yourself at Pret in the airport?"

It seems like a very sensible way of pricing add-ons to me. The only hazard is making clear to buyers (especially used buyers) what is in and what is out. I used to have this problem selling complex software: "Yes, my product can to that thing you want, but only if you actually buy the module that does it." Every feature was in the software package we shipped, but it was good for us and for the customer to price according to what they actually wanted, and just switch that on.

Firstly it's the Mrs company car, so apart from model and colour, no other choices were made available regarding options.
It's more annoying that her previous car a Golf GTD, from the same VAG group, had everything as standard, including road sign recognition and adaptive headlights, but then Audi fit them, but you have to subscribe to them.
It makes it even worse that Audi advertised the fact it has these features, but I can't recall any small print it was subscription or for life option. Not going to pay for the life option it will be gone before then, so cheaper to subscribe.
As I said initially, I think the road sign recognition if fitted should be a standard thing anyway. Make the standard fit, parking assist an option, over something that can assist road safety.

 

[Swedish Paul]

There’s only one way to settle this…..

Don’t have a company car and buy a GS!!!