Renting your winch for 30 seconds

[Fudster]

* Yes, tool rental and vehicle feature rental have key differences in the number of copies of the tool produced and its reflection on rental price, no doubt.
* They do have similarity in how the vehicle owner can benefit from the occasional use of a vehicle feature rental over purchase.
* On the whole though, vehicle feature rental, barring software requiring maintenance, sounds like a much disliked idea.
* No doubt, manufacturers provide this service to capture more revenue on a feature that some owners would opt out of purchasing with the vehicle, and run the risk of more owners further "renting their lifestyles," leasing the features on what may already be a leased vehicle, further financially leveraging their personal balance sheet.

 

[21xtremewrangler]

There will be a lot of cars with hacked up wiring harnesses that bypass the computer controls.

 

[CpT Papa]

I think I will build a load of bypass cables with a on/off switch and rent them out for 6/month.

 

[Sublime]

I'm not subscribing for already installed features that I likely had to pay to be included.

 

[STW]

so how does BMW pay me for the cost of storing and hauling around their subscription features in my car? The car that I bought and own. Are they assuming I'll carry their junk around for free just in case I ever want to pay them to use it?


next, they'll install that little hotel mini-fridge with expensive mixed nuts and tiny vodkas to tempt me. I'm not carrying that around for them either.

 

[TexasRay]

Hard Pass. It doesn't take much imagination to see that these types of systems could also be leveraged by "authorities" to restrict "Undesired" behavior...

 

[LOBBS]

The biggest issue I have is that you'll be paying for the hardware regardless. Maybe they save a few bucks in simplifying the build process but I highly doubt they're passing that along to the consumer. But then to have to pay more to actually use it?! Nah, fam.

 

[OldBlue]

No f-in' way. If I want a feature on a car, I will BUY it and use it to my hearts content. Subscription? F you. Ain't happening.

 

[aldo98229]

Companies LOVE the subscription model: it ensures a steady stream of revenue, and holds customers captive.

Recently, Toyota wanted to charge a monthly fee to allow owners of the new Tundra to use the remote start feature. There was so much customer backlash, Toyota had to backpedal.

Pay for winching? Screw that!

 

[Shibadog]

Might be fine for those who got stuck on a curb at Starbucks. There’s usually no internet in the canyons where I might need it.

Jeep should count on losing customers if they try that nonsense.

And make no mistake, you’ll pay for that hardware up front. Automakers are not Santa Clause. The monthly fees are just extortion.

Agree. Ain’t gonna happen. Somebody is going to pay for those features and that somebody is whoever buys/leases the vehicle. Zero profit for a company to buy a winch and then install it on all their vehicles on the chance that someday it will be needed and activated. Even if the activation charge was as much as the purchase price of the winch, all the others out there that would never be activated make it a losing proposition for the mfgr.

 

[pfletcher229648]

Perfect relatable example is Satellite Radio??? All my cars have the equipment, yet I don't subscribe to the service. So, I've already paid for the equipment, I just can't use it, unless I pay the monthly.

Personally think charging monthly for heated seats is ludicrous, the hardware is already a sunk cost. There is no ongoing cost for content being developed as in the satellite radio scenario. I seriously doubt the price of a BMW has dropped due to this feature.

It only makes sense to fractionalize the expense/cost of a product if you can sell it to many different people and get the utilization of it to a maximum. That's the goal of renting equipment. I pay for it once and rent it out for maximum usage. If I don't use the heated seats BMW can't rent them to someone else. My butt is still sitting on them.

Stupid idea who would possibly pay for that? Then again the Kardashians are billionaires, what do I know.

 

[S2k Chris]

Hate to break it to you guys:

https://www.cnbc.com/amp/2021/12/07...-billion-in-new-software-revenue-by-2030.html

I leased my current and prior Jeeps, as kind of an extended test drive. I currently plan to buy my lease out at the end, partly because I don’t like where I see these shenanigans headed.

 

[TimmH]

Most likely BMW found it was more cost effective to include the seat heaters in all seats, and plan on a certain percentage of people paying the fee. to just increase it's overall revenue.

It wouldn't work for all things, particularly true add-ons (IE: Winches). As someone mentioned satellite radio. It's so cheap to add it to a radio these days, that it is more cost effective to include it than to stock 2 different head units. And I believe Sirius subsidized a portion of the initial implementation.

 

[zrickety]

This will backfire spectacularly.
Only a handful of the ultra wealthy will pay a subscription for something that has been historically affordable or included in many vehicles. Techs will be jailbreaking cars on the weekend, and used car values will rise even higher.

 

[Mocopo]

No f-in' way. If I want a feature on a car, I will BUY it and use it to my hearts content. Subscription? F you. Ain't happening.

Never say never! World Economic Forum says soon you'll own nothing, and be happier for it!

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