Renting your winch for 30 seconds

[Fudster]

You're stranded off road, or maybe your buddy is. Either way, that winch (or those heated seats, or whatever feature you like) installed on your rig for free but unusable until you activate it for a fee, would surely come in handy, so you rent the ability to use it.

You could have paid for the winch outright, or rented it for longer period of time at cheaper rates per unit of time.

Sound crazy? I refer to BMW's renting of heated seats https://nypost.com/2022/07/12/bmw-owners-outraged-over-18-a-month-charge-to-use-heated-seats/that made news today.

What do you think of making features available this way?

My two cents: I have mixed feelings. It's nice to have features on your rig you didn't pay for but can activate as needed. That might work great every time I need an 8 pin hitch connection--which is rare.

And yet other features---I'm just use to buying them outright. Truth be told, if you took out a loan, you're paying for your features monthly anyway.

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[Jtclayton612]

It depends how they do it. The good? Way would be to build them all with all the features and let an end user decide which they want to activate and pass the savings of a unified manufacturing process forwards. Since there is an option to have it turned on for life of ownership.

i think it’s going to turn out very poorly though.

 

[GtX]

I understand a subscription model for software that requires on going development like FSD. But, to flip a switch for a seat heater? F-that.

 

[Jim1964]

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.

 

[Zandcwhite]

It's like the Toyota key fob monthly subscription, they've figured out they make infinitely more money if it's a recurring fee. Not to mention, you'll likely need that winch when you have no service. Hard pass. Let me buy the features I want. No rent to own or per use fees.

 

[rkwfxd]

Q - Why would a company offer this?

A - Because it is in THEIR best interest.

 

[Fudster]

Maybe the winch was a bad example because satellite comm notwithstanding, the cell tower infrastructure to pay for such things from your rig may not be available in the very no man's land where the winch comes in handy.

...but you get my drift regarding other features more likely to be used in civilization.

I completely get the point about the bad karma of dangle a built in feature in front of the owner that's disabled. David @GtX, your point about there be no further development of the feature, like software, is well said.

And if your renting it, who fixes it when it breaks?

Rich @rkwfxd no truer words have been spoken.

But the other day I needed a special tool way too expensive to buy for the 3 times I'll use it in my life. So I rented it, and both the tool rental place and I were better for it. Maybe some vehicle features best serve this rental model, and maybe we're uncomfortable with it because, in part, were just not use to it.

Subscription allows more people to take advantage who couldn't afford the service at a lifetime membership cost (i.e. purchase) serving vehicle manufacturer and owner alike...

...or not. I suspect price plays a role here in who ends up holding the "short end of the stick"

 

[Some Random Guy]

If the price of the vehicle plus the cost to buy features outright is equal to or less than the cost pre-subscription pricing, I’m “meh” on it.
If there’s no outright purchase option I’m suspicious, but technically there’s math there.
This will make it hard when comparing between manufacturers though. A spreadsheet will be needed to account for: cost of vehicle, subscriptions, options, expected number of uses, etc. i already do this with expected fuel costs, insurance costs, etc to estimate cost of ownership, so I guess it’s just another column or 6.
A good “counterpoint” on another forum was heated seats for Texas. You need them almost never and they come as part of the cooled seats. So save some dough (potentially) and opt-out of that subscription except for the occasional road trip or freeze. You might come out ahead.

 

[GtX]

But the other day I needed a special tool way too expensive to buy for the 3 times I'll use it in my life. So I rented it, and both the tool rental place and I were better for it.

Yeah, but the rental company retained the tool before and after you rented it with enables them to rent it out again and again so each renter pays a small fee in relation to the cost of the tool.

BMW has the full cost of the heated seats in every vehicle. It would be like the rental company putting a tool in your garage but only charging you a fee to use it. And everyone has the same tool in their garage.

Alternatively, the BMW doesn't come with heated seats and you have to go get them from the dealers when you subscribe then return them when the subscription ends. This would be like the tool. Many people use the same seat heaters.

Crazy

I think BMW realized a lot of people want to live beyond their means but have bad credit and can't finance the vehicle. This makes the cost lower upfront and you can subscribe on a credit card for a few hundred per month for heated seats, heated steering wheel, adaptive cruise, auto start, etc.

 

[Canucklesammich]

" But the other day I needed a special tool way too expensive to buy for the 3 times I'll use it in my life. So I rented it, and both the tool rental place and I were better for it. " But how would ya feel if you paid $40 for that tool but weren't allowed (let's say by remote lock somehow) to use it untill you paid an additional $5? And $5 more every subsuquent time? I think that's what we're talking about here.

 

[Zandcwhite]

I'm still trying to think of a single feature on our pretty loaded Rubicon that I'd be ok with being locked out of when in remote locations? Have you ever packed up camp in the morning in sub 20⁰ temperatures? That seat heater and steering wheel heater are golden. I guess maybe adaptive cruise control, but I use it literally every time I drive so a per use fee would quickly exceed the purchase price. Just say no to recurring fees.

 

[Deleted member 59498]

Maybe if I push a button and they show up with a camper, a bbq grill and some steaks. Oh and Beer.

 

[Go_Galt]

I will not be owning or utilizing any vehicles that move to a subscription model for any features.

If none are available, I will be riding a bicycle.

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

Major key.

 

[Jhawth]

I would never purchase a vehicle knowing that features of the vehicle would come with a monthly fee or get charged per use. I don't finance vehicles, would never lease a vehicle etc. I'm not even old but you best bet your ass I'd turn into a curmudgeonly old man and shake my fist real damn quick if I was told I'd have to "rent" features of a vehicle. I still chuckle to myself when I think back to the sales guys face when I was laughing about the uconnect subscription for my Jeep.

 

[Reinen]

I saw that news article and thought it was a massive douchebag extortion maneuver. The heater device is already in the vehicle you purchased. You're the only one who can use it. It costs BMW nothing whether you use it or not. It's a straight up troll under the bridge move. A corporation saying to their customers Nyeah Nyeah, F-You!

Now a subscription to something that gets routinely updated such as navigation software, that's different and okay. The update maintenance has a cost and that needs to be paid for.

If you're renting a tool that you only need for a short while, that also makes sense. You pay to use it for a set period of time, then return it so somebody else can do the same. It pays for the tool (w/ profit) with you only paying a very small portion of it based on how long you used it. That's fair.

But a subscription to turn on a feature that's permanently installed in your vehicle, never updated and doesn't have any cost to the manufacturer whether you use it or not? I would never buy that vehicle. And what happens a decade or two in the future when that manufacturer gets bored of maintaining their extortion? Does the feature become obsolete and useless even though it's still otherwise completely functional? I don't want to find out. Take that vehicle and shove it.

The only saving grace here is that it's BMW drivers who will be victims of the douchebag extortion maneuver. I actually have no problem with that. Seems like karma.

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