What features / items would you pay monthly fee for?

[Mirak]

There needs to be an option for "I would not buy a car at this price point that tried to charge a subscription for such basic functionality." This kind of stuff is expected to be included for a car at this price point. IF Ford slashed the price of the vehicle, then I might accept some sort of subscription for a package of features, but it would have to slash the price (think 20% minimum) because I own cars for 10+ years.

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[Mirak]

Also keep in mind that while lots of manufacturers are eyeing subscription models, the days are numbered for private vehicle ownership. It will be a relic / luxury within 20 years as autonomous vehicles take over. You will be more likely to subscribe to a transport service than for individual features.

 

[Blue highway]

Like most I can understand charging a subscription for things that cost the manufacturer to upkeep (nav, bluecruise, etc). I may or may not pay for those depending on the alternatives available.

I will never pay a subsription for things like heated seats (I might opt to pay a one time fee to activate them).

What I don't understand is the 20 (as of this post) people who said they would be willing to pay a subscription for Level 2 charging???? Would they also be willing to pay a fee to access the gas cap on an ICE car so they can add fuel? Without charging being available the car is pretty useless (I suppose Level 1 ie 110v is still a free option, but wouldn't be viable in most use cases).

Per the Level 2 charging completely agree. Same with the handful of folks that said they would pay monthly for AM/FM radio

 

[Keeperofthe7keys]

The only thing I would consider paying a subscription for is full self-driving. That takes massive and continuous investments to make and improve.

Even at that I certainly ain't paying 15k on top of the car for it like Elon thinks we should.

 

[bp99]

Also keep in mind that while lots of manufacturers are eyeing subscription models, the days are numbered for private vehicle ownership. It will be a relic / luxury within 20 years as autonomous vehicles take over. You will be more likely to subscribe to a transport service than for individual features.

As much as people keep saying that's the future, I don't see it. I keep things in my car for regular use. People with young kids have car seats, things to distract infants, mirrors to see them. People with pets have items for transporting pets. People that need tools for work keep tools in their car/truck. People have racks and such for outdoor activities. Simple things like phone mounts, sun glasses, charge cables, napkins, hand sanitizer, etc. Part of the convenience of having your own car is it is always ready for what you use it for and available 24x7 at an instant's notice. Plus, If it's dirty or smelly inside, it's your fault, not the last person's who used it.

 

[Cavalovoador]

If a subscription means that I will pay less for the vehicle, I'm willing to pay for things like heated seats that I would only use on coldest months.

 

[jgcom]

I would pay subscription fees for things that actually cost the company money and effort to maintain and improve, when my subscription serves as an incentive to Ford to keep supporting my particular car and to update the required databases. So I do intend to renew blue cruise and probably the factory navigation.

I'm not willing to pay for the company to activate hardware or battery capacity already installed. I don't think Ford has said that they plan to do that.

A corner case, not applicable to my Mach E 4E: I can imagine that some GT owners would pay to extend the hated 5-second rule to 10 seconds, since allowing the system to (possibly) overheat brings monetary risk to both the manufacturer and owner. The risk to Ford is that they warrant our propulsion system for 100k miles, plus possible liability. Somehow I doubt that a century-old car company would be willing to play that game, though.

 

[MachEMaster]

We're starting to see manufacturers charge monthly for items that we've always thought of as free. For example, BMW will now charge $18 per month for heated seats, but not yet in the U.S.

So, we all know this is coming, but what items are you willing to pay for on a regular basis?



JUST A REMINDER. IF YOU SAY "HELL NO" THEN YOU GET NONE OF THOSE ITEMS.

Or you vote with your dollar, and buy from another manufacturer.

 

[dtbaker61]

Or you vote with your dollar, and buy from another manufacturer.

I will never buy subscriptions.... to anything ... feels like a hostage situation to me.


Jes saying

 

[doogie63]

I wouldn't buy a car if they didn't come with features I wanted. That's why when you order a Mach-E you pick which model you want with what features. To many other car choices out their that comes with item you don't have to pay monthly fees. Car with all those features without monthly fee would be a big selling point. Car with all those features with a monthly fee would not be a selling point. It would be a deal breaker.

 

[ragequit310]

How about a car that actually works with no defects? <troll>

The only thing that I'd actually pay monthly for is some cloud/networking service such as Tesla's sentry mode.

 

[MachEMaster]

This is why i feel so lucky to have ordered a '22 Select AWD. I got '21 price protection and the Comfort Tech Package. Then they make people for '23 pay more for the base car, and add a bunch of subscription type stuff. Ford had to relent a bit up in Canada, because we would freeze up here without heated seats/wheel. Lol

 

[dtbaker61]

This is why i feel so lucky to have ordered a '22 Select AWD. I got '21 price protection and the Comfort Tech Package. Then they make people for '23 pay more for the base car, and add a bunch of subscription type stuff. Ford had to relent a bit up in Canada, because we would freeze up here without heated seats/wheel. Lol

you can get really nice seat covers with heat for less than $200.... There is nothing in the 'comfort package' that I needed or wanted, so I went with base Select with no options.

I would never pay for any subscription features.

 

[Mach1E]

I would pay subscription fees for things that actually cost the company money and effort to maintain and improve, when my subscription serves as an incentive to Ford to keep supporting my particular car and to update the required databases. So I do intend to renew blue cruise and probably the factory navigation.

I'm not willing to pay for the company to activate hardware or battery capacity already installed. I don't think Ford has said that they plan to do that.

A corner case, not applicable to my Mach E 4E: I can imagine that some GT owners would pay to extend the hated 5-second rule to 10 seconds, since allowing the system to (possibly) overhead brings monetary risk to both the manufacturer and owner. The risk to Ford is that they warrant our propulsion system for 100k miles, plus possible liability. Somehow I doubt that century-old car company would be willing to play that game, though.

I for sure would pay a subscription for more horsepower!!

That said, all the arguments against subscriptions seem kinda silly to me.

Why? Pretty much all of the automotive subscriptions have a “1 time payment” option.

No one is getting forced to do a subscription. It’s just an option.

It’s like doing a payment plan on anything or paying cash.

Anyone who did Ford options, did a lease, or financed their car is already on a “subscription plan.”

So I find it kinda funny that so many have some very strong philosophical outrage against the OPTION of paying monthly for something.

 

[HuntingPudel]

I would pay to buy an occasional map update. I would not pay a subscription for the navigation app. My areas of travel are pretty built-out, so a yearly subscription to maps is ridiculous. In the 7-1/2 years I owned my Fusion Energi, I updated the maps twice: Once when I got my first update notification (no changes to anything that affects me) and once at the 5 year mark (still no changes to anything that affected me). The places I went that were not on the maps continued to be so.

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