What features / items would you pay monthly fee for?

[H.Bergeron]

It means you buy no new car. They're all going to do this.

Only if people pay for it. Toyota already walked back an attempt to do it with remote start after a backlash.

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[IB_NYC]

I'd pay for an IPC that doesn't buzz all the time lol

 

[dj_stang]

Eventually, as the years pass the new generation mobile phones won't be compatible with the existing PaaK software so Ford is going to have to keep updating the system to keep up with the technology. At some point they will cut bait or charge the owner for that service.

This will only happen if tech-illiterate people (not you not anyone here) accept that as an excuse. It's Apple and Google's job to provide a stable API that apps like FordPass just hook into. PaaK is extremely easy to implement on the app side as long as you comply with some privacy requirements implemented by the app store. Ford is already updating the hardware of the car on a yearly basis, and you already "subscribe" to that by leasing or upgrading more often, so there's no excuse to implement another subscription on the software side.

Sadly, I see way too many subscription apologists (mostly not in this thread) justifying "well, they need to patch the software with *security updates*" not remembering that free security patches has been the norm for decades at this point. Or conflating connected services subscriptions, which actually does cost money for the provider in terms of paying for bits to be streamed across a mobile network, with BS software subscriptions like for Apple Carplay that BMW implemented for a while. Thank God Apple shut that one down quick and made it very clear that Apple is providing a lot of the development effort already for integration into cars, there's no reason mfgs should charge for it.

 

[MachEMaster]

I would vote with my dollar, and purchase a vehicle from a different manufacturer, who doesn’t play these silly games.

 

[phil]

It means you buy no new car. They're all going to do this.

I'm good with that. My Lexus is 24 years old, runs like new, and will outlive me.

 

[SMann40544]

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.

That's BS. If I don't get those items, I don't buy their car!

 

[Murse-In-Airy]

I’ll pay a monthly fee… if the car cost half as much to buy. Heck I’d even support that as it would take revenue from the dealer at the point of sale and help funnel my dollars to ford. Less middle-man. At least my money would go to the people building the car. Not the people holding it hostage demanding I pay them a ransom.

 

[JohnnyForensic]

I’m in the camp of, “I’d completely walk away and find a different automobile/manufacturer.” I think what BMW is doing here cheapens the entire car buying process, especially for the high-end market that they’re going after. When you drop BMW money on a vehicle and then get nickel-and-dimed to death, it’s just not a good look.

Honestly, I hope this fails spectacularly for BMW and this idiocy goes away.

To me, a subscription is viable for items that ALSO have an ongoing cost to the provider that the provider needs to cover. For example, I get why BlueCruise is a subscription—Ford needs to pay to keep the maps updated, to add more lengths of road to their high-resolution mapping, to deliver those maps to the vehicles, etc. I can see the same argument for the connected navigation as well (though I’m more of a CarPlay person and Apple has to keep up Maps in its effort to compete for phone and services market share).

Where I don’t see the subscription argument is in activating hardware that’s already in the car. If BMW has two steering wheels, one with a heating element and one without, and I don’t pay for the option, then fine, I don’t get a heated wheel. However, if they have one steering wheel with the same hardware and then optionally charge extra to activate it after absorbing the cost either way (which you’re absolutely already paying for in the price of the car, have no doubt), I consider that a little bi*ch move. There’s no ongoing cost to provide the steering wheel element once built; there is an ongoing cost to updating BlueCruise maps.

 

[clhardy5]

I just thought I'd pop in here to say HI! to the Ford officials taking notes on what people will pay for.

Hi Ford! (Note - I don't want any subscription fees.)

What Patrick said! I want the car to operate the way it did when I drove it off the lot WITHOUT any surprise fees later.

 

[Timelessblur]

I am willing to pay for things that require a lot of updates over time. Say navigations that has its data base of locations updated or access to internet to search for POI then yeah I can accept that.

I can do it for the blue cruise as that requires a lot of update to keep working but for most of the feature F no. I bought the car with those features.

 

[vinny2487]

This direction is being led by cars costing much more than the Mach E. BMW and Audi will be on the forefront of this change.

BMW tried it with CarPlay. How did that turn out?

 

[vinny2487]

You want to nickel and dime me after I purchased the car? Fine sell me the car at a steep discount. For the MME, sell it for $20k and then MAYBE I'll think about it

 

[OON7]

I pay for the hotspot, its $20 unlimited.

Almost everything listed in the survey is something that should be available in at least some trims. I am not necessarily opposed to having the opportunity to buy-up features that weren't included from the start as an upgrade path, but I'd have a huge problem with buying a subscription for things that were included day one.

Will be interesting to see what happens when our included Mach-E features technically expire with Maps and such.

 

[bs1055]

I'd pay $0 monthly for any of these features. I'd just choose one of several worthy competitors.

 

[ripperAZ]

This is an evil post. Don’t give FOMOCO any ideas. Let them keep coming up with their own nonsense, like chilled shrimp in the Frunk

Jes sayin. How much would they charge to give you a car that doesn’t strand you in the middle of nowhere because they screwed up putting together the basic power modules. This occurred right after the sunroof and the windshield flew off. I wonder how much they charge per month to have ones that actually remain on the vehicle.

Yeah. Jes sayin. Lol.

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