Do any of you actually subscribe monthly to the OnStar service?

[USMC3099]

27 minutes ago, mrjulian416 said:

I don't think you get the "basic" for free anymore.  Just a 30 day free-trial and then you have to start paying for any real functionality.

 

I know I didn't get anything other than that with my purchase in Jan of this year.

Yes I just got a 2021 and the FREE days are gone. 

[nutdriver]

29 minutes ago, mrjulian416 said:

I don't think you get the "basic" for free anymore.  Just a 30 day free-trial and then you have to start paying for any real functionality.

 

I know I didn't get anything other than that with my purchase in Jan of this year.

I think this may be a bit of semantics as to what is included in Basic.  Essentially it is the diagnostic alerts and dealer maintenance alerts.  My 3500 was new at the end of May 2021. 

 

Also, if you provide a credit card number, OnStar will give 3 months of connectivity for free.  If you do not want to continue you need to cancel before the first renewal at 90 days and there will be no billing.  I did not carry any added OnStar services on my 2018 2500 after the 90 day trial.  I am still pondering this for my 3500 and I am in the 90 day window.

[It's Tim]

For what it's worth I subscribe to both OnStar & XM, I think they are a good value.

[nutdriver]

2 hours ago, It's Tim said:

For what it's worth I subscribe to both OnStar & XM, I think they are a good value.

I have subscribed to OnStar but at the promotional rate. There's no way I would pay full price. I haven't made any decision yet on OnStar

[foghorn23]

To give you an idea of, in my opinion, how overpriced Onstar is, compare it to Subaru's Starlink.  Wife has a 2020 Subaru Legacy and three years of Starlink is $74.  GM's monthly pricing is 1/2 of that.  I can't see much difference in functionality between the two and there's no way I'm paying GM prices.

 

Starlink overview

 

[pokismoki]

 

 

when the Government doesn't want you to exceed you alotted miles driven per week, onstar will be there to shut your ****** down

[diyer2]

when the Government doesn't want you to exceed you alotted miles driven per week, onstar will be there to shut your ****** down

Really? 

Tin foil hat syndrome. 

[aseibel]

To answer the question, no.

I might be interested in a "reasonable" 1 time fee for use of the remote app for the life of my vehicle. Or maybe if I can bundle my wife's acadia + my truck on 1 plan I'd consider it. But paying $15 a month per vehicle just to use the app?? can anyone who does this confirm if you have multiple GM vehicles, can you access both of them for $15 or is it per car? I'd pay about $5 per month total for 2 cars, for what I used the app for when I had it. So they are only 6x higher than my price point. I know you can bargain with them for like $9/month trial period, then they raise it up again.

 

We have signed up for a month of unlimited data a couple times when taking family trips in the past. But with current cell phone plans and where we drive, my wife just uses her phone as a hotspot now as it gets better service. Onstar is basically useless to me.

 

Go google Onstar complaints and read all the stories about it being impossible to cancel, they just keep charging you. Don't give them a credit card number.

[It's Tim]

16 hours ago, Foghorn19 said:

To give you an idea of, in my opinion, how overpriced Onstar is, compare it to Subaru's Starlink.  Wife has a 2020 Subaru Legacy and three years of Starlink is $74.  GM's monthly pricing is 1/2 of that.  I can't see much difference in functionality between the two and there's no way I'm paying GM prices.

 

Starlink overview

 

Same could be said of wages in the US after the clamour for a minimum of $15.00 per hour:

"Why should they pay ____________________, when labor is now so much more lucrative in Mexico, China, Vietnam..."

It's coming and everyones job is going. 

 

Always low prices. 

Edited August 5, 2021 by It's Tim

[steve841]

Another comparison ...

 

Tesla.  First year included, then $9.99 a month for live traffic, music streaming.  App connectivity is free.

 

They are rolling out an update now to allow users to connect to their phone's hotspot and grab  data from there since most plans include hotspot connectivity these days.

[ratman6161]

On 8/5/2021 at 10:08 AM, aseibel said:

To answer the question, no.

I might be interested in a "reasonable" 1 time fee for use of the remote app for the life of my vehicle. Or maybe if I can bundle my wife's acadia + my truck on 1 plan I'd consider it. But paying $15 a month per vehicle just to use the app?? can anyone who does this confirm if you have multiple GM vehicles, can you access both of them for $15 or is it per car? I'd pay about $5 per month total for 2 cars, for what I used the app for when I had it. So they are only 6x higher than my price point. I know you can bargain with them for like $9/month trial period, then they raise it up again.

 

We have signed up for a month of unlimited data a couple times when taking family trips in the past. But with current cell phone plans and where we drive, my wife just uses her phone as a hotspot now as it gets better service. Onstar is basically useless to me.

 

Go google Onstar complaints and read all the stories about it being impossible to cancel, they just keep charging you. Don't give them a credit card number.

No.  2 vehicles = $15 x 2 if you want the tfunctionality on both...for example my 14 Corvette and my 21 Sierra.

 

In my personal experience I've never had the slightest trouble reducing service or canceling everything except basic on the Corvette.  Even basic is expired on the Vette now and no one has pestered me to renew it.

 

For anyone who is military or a veteran, make sure you tell them that.  There is an undocumented (near as I can tell) discount.  I'm getting remote access for $11.99 vs $14.99 and they just took my word for it...no proof requested.

[nichos]

Not here either. I'd like to have the "app" plan (for streaming music) and maybe live maps for more rural areas, but their prices are pretty insane.

Other than unlock/starting my truck, it doesn't offer anything that isn't on android auto.

[wurgs]

I got the basic remote access through the app for just under $80 a year. Well worth it especially in the winter around here.

[speedjunky78]

When I called this weekend, the best deal I could get was $8/month. That's still ridiculous to me for the ability to use an app to remote start my car.  Even in Central California where we're in a heat wave of 20+ days over 100 degrees, it's not worth it to me.

 

I even told the rep, "your asking Hulu and Netflix prices to remote start and lock my car. I'd be willing to pay ESPN+ prices, but not Hulu/Netflix."

 

Can you imagine though if OnStar changed their model to $5 per account, up to 5 vehicles. Let's say across all of GM cars they have 1 million people sign up, or 2 million. That's between $5M-$10M in revenue A MONTH! $60M and $120M additional per year that they are not receiving currently. You can't tell me that their operating costs for the system are more than that. If OnStar wasn't currently profitable, they wouldn't be in business, but they sure are turning away a huge cash cow.

 

Maybe my numbers don't add up correctly, but I can't imagine turning away potential business like that.

[KARNUT]

This and paying for XM radio is duplication when my phone has everything I need on it. As far as my remote start. Every situation I’ve encountered it provided enough distance to have my truck cooled off by the time I reached it.