Buick Goes Heavy On NCAA Basketball Again, Launches In-Vehicle March Madness App

Once again, Buick is flexing its NCAA muscles again and owners will receive a free March Madness in-vehicle app next week.

The app’s rollout coincides with the college basketball tournament, which Buick remains a sponsor of. The app will automatically download to Buick vehicles and be available via the infotainment system. Fans will have the ability to choose from between four different games to listen to audio. The app has been improved this year to include team logos, their seeds, current score, and the time left in the game.

NCAA fans can also view game schedules and check scores from past games within the in-vehicle app. However, some of the functions only work when the car is in Park, obviously, to keep drivers focused on the road and not on their touchscreen.

Owners of 2017 and newer Buicks will be the only ones with access to the free app and it requires a Wi-Fi connection to work. Drivers can use Buick’s 4G LTE Wi-Fi to access the app’s features or supply their own hotspot.

Last year, Buick was generous enough to hand out free Wi-Fi hotspots to all customers of select vehicles for March Madness to run the app. This year, Buick taketh away somewhat. Only select owners of Buick Encores will receive offers for free Wi-Fi, according to the brand’s announcement. Those lucky Encore owners will receive a free trial for unlimited Wi-Fi data through the month of March.

It might be worth dialing OnStar to see if there’s any sort of free trial other owners can take advantage of, though most GM vehicles come with a free trial via OnStar when they’re purchased new.