GM has drastically reduced the complimentary trial period of all OnStar services to a single month, GM Authority has learned. The core OnStar plan, as well as OnStar Connected Services, now have trials lasting just 30 days. By comparison, the OnStar trial was either three months or six months long in the recent past.
| OnStar Safety & Security Plan | OnStar Connected Services |
|---|---|
| Automatic Crash Response | Remote Vehicle Access (myBrand apps) |
| Emergency Services | OnStar Vehicle Diagnostics |
| Roadside Assistance | Dealer Maintenance Notification |
| Smart Driver | |
| Marketplace (app shop) |
OnStar Safety & Security coverage is the core OnStar plan that includes features like Automatic Crash Response, Emergency Services, and Roadside Assistance. Meanwhile, OnStar Connected Services includes remote vehicle access via the myBrand apps (myChevrolet, myBuick, myCadillac, and myGMC) for features such as remote vehicle start and door lock/unlock, along with OnStar Vehicle Diagnostics (OVD), Dealer Maintenance Notification (DMN), Marketplace, and Smart Driver functionality. Trial periods for both services have now been reduced to a single month. The Wi-Fi Hotspot is treated as a separate trial and subscription, and continues to include a trial of 30 days or 3 gigabytes, whichever comes first.
| Service | 2016 Model Year Trial Length | 2019 Model Year Trial Length | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Primary OnStar plan: | 6 months | 1 month | |
| Remote vehicle access: | 5 years | 1 month | |
| Vehicle Diagnostics | 5 years | 1 month | |
| Dealer Maintenance Notification | 5 years | 10 years | |
| Chevrolet Smart Driver | 5 years | 10 years | |
| Marketplace | 5 years | 10 years | |
| 4G LTE | 30 days / 3GB | 30 days / 3GB |
The reduction of the core OnStar trial period from the initial six months to three months, and now to just one month significantly shortens the amount of time new GM vehicles owners have to familiarize themselves with the OnStar services. The change in connected services is even more significant. That’s because, GM introduced the OnStar Basic Plan as a free plan for 2015 model year and newer vehicles, which lasted for five years. The Basic Plan included the aforementioned remote access functionality via the myBrand smartphone apps (at the time rolled into the OnStar RemoteLink app), along with OVD and DMN. Now, that plan is no more, meaning that free remote access functionality via the myBrand mobile apps is reduced from five years to a measly 30 days.
As of this writing, OnStar offers several plans ranging from $14.99 per month to $59.99 per month.
The decision to reduce the OnStar trial period appears to be a cost-cutting measure by GM, and it’s not something that we’re in favor of.
That’s because becoming familiar with a new vehicle takes time, and becoming familiar with a vehicle’s in-depth features – such as those offered by OnStar – takes even longer. That’s not to say that OnStar is difficult to use… but 30 days isn’t enough time to develop behaviors that would allow one to know whether or not it’s a service worth paying for.
Do you agree? Tell us what you think of GM’s decision in the comment.
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All about the money, Mary may have been an engineer, but she's a bean counter now, full blooded. Long as she get hers, no one else to worry about. Sad.
With GM's current situation, they need to give it a full year!
Oh, boy. This is not good. When I was at the Buick, GMC, Cadillac and Honda store for all those years, I went through the time of no Onstar to the beginnings and can recall my 2007 Buick had it for 6 months. I think (don't hold me to this however) that Cadillac had it free for the first year. In this article above, I didn't notice it said anything different for Cadillac vs. the other GM brands. Volvo (store I'm at now) has a similar "On Call" system good for the 4/50 warranty, but it's not nearly as good as Onstar! Mazda doesn't offer anything. I think GM is making a huge mistake on this and would be better increasing the cost of each GM car by $100 but offer it free for 6 months on Chevy, GMC and Buick and for the full year on Cadillac.
Not only do I have experience with Onstar from a selling point, but also from a police officer point of view. Onstar is a fantastic service and it's so under-sold! From a sales perspective, I've worked around way too many sales people who had zero clue about Onstar. But if these sales people and customers in general could see what I've seen (as a police officer), they would be sold on it an would then use that as a benefit with customers! Onstar is part of the main reason I still drive a GM car even when I don't sell them now.
Dan, this is just one more mistake that GM has made. Taking off the market the Volt, a car which for 9 years had no competition and which displayed stellar engineering expertise and reliability, a car truly in a class by itself (Erick Belmer, a.k.a. "Sparkie", drove his 2012 for 477,625 miles), and has nothing to replace it, it boggles the mind. One has to ask the question, has Mary Barra lost her grip?
Mary Barra proves over and over she’s in her position because having a female CEO is politically expedient, and was probably a condition of the bailout.
She is, in fact, inept.
Wow, what a very sexist statement to make!
I like reading all the backwards and forwards of different views, but you really have hit a low point!
She is obviously doing a great job if all you can attack her for is being female AND only getting the job because of anything other than her ability!
If OnStar vanished it would be fine with me. I never even used the trial on my last three vehicles.
I don’t know anyone that even subscribes.
You really should try using the navigation service if you get a chance. You get to talk to a real person (unfortunately) who will have trouble understanding you, and you will reciprocate. Once they get the navigation up and running, you might even be directed to correct road.
Probably not in the correct city though.
This is based on actual experience, and no, I'm not exaggerating.
For me, the problem with OnStar is that it is probably worth about $5/mo, but costs much more.
Even if the person understood you, who would want to talk to a real person?
And if you deviate from the route, it will wait for you to return to that path, OR you can talk to a person again.
It WAS a great service at one time, but, their level of service has declined greatly; this is especially true of getting directions. On too many occasions, I had to repeat, and then spell, addresses that were just not that complicated. “123, Mercantile Square, Anytown State” got the audible equivalent of deer in the headlights.
Some praise is still due, however. In fall of 2016 I traveled extensively in Ontario and on east into the Maritimes. The services there were outstanding; just like they were here. They also handle traffic-related things, like reporting an erratic driver to the local officials.
@scott3:
You say that you didn't use in on the last three vehicles. That simply means that you never had the proper tutorial from your sales person or they just avoided it totally. But instead of from a "sales" view, allow me to give a couple of real features that alone are worth it from a "police" view:
1. Stolen vehicle locate and shut down.
2. Remote unlock of door for emergency or keys locked in car (yes, somehow people can still do that).
3. Emergency notification in case of an accident. Very very helpful in remote/rural areas.
4. Teen driver features.
I have children, thus I have Onstar.
I’ve owned several cars with OnStar over the years, harking back to 2007. Back then, and up through about 2015, they were very useful and helpful. Then, several things started happening.
The prices skyrocketed as the services sank like a torpedoed ship.
Wait times went from virtually nothing to “Your call is very important to us...” virtually every time I pressed the button.
Operators went from uniformly excellent and helpful to indifference, or inability to understand basic requests about half the time.
GM removed the ability to store phone numbers in the OnStar-provided telephone service, starting with the 2018 model year. For those of you who say “just use your mobile”, I kept minutes on my OnStar phone specifically for when I was in an area my carrier didn’t cover.
The only OnStar I use now is in my Pontiac. It has emergency response and I have some time on the built-in phone (which stores numbers!).
I’m considering the purchase of a Tahoe or Yukon in the next few months, and when we go through the new-car setup, I will just tell the operator to not bother, or to just set up the emergency services.
Onstar is a dinosaur. Sadly, its time has passed
Penny wise and pound foolish. What does this service really cost GM for this short period !
Continue to loose market share because of these small, but important features that need
time to experience. Cuts, cuts, cuts. Will not matter without enough customers
After reading this article I wonder if I still want to renew next month? The past year I used it once to call in a pizza from a WalMart parking lot!
Many new car owners may in a months time not really drive the car that much so this one month thing, is going to back fire!
Yes, I would love to see Mary gone!! I can only guess how greedy she will be in pricing the new C8 midengined Corvette?
Our take rate on Onstar has dwindled to virtually nothing. Now customers are upset because they lost their Remote Link app for remote start and door unlock. So now they activate it in November and disconnect it in April so they can have their Remote Link app in he winter.
Onstar needs to go to a Al a Carte or per drink pricing structure giving customers basic remote link and emergency services for a $7-9 / mo cost and charge for additional services such as crash notification, door unlock etc at a higher rate of $25 - $50 per incident.
With the services offered by portable navigation devices and automobile clubs, On-Star is just one of many that can provide the same essential services. Offer a year for all services and quit being penny pinchers. Your customers deserve it and so does your market share sales.