Buick And GMC Models Get Mandatory 3-Year OnStar And Connected Services Plan
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The available OnStar Connected Services plans allow GM owners to get the most out of their vehicle by providing a constant high-speed internet connection for navigation, music streaming and more. While these plans are currently optional on GM vehicles, a three-year OnStar & Connected Services Plan will be mandatory with the purchase of a new Buick or GMC vehicle going forward.
GM Authority recently learned that the automaker will equip all new 2022 model-year and 2023 model-year Buick and GMC vehicles with a three-year OnStar and Connected Services Plan (RPO code R9M). The plans will cost between $905 and $1,675, depending on the chosen trim level. GM said the cost of the three-year plan will be integrated into the vehicle’s MSRP, however the online configurator tools for the Buick and GMC brands suggest these charges are added on top of the MSRPs for the time being.
Model | Trim Levels | Price |
---|---|---|
Buick Enclave | All | $1,500 |
Buick Encore GX | All | $1,500 |
Buick Envision | All | $1,500 |
GMC Acadia | All | $1,500 |
GMC Canyon | Elevation Standard | $1,6751 |
GMC Canyon | Elevation, AT4 Cloth, AT4 Leather, Denali | $1,500 |
GMC Hummer EV Pickup | Edition 1 | $0 |
GMC Sierra 1500 | SLE, Elevation, SLT | $1,500 |
GMC Sierra 1500 | AT4, AT4X, Denali, Denali Ultimate | $905 |
GMC Sierra HD | Pro | $1,6751 |
GMC Sierra HD | SLE, SLT, AT4, Denali | $1,500 |
GMC Terrain | All | $1,500 |
GMC Yukon | SLE, SLT | $1,500 |
GMC Yukon | AT4, Denali | $905 |
GMC Yukon XL | SLE, SLT | $1,500 |
GMC Yukon XL | AT4, Denali | $905 |
- Includes $1,500 3-year subscription and $175 OnStar & GMC Connected Services Capability
“To enhance our customers’ vehicle ownership experience, beginning June 2, 2022, new retail Buick and GMC vehicles will include three years of OnStar and Connected Services Premium Plan,” a GM spokesperson told GM Authority. “This offering provides our owners with a full suite of OnStar and Connected Services for three years, providing them with more time to enjoy services such as remote key fob, Wi-Fi data and OnStar safety services. By including this plan as standard equipment on the vehicle, it provides more customer value and a more seamless onboarding experience.”
As more internet-enabled features arrive in GM vehicles, connected services plans will become more important to the overall ownership experience. Without an internet connection, GM vehicle owners may not be able to take advantage of certain vehicle features, such as Maps+, Alexa Built-In AI assistant, audio streaming and navigation. These plans will be even more crucial to the EV ownership experience, as they will enable features like GM’s Ultium Charge 360 platform and its new Plug and Charge payment system.
This change will be extended to fleet-focused trim levels of Buick and GMC vehicles as well, but fleet customers will receive the OnStar Vehicle Insights feature instead of Remote Access. It’s not clear at this time what the price difference for plans with OnStar Vehicle Insights versus Remote Access will be.
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This is a nightmare.
If this is true..
.I will be definitely switching brands. I would like a lower priced vehicle without all this tech junk. I don’t need it to drive to the grocery store and back.
My 2022 GMC Terrain AWD SLT built in June 21 arrived ar Canadian dealer from Mexico in Jan22 for delivery to me ,now 7 months since taking possession ,still no heated seat chips sent to dealer to install free ,if they are shipping vehicles to customers not fully complete or now with safety equipment missing as announced recently ,then GM should not be allowed to force any customer to take a three year contract for On Star they don’t want ,your cell phone and CAA or AAA is all anyone will ever need .I won’t buy another Buick or GMC if GM persists to over rule customer needs with compulsory add on’s that are not for safety reasons !
You are absolutely entitled to not buy a GM if you don’t like how they’re doing things. But you are ignorant about what OnStar is and does. I have many customers, as well as myself, who won’t buy another vehicle without it. No, your phone and AAA don’t provide the same things.
Here’s a hint: Most manufacturers are adding services like OnStar to provide the same kinds of benefits. Subaru StarLink, Hyundai Blue Link, Hondalink, Ford Pass, Uconnect, etc. Just about every manufacturer now offers some set of OnStar features, with very few offering anything that OnStar doesn’t. So much more than you can do with your phone that it’s a major point of competition among manufacturers.
Yeah, you’re right. I’m too dumb to know what I don’t want. If it were so great they wouldn’t have to be forcing it on people. You compare this to what other manufacturers are calling their same junk but I guess you fail to realize I don’t want those either.
“heated seats” are NOT a safety item… My 2022 Acadia Denali’s second-row seats are missing the heated seat chip and the “backup assist” chip… I will get the chips when I get them… Personally, my second-row passengers having cold butts does not concern me… and seeing how it is summer, I am sure it is not a concern of theirs either. Backup assist? I really could not give a flying rat’s ass about it as I know how to use my mirrors.
That being said, the mandatory 3-year OnStar contract should be challenged in a court of law. Thank God, I bought the Acadia before GM had this latest brain fart!
Pretty sure this won t come to Canada as this would be quite illegal to force customers to pay for this.
Jon Miller, it’s a money grab. U are the only one on this site saying anything positive about onstar. Other companies are offering this stuff hoping they will forget about there subscription and keep paying this fee. My wife was one. No thanks.
Funny way to get people to buy more vehicles. Make them pay for something they don’t want and make it mandatory.
Congratulations to the product planning/marketing people that thought this one up.
Noteworthy misunderstanding in the article: You can’t select something in the configurator and have it be outside of MSRP. Those things selected there, including mandatory selections like this new OnStar Connected Services plan, are what dictates the MSRP. This reminds me of people talking both before and especially after the 2020 election about the results being overturned by mail-in ballots. That is fundamentally false: There are no results which could be overturned until all ballots are counted. Before that you just have a partial count.
There’s no MSRP until the base price, all selected options, and DFC are added up. Until then you just have a list of prices of different options.
Basically a standard feature included in the base price of the vehicle? Since this is a new feature, the price has actually gone up by the $900/1500 depending on model.
Any idea how this will be handled on vehicles ordered and accepted but haven’t arrived yet? Will they change price or exclude the 3 year service plan?
It’s part of the configuration now. If you configured previously AND it gets picked up for production without rolling over to a 2023, then you’re good as-configured. If it rolls over because GM wasn’t able to allocated it for production as a 2022 then it will have to be reconfigured as a 2023 which will include this mandatory new “feature”.
This is a crazy policy. I have had OnStar active now for over 7 years. Over those 7 years, I have paid approximately $3500 in subscription fees. I have never once spoken to OnStar or even pushed the OnStar button in my Chevy. Nor have I ever used the guidance feature. I do like the monthly diagnostic Emails, as well as the alerts in the event something goes wrong. However, GM should have just increased the price of the vehicles and positioned the price increase as more standard features. To name OnStar specifically simply aggravates customers who otherwise wouldn’t want the service.
I wouldn’t let this prevent me from buying a Buick Enclave or Envision GX as I would probably have subscribed to OnStar anyways. But for those that simply don’t want OnStar at all, it is an unfortunate requirement.
I agree, especially on how they should have handled it. I also enjoy the theft alerts, low tire pressure alerts, etc. My daughter drives an Encore and I can check on her (if she says she’s running a little late after a date but that she’s on her way, I can actually verify that), check her fuel economy and tire pressure and oil life, etc.
Incidentally the “I’ve survived this long without that” logic has always made me laugh. Used to see it all the time on facebook regarding seatbelts and airbags and cancer warnings and just about everything. But the fact is there are MANY no longer alive to chime in on those posts. Hard to quantify how many people have been saved by OnStar automatic crash response, but I personally have two customers who have, so extrapolating from that obviously limited sampling I would say it’s an appreciable number.
Trying to equate seat belt use and airbags to On Star is quite a stretch, but then again I guess you wouldn’t be able to spy on your daughter without it.
I didn’t equate it. It was reminiscent of those arguments because it uses the same faulty logic. The only stretch here is to see what I wrote as equating the two.
For you to read my trust-but-verify parenting of a teen driver as inappropriate says more about you than it does about me.
It means you don’t trust your daughter, plain and simple.
I wish I could know anything so perfectly as you believe you do from so few words without context. No doubt this skill of yours has only provided great success and never serves you wrong. I tip my hat to you!
As you should. I’m sorry you have to so desperately try to sell a product no one wants or needs to put food on the table.
Based on the comments concerning this subject I’d say you better get used to rice and beans.
$3500 down drain
You’ve paid $3500 for a subscription you admit you’ve never used? Do you also heat your home by throwing cash in the fireplace? Whoo boy. By the way, you don’t need to be a paying subscriber to get the monthly diagnostic emails. I get them on both of my Chevys through the free Connected Access that is good for several years after purchase (my 2018 until 2025 and my 2021 until 2030).
GM Authority author who wrote this article is way back in time or just needs some garbage to write. I am not going to say this without giving examples. From 1970 through 1999 I paid for power windows, power door locks, air conditioning, power steering, cruise control, etc, etc, etc. As GM made these standard options, yes there was an increase in MSRP to cover these add-ons. All manufacturers have done the same over the years. Now as we enter the technological years, there will be some technological items added to the base MSRP, just like power windows and door locks, etc, etc. So I say GM Authority, if you want to write an article like this one, then explain it fully.
Absolutely correct, great point! People freaking out in the comments about it not providing any more than they already have on their phones, even though it absolutely does a lot more than you can do with just your phone, and talking about switching to other manufacturers yet every manufacturer is coming out with new systems like this to extend the functionality of the vehicle.
It would be ridiculous to see a line-item charge for floor mats or AM/FM radio these days, but that was definitely the norm when they were new.
With self-driving features becoming standard on the horizon it is not a bad idea to start now to get people used to the idea of paying for these subscriptions (which are necessary at least under current business models for such features). I do wish they had just included it in a base price increase though. “Included features” is much more palatable than “mandatory subscription”.
They are starting now to “get people used to the idea of paying for these subscriptions.” What? They are ripping the customer off. There is a huge difference between floor mats and a $1500 subscription plan that is absolutely not necessary. Hence the low take rate. The price tag amounts to over $46 a month. That’s steep for many people. And guess what? I have a cheap OnStar plan on my wife’s 2017 Cruze. She was hit on the left front side of the car. No airbags went off. No automatic crash response from OnStar, but it did have about $10,400 in damage. I don’t need OnStar, but GM gave it to me for cheap because they can’t give it away. Now they won’t need to, but customers like me will just walk away. They’ll miss my $1500, but they’ll miss my $45,000 even more.
The obvious difference is that by the 90s nobody wanted crank windows, manual door locks and A/C delete. You can’t say that everyone wants OnStar even after all these years. I suspect the take rate is very low which is exactly why they’re doing this.
Likely would be an illegal move in Canada as this would be considered as forced fees on customers.
No one in their right mind is going to except a mandatory option that is totally unnecessary. From what I have heard, On star, is in desperate financial straits after most folks would not renew the service. Evidently this is a rescue plan orchestrated by GM to save On Star.
I doubt that. Self-driving features require a subscription (Super Cruise and Ultra Cruise), and those features will be more common each year moving forward. Every manufacturer has a service roughly like OnStar (though most don’t do as much as OnStar), and it’s a major point of competition among them. You do need OnStar to get the full benefit of the features of the vehicle (again, this is true across manufacturers with their own systems). I don’t like this policy but nothing about it smacks of desperation to me, or to my many customers who won’t buy a vehicle without it. It’s much more popular than you’re allowing yourself to believe.
Jon Miller what people are saying is, there cell phone is enough. We can get maps on them and make phone calls. We can make reservations on the phone, we don’t need on star !! !
Yes and no. I would agree if that’s what most people actually said. But it isn’t. The argument has been made repeatedly that their phone (and AAA?) does everything OnStar does. That’s objectively false. If they don’t see the value of the additional features, it aware of them, then that’s fine. They aren’t the target market. But it’s simply ignorant to argue that a phone does everything OnStar does.
Jon I can also see my tire pressures and oil wear with a push of a button while driving, and I don’t need to pay onstar for this.
Ken, I learned at a very early age that by looking at my tires I can tell if there is air in both the upper and lower half of the tire. Do people not do a walk around their vehicle to look it over before driving off???
Wow Miss Mary is on a roll. 1300 price increases on trucks even after 2 price increases just a month before. Lowering Buicks warranty to what every common Chevy, toyota and Honda has. Killing the 2.0T option on the Nox and Terrain. Lowest in the class mileage ratings on all of their gas truck engines. Killing 90% of their sedan lineup and soon the Malibu and Camaro. Decontenting the Blazer, TB and Terrain. Charging extra on GMC’s and Buicks for the exact same paint colors that are no charge on Chevy’s and now this. Nice to see that arrogance, greed and agendas are still the primary focus of this company.
Miss Mary blamed the first increase on transportation costs… nahhhh, there is no way she is going to blame the second increase on the same, will she???
I saw the sticker price on the Buick website and this $1500 OnStar charge appears as it is an option. BUT it is not an option, its a forced price increase for something very few would choose. This kind of stuff makes me rethink buying another Buick. We have had 6 or 7 over the years and our current Buick may be our last. Especially with no incentives etc, When an Enclave Avenir was $54,000 after discount and incentives last year and now it is $62,000+ since there are no incentives and discounts these days, that makes me look at other brands. Its too bad . GM has likely done the numbers and it won’t hurt them financially even with selling fewer vehicles,
Incentives exist to move old inventory, period. There’s no inventory that needs help getting sold. I don’t understand where some customers get this idea that they are simply entitled to discounts. Do you do this in other areas? Do you expect a discount on everything you purchase? Or is it just something special about vehicles? Sincerely curious.
If you are curious and not just being snarky… Incentives have always been available on vehicles that are in the pipeline or even if you order a new vehicle, the incentive in effect when it arrives is available, so its not “old Inventory”. Yes, in many areas. for example when looking at college costs, the discounts, grants and scholarships are part of the equation in choosing a college.. Incentive used by auto manufacturers are used to lower msrp to be more competitive with out lowering the msrp. Completely understandable however its helpful to know how manufacturers use them.
For example, a couple years ago, an Enclave with discounts was competitive with say a Highlander, now and Enclave is many thousands more.
Because incentives have always been tied to specific models or packages and not the date your vehicle was built, yes, it has long been possible to do a custom order and enjoy the benefits of an incentive which coincidentally applies to it. But that’s not why the incentive was created. It has always (at least in my nearly a decade in the business) been rare for any significant incentive to exist for the first months of a new model year, and even less common in the first half year or so of a newly redesigned model. Toward the end of the model year they would increase to move old inventory. Toward the end of a model cycle they would increase even more. The last 8-10 HDs we sold before the 2020 redesign, for instance, were almost $10k off! If someone did a custom order in that time they would have enjoyed that coincidental benefit. They weren’t the target of that incentive, it just happened to apply to them because the incentives are blanket policies. (Consider that the alternative would be an incentive that only applies to a limited list of specific VINs. The idea of the headache of that scenario weighs heavily.)
Incidentally my wife has a Highlander. It’s a good car. But it’s far from an Enclave. Many fewer features, louder and rougher ride quality (again, not bad, just by comparison), and dramatically less comfortable at least for my build. I feel rather cramped in the Highlander. But she likes it and it was available used for a great price so we bought it. But we don’t kid ourselves that it’s the same as an Enclave. Not by a long shot.
Good comparison regarding Highlander vs Enclave. How would you compare the ride quality between an Enclave Avenir with the damper suspension, an Enclave Premium/Essence and a Traverse High Country?
I’m a big fan of the Traverse. I think they knocked that design out of the park. As you can probably imagine I don’t have a ton of time on the road in the Avenir as they’ve all been presold for much of it’s life, and less in the High Country as I don’t sell Chevys new. My take is that the Enclave Avenir (along with the Envision Avenir) is the best ride quality and feature set you can get under 6 figures. But I’ve never been disappointed by the High Country (other than the occasional example of the Traverse lurch / power surge issue). And many customers don’t even pay enough attention to noticd the difference between even the Honda Pilot and the Enclave Avenir, let alone between the High Country and Avenir.
I’ve unsubscribed from notifications on this page as the willful ignorance about what OnStar even does is staggering. I hope this helps! Especially knowing that I don’t benefit in any way by you buying either of them.
I just canceled my order with my local GM dealer. I refuse to play Mary’s game!
$1,500? YES! And worth it. WHY? I’ll tell you. You get Automatic Crash Response, Emergency Services, Guardian, Crisis Assist, Roadside Assistance, Stolen Vehicle Assistance, Remote Key Fob, Voice Service, Vehicle Status, Vehicle Locate, Remote Personalization, On-Demand Diagnostics, UNLIMITED WIFI that can connect 7 devices within a 50 ft radius of the vehicle, WIFI will power Amazon Alexa, Google Built In with maps, the Play Store for other apps such as Spotify, Pandora, YouTube Music, the Weather Channel, and many others. The real win? You don’t have to make 2 payments, one to OnStar and one to the bank. It is financed into the price of the vehicle. Google maps will update automatically and you will be able to find charging stations if you own a GM EV and Super Cruise capable roads if you have Super Cruise. Welcome to the 21st Century!
You left out “and GM pays my mortgage”.
Let’s break this down a bit, shall we?
Stolen Vehicle Assistance is pretty much the only service that isn’t built into my cell phone.
*Automatic* Crash Response is likely the only service my cell phone doesn’t currently do (though my Apple watch does it anyway, so my phone can’t be far behind)
Guardian, Crisis Assist, is all included in my cell phone (Find My Friends) et al. are all basically the same thing- “we can talk to you if there’s an emergency” – thanks, that’s called a cell phone and 911
Your WiFi is called “use your cell phone as a hot spot”, and I’ve been doing that for about 12 years now.
I don’t need their version of Spotify, YouTube Music, etc., because I also have those on my cell phone.
Google maps (on my phone) updates automatically already. Don’t need OnStar for that.
SuperCruise? If that requires a cell signal / satellite link, it’s not worth a damn. Reliability demands that the vehicle be *autonomous*. Tunnels, trees, buildings, bridges, etc.- they call cause drop outs. (If you listen to XM radio, you know what I mean.) Every other manufacturer is building the sensors into the cars. It can update when I pull into my garage and connect to my home WiFi. Charging me $40/ mo to do something I already have is outrageous. (and if SuperCruise really requires this service, then it sucks even more. I tend to keep my vehicles for a lot longer than 3 years, so I’d have to pay for the deamn service just to have the joke-of-a-self-driving feature work? Give me a f*ckin break.)
Never owned a Ford, but I guess that 2023 Canyon is looking pretty sh!tty right about now…
Side note: Spare me the “welcome to the 21st century” nonsense. I worked in high tech for 30 years,often on things folks take for granted (like data services on cell phones). I’m no luddite. This reeks of a product manager who is desperate to increase adoption but has a weak/ non-existent value proposition. Way to kill brand value!
Wow. These conversations are incredible
Automotive software is the absolute worst. Now, because they can’t sell it (no one wants it) they forces it on the consumer
Here’s a hint. If it’s popular and people find value in it, they will buy it. You don’t need to force it down their throats. OnStar might have value for some people, clearly for most it simply isn’t worth the upcharge. If it was they would select it as an option and you wouldn’t have to force it on them.
This applies to a lot of the stupid gimmicks being incorporated into modern vehicles. Put your efforts into making them simpler and more reliable and everyone would be further ahead.
Waste of money I have to drive about 15 miles to get close to US 2 to get a cell signal.
Buy a Hershey candy bar for a dollar and get billed $1000 for dental advice over “zoom”. No Thanks, I’ll buy a Mars bar.
$905 plus tax. Brings it to $1000. Up front. Not like the monthly charge of $25 .this suck. I ordered a 2022 back in April. Just saw the add on .when it comes in they can keep it. What about after 3 years, do they charge you again.