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My Mustang-owning frenemy has been touting the fact that he doesn’t have to pay a dime to get directions, 911 response, and other services like stocks, sports, and weather updates through his SYNC setup… which got me thinking – why doesn’t GM just include a three-year OnStar subscription in most vehicle prices? Maybe not for the low-cost Sonic or Spark, where the low price is key… but on Cruze, Malibu, Impala, Equinox, and everything else, especially Buick and Caddy… why not?
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Well, your friend is partially correct. SYNC services is complimentary for three years.
After that, Ford vehicle owners can purchase a new 1-year subscription for $60, which includes 20 Operator Assist sessions. Owners of Lincoln vehicles can purchase a new 1-year subscription for $199, which unlimited Operator Assist sessions.
For the sake of comparison, OnStar Directions and Connections is $30 a month — $360 a year. The annual pre-pay plan is $300 a year. Obviously, OnStar is much more than the $60 a year (for Ford owners) and more than the $199 a year (for Lincoln owners).
That said, it’s not the same level or quality of service. Having used both, OnStar is way better since it’s more intuitive, and more integrated with the vehicle. SYNC now has the live operator feature too, but it’s also not as good as OnStar, since it’s a 3rd party provider. My question is whether people will actually be able to tell the difference… or care about it.
So — OnStar is more expensive, but it’s also better. I think it’s more than possible to include it as part of the vehicle price on the more expensive vehicles. And buyers of lower-priced cars should have the ability (through GM/Ally) to fold the price of OnStar into the price of their purchase/lease.
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Well put Alex. I played around with the friend’s Stang today – he gave me the keys for the week while he’s away. I gotta say, it’s a very good pony car… but the SYNC Services is not even close to OnStar – like you said in integration or intuitiveness. And SYNC live operator is a joke – at least for now. I think they launched it recently, so it will most likely improve.
But the price of OnStar is what gets me. SYNC Services is free for three freacking years!!! Why can’t OnStar be as well?
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@RJlON Which is unfortunate, since OnStar — for me at least — is indispensable. I could live without it, but the benefits and features are worth the $30 monthly cost (even less if you pre-pay for more).
I wouldn’t tie the term to the loan (since some pay cash and a large amount of Chevys are financed through AmeriCredit/GM Financial)… but I would make it free for the bumper-to-bumper warranty period of the vehicle.
Doing so, however, would put them at a disadvantage — since it will most likely result in a slight increase in price… unless they found a way to subsidize it…
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Welcome to the forum @RJlON!
My wife’s best friend was in a wreck recently in the middle of 1 in Alaska. Knocked unconscious by an asshole drunk driver in her Torrent. The only thing that saved her was OnStar. She obviously couldn’t reach for the phone, so OnStar dispatched an ambulance and 2 troopers to the scene. Customer for life.
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Took wife to emergency room, she hit the door lock, locked it with the engine running. Security officers wanted to call a wrecker, I told them I could unlock it, called OnStar, operator unlocked it. Officers had never seen that before. I think I saved enough then to pay for OnStar for quite a while!! 😉
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@bamp And with the RemoteLink app, you don’t even need to call anymore, either. Pretty cool!
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