Posted on 05/01/2026 2:03:37 AM PDT by dennisw
Popular Ford feature that has always been free now costs $455
Remember when buying a car meant paying once, grabbing the keys, and driving off into the sunset?
That era may be fading fast. Automakers are quietly transforming the way drivers pay for their vehicles - and your next car could come with a growing list of monthly charges long after you've left
General Motors is leading the charge, betting that subscriptions for features like navigation, safety systems, and hands-free driving will soon become a major profit engine - potentially generating billions of dollars a year and, in some cases, even more than selling the cars themselves.
GM says its software arm keeps about 70 cents of every dollar it makes - a staggering level of profitability in an industry where selling a car typically brings in just 4 to 10 cents on the dollar.
Instead of paying upfront for everything, drivers now get certain features included for a limited time - often just a few years - before being asked to pay monthly or annually to keep them.
In its latest earnings update on Tuesday, GM said it expects to generate $3.1 billion from digital subscriptions this year.
โWe think thereโs a growth opportunity there with very attractive margins,โ CEO Mary Barra told investors.
GM already has around 13 million subscribers paying for various in-car services, and that number is expected to climb rapidly as more vehicles come equipped with built-in technology.
(Excerpt) Read more at dailymail.com ...
Toyota hasn’t
Wants money for nav updates
Ford is going full Disney.
Never go full Disney.
indeed, WTF (WTH to keep it clean, or “win the future”) is FSD?
If Sydney Sweeney showed up with a bronco I would be tempted to negotiate for awhile
I was an early adopter of Garmin GPS.
It made sense to me to have to pay for updates to the maps downloaded to the devise. They were necessary to remove errors, update for new roads be placed in service and add features.
Garmin eventually changed to life time free updates as competition entered the market.
Paying subscription fees for hardware that you for which you have already paid makes no sense to me.
I don’t see this as a lasting business model. People simply do not have the disposable income to pay for this kind of thing.
If it just keeps a car in its own lane, it could prevent a lot of fatal accidents.
As you stated, sleeping, passed out, drunk, medical emergency, etc., are the cause of so many horrific head-on crashes.
That’s a nice ride!
(I’m not sold on the car, though)
That right there... That is the reason I reject the Self Driving Car. There's too much technology that can be controlled by outside sources. I don't want someone else to be able to turn my car off and say to me, "No, the government has decided that you should stay home today." Have a tax dispute with the IRS? Suddenly your car tells you "Not today." Overrode the automated system and violated the speed limit? "Your vehicle usage privileges have been revoked for 48 hours. Continued violation of the automation protocols could cause deactivation of your vehicle for up to 30 days, or complete deactivation of your vehicle operating system." No... I think I'll just stick with "dumb" cars, and I'll drive myself.
If Ford does this with its public sector fleet sales vehicles, too...
Taxpayers will be paying for these so-called subscriptions.
And if by some miracle the public sector is unwilling to offload the cost onto taxpayers, if they buy those vehicles anyway, taxpayers will still he paying for useless pre-installed equipment.
As long as I have a power adapter, I will have heat for free.
Is the CarPlay / Android Auto functionality subscription based?
I’m perfectly OK doing nav with my phone.
You’ll still have paid for features you don’t want/can’t use.
If you want to do that, feel free.
But I won’t.
I remember when you could buy a navigation option where you put the SD card in a slot - then you could actually get free updates. Then, Toyota decided to charge for the updates and I found a “hack” to be able t get them.
Now, they offer their own list of options, including navigation, Sirius Radio, remote controls to locate, lock/unlock/start, roll up windows, free for a year and then you have to pay. The only thing I actually liked was the navigation on my new RAV4 but I didn’t want to pay for the ‘extras” that went with it - went with Android Auto and it kind of sucked at first, but recent upgrades make it a useful option - that’s free.
Next car will probably be ordered with options I want and nothing else - or I;ll just let the other crap expire.
my truck has hand crank windows
good luck gettin’ option money out of me
didnt she rebuild an old bronco?
a girlie girl turning a wrench
be still my heart
Garbage like this accomplishes one thing....it makes people angry. GM has long had subscriptions on their On-Star system. I’ve had cars with it but never saw an use much for it. I suppose it was an otion on the car new & you paid a subscription to use it. You would have to use it all the time to make it worthwhile. Don’t know how many people did. I never did.
They are going to act surprised when I turn and walk away from ANY car that has subscriptions to options. They all have computers now, and I do see digital options such as map enhancements or satellite radio available. What I would refuse are things like BMWs heated seat subscription, etc.
As I mentioned in a previous post, my car has the option to subscribe to a red light camera database. I don’t need it, but maybe someone that lives in an area with lots of cameras might subscribe. The car has a 4 year subscription to map updates and that is about it. Lane departure warnings, etc are built into the car. There aren’t subscriptions to operate the car safely..
Same here. I have a 2020 Nissan Rogue that I'm going to drive until it dies, or I do. And if it dies first, I'm going to see what I can do to revive it. Because to hell with this rip-off.
Disclaimer: Opinions posted on Free Republic are those of the individual posters and do not necessarily represent the opinion of Free Republic or its management. All materials posted herein are protected by copyright law and the exemption for fair use of copyrighted works.