On Your Side looks at car feature subscriptions — Transcript

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1. 0:00side. Now, new cars come with all kinds
2. 0:02of high-tech features, pretty standard
3. 0:03these days, from remote start to
4. 0:05navigation systems.
5. 0:07>> And while most of those features are
6. 0:08traditionally free because they come
7. 0:10with the base model, our on your sides,
8. 0:12Gary Harper says that's changing.
9. 0:15>> Yeah, how nice is it to come out of a
10. 0:17building and start your car remotely by
11. 0:19simply pressing a button. Get that AC
12. 0:22cranking. It's a nice feature to have,
13. 0:24but it's just one of many features that
14. 0:27you may have to start paying for every
15. 0:29month.
16. 0:31Over the past few decades, car makers
17. 0:33have really made our lives easier with
18. 0:35all kinds of new high-tech features.
19. 0:38Some of these features are just like
20. 0:40there's a lot of bells and whistles,
21. 0:41isn't there? So, there's all of these
22. 0:43features that and comforts that didn't
23. 0:45even imagine were possible just, you
24. 0:47know, 10, 15 years ago that are easily
25. 0:50accessible not just to luxury cars, but
26. 0:52to everyday cars as well.
27. 0:54>> But when it comes to new cars, don't get
28. 0:56too used to those features, unless of
29. 0:58course you don't mind paying a monthly
30. 1:00fee for them. Seriously, car
31. 1:02manufacturers are making a huge overhaul
32. 1:05to your comfort for a price. And that
33. 1:08price is expected to rake in billions of
34. 1:10dollars for car makers. Car
35. 1:12manufacturers, they like to have a
36. 1:14little steady stream of income and they
37. 1:16are kind of turning the tables on us.
38. 1:18Tell us about that.
39. 1:19>> Yeah, I mean I think it's one of those
40. 1:21things where we're starting to see
41. 1:23automakers kind of try this out where
42. 1:26you can subscribe to feature sets. What
43. 1:30used to automatically come on a new car
44. 1:32is now costing you a monthly
45. 1:34subscription. Here's an example. Toyota
46. 1:37is charging car buyers to pay $8 a month
47. 1:40to start your car remotely. General
48. 1:42Motors will charge 25 bucks a month to
49. 1:45use their Super Cruise feature, which
50. 1:47includes a hands-free driver assistance
51. 1:49system. And BMW will charge you $12 a
52. 1:53month for a feature that automatically
53. 1:55dims your bright lights when it senses
54. 1:57an oncoming vehicle. Some of these
55. 2:00features used to automatically come on
56. 2:02the vehicle, but now it's paytoplay.
57. 2:05>> I got suckered into subscribing to some
58. 2:07feature sets because again, I could
59. 2:09remotely turn on the air conditioning. I
60. 2:11could remotely unlock and lock the door.
61. 2:14I could control a bunch of things on my
62. 2:17car just through my phone.
63. 2:18>> The features are already built into the
64. 2:21car with the software.
65. 2:23>> Yeah.
66. 2:23>> And I think as a consumer, uh, the
67. 2:26features that I paid for should be
68. 2:28there. but now they're going to make me
69. 2:30pay extra. I don't like that idea.
70. 2:32>> I don't see it going away uh for
71. 2:36automakers, especially as they, you
72. 2:38know, work towards streamlining their
73. 2:40production. This is kind of their way of
74. 2:42diversifying revenue streams for them.
75. 2:46>> Again, it is all about the money. In
76. 2:49fact, General Motors is projecting that
77. 2:51by the year 2030, it will be making
78. 2:54around $25 billion a year just in
79. 2:58subscriptions. I'm Gary Harper on your
80. 3:01side. If