BMW Heated Seats for £15 p/m subscription

[Familyman 90]

Originally Posted by Rocinante

Everybody is getting bent out of shape about this subscription model, but it's just another option for customers to pay for the extras they want on their car.

The heated seats, and all the other electric options, are already there. They are fitted to the car and as such the buyer has already paid for them.

But in order to actually use them you have to pay a subscription.

So you pay twice. It's not an "instead of" option, its physically on the car and youve bought it whether you want it or not.

But I don't quite understand the shock horror. Tesla have been doing this for some time, selling you a car with accesories and you can't use until you subscribe and that hasnt generated widespread upset.

It's just another method of keeping their claws locked into you and bleeding you dry for longer.

[big square car]

How do you know that?

[Tannaton]

This is rife in the IT industry.

- IBM have been doing this for about 15 years. Most of their high-end servers (and I mean the mainframe types that run IBM multiuser operating systems) leave the factory now with considerable memory and CPU's soldered in. But to use them - you have to license them - you need to buy a key to activate them either perpetually or per year. And the older and more obsolete the server - the higher the cost.

- Most common software Apps are going "Cloud" - SAP, Microsoft, SAGE etc. but it's a scheme to get you hooked in. Whilst the set up costs are much less, migrating from a "Cloud" platform to another is often considerably more difficult and expensive than traditional systems. They're hooking you in for the long term contracts.

[DaveNP]

I'm inclined to agree with Rocinate's point on this, someone at BMW worked out it's cheaper to put electric seats in all the cars - one production line for seats, economy of scale, lower stockholding, less complications on car assembly etc. (look at a Volvo wiring loom and they've been doing it for years, the connectors are already there in my car for heated seas even though I haven't got them). But then they reckoned that they couldn't put the price of the car up as not everyone would want to pay for them, so just add a bit of computer software that can be switched on and off by the dealer.
The current trend to PCP isn't one I want to subscribe to but if you work out £15 a month over a 3 year contract it's £540 which is getting on for the sort of money they might have got away with as an option on an outright sale (and do most PCP and company car drivers actually look at the overall cost?). BMW dealers then get the advantage that any car that comes back to their forecourt for a secondhand sale can have the options turned off and either charge to turn them on or it's a bargaining chip in the sale to turn them on without charging extra 'Oooh the salesman was so nice he got heated seats added for me' (to my overpriced BMW).
And skinflints like me will just put a jacket on and man up for the 10 minutes it takes for the cabin to warm up
And somewhere down the line someone will either get a bootleg copy of the BMW workshop software or work out their own hack and the geezer working in the railway arches will turn them on for £100 no receipt no VAT

[SnineT]

And now we join Mr & Mrs Nuclear-Jones Smyth in 2032 at Allbrands the online car Emporium,

M&M N-JS - We'd like a car, a blue one! with Fandago's and real Iguana skin seats,

ATocE - We are now connecting you to the next available purchasing technician please hold, do do do do, da da da breaking out into I've got the power!

You're through to Mark how can I help?

"Well we'd like a blue one with......"

Ok Sir for me to be able to spec that you must have the Control package!

What's that?

Well Sir it includes a steering wheel & a brake pedal and I strongly advise you spec them,

Ok then,

Ah but Sir to spec them you must spec the Camel skin carpets and bio degradable mudflaps,

Ok then,

Ah but Sir to spec that you must include the Window package!

What's that?

Oh it's simply the car will come with the means to be able to flick rain off the front window I highly recommend it!

Ok we'll take the lot,

Tyres Sir do you want tyres? we can deliver without but it's an additional £500 for delivery,


Modular car sales coming your way, gone are the days when Madam Capri only needed a Zakspeed fitted to it and some huge 205/55/17 rims

[baggy798]

Never understood the fascination with heated seats. I've unplugged and removed the switches and fitted blanks so it looks like my car never had them. Even when the temp reached the coldest in 25 years during the 'beast from the east' in 2018, I never once thought the leather seats were too cold to sit on. The steering wheel gets cold sometimes but no biggie.

If you're really into the heated seat fetish, then I suppose £15pm for the winter months isn't too bad.

It's the thin end of a wedge though.

What happens 15-20 years down the line when the car's system isn't supported? Just permanent disablement of all the subscription based options? Not that a modern crap box will last that far down the line, but still.

[SnineT]

Originally Posted by baggy798

If you're really into the heated seat fetish, then I suppose £15pm for the winter months isn't too bad.

When you live with Diana the V lizard you'll understand why heated botty supports are a requirement, my S90 was the first car since 2005 that had them and I have to say I've missed them having had them in a Cavalier and two Omega's in the past, very good if you have posture back troubles as well, she was rocked up when I told her her carriage was coming with Assterburners.

[Simmy]

you could charge diana the lizard £ 2 per trip and tell her its a subscription option an earn a few beer tokens of her . how satisfying would that be. ha . ha

[Simmy]

slip over heated seat cover £ 20 at aldi is a cheaper option only a brainwashed bmw driver would pay for this. i can imagine bmw sales training team teaching jedi mind tricks to convince buyer they need these options. Ha. Ha.

[SnineT]

Originally Posted by Simmy

you could charge diana the lizard £ 2 per trip and tell her its a subscription option an earn a few beer tokens of her . how satisfying would that be. ha . ha

Next time you are up the hospital see if there are any stones waiting to give blood