With a number of automakers charging subscription fees for certain services in their vehicles, consumers may be wondering whether it's worth it for them.
German automaker BMW is selling monthly subscriptions for front heated seats in some countries, with prices ranging between $19 and $23 per month or between $504 and $540 to have the feature installed permanently.
This is on top of other features that carry monthly fees such as automatic high beam assists, heated steering wheels, adaptive cruise control with lane-keep assist and a built-in dash camera.
Other automakers such as Toyota, Lexus, Subaru, GM, Ford, Audi, Cadillac, Porsche and Tesla have offered subscriptions for features such as remote starting and OnStar.
Automotive journalist Stephanie Wallcraft told CTV's Your Morning on Friday that while it's unlikely the actual cost of a vehicle will be lower if automakers make more features subscription-based, it could be beneficial for customers in certain cases.
"It's really a matter of sitting down and doing the math, and it's about how the automakers package the features as well," she said.
A feature, like heated seats, may end up being cheaper in the end by paying a monthly fee rather than installing it permanently.
"If you're in a situation where you're leasing a car, you know you're only going to have it for three years, and you do the math and you say, 'You know, I'm probably only going to need to use the heated seat feature for four months out of the year,'" Wallcraft said.
"So I will pay less to buy it on a subscription then over the course of the lease than I would to buy it up front, and then it's the next owner's problem."
Subscriptions for vehicle features also could prove advantageous for the automakers themselves.
GM said in October 2021 that subscription revenue generates US$2 billion annually and this is expected to grow to as much as $25 billion by the end of the decade.
Wallcraft said there might be a generational divide when it comes to paying a subscription fee.
"We are the generation where you would buy a DVD or you would buy a CD and then you owned it and you could access that music, that movie, whenever you wanted to," she said.
"Whereas when you talk now to my kid or teenagers, Spotify is how you access music, Netflix is how you access movies. I think it's a different mentality and it might be a generational thing where younger people might be more accepting of the idea of paying for certain car features on an ongoing basis than our generation might be."
Watch the full interview with Stephanie Wallcraft at the top of the article.
With files from CTVNews.ca Writer Tom Yun
