Sorely disappointed in Toyota's money grab

I love my new Toy. She is what I dreamed of and I finally splurged at the age of 50. I love the bells and whistles. I was not fond of the price tag, but I got everything I wanted. However, I recently received notice that my Toyota Remote app would expire and if I wanted the convenience of locking the doors, remote starting, location, etc I hav to pay-to-play, so to speak.

I get they are in it to make money, but why not just figure that into the price of the vehicle and make it standard? $80/year over 5-10 years financing doubtfully would bankrupt the company or discourage buyers if it were "hidden" in the price.

So sad :-(

 

Are any manufacturers NOT doing it?

 

So I don't have a newer gen, but is this because the manufacturers have to pay data fees to the cell companies or however the app communicates with the truck? In that case I can understand it as long as the key fob can still do these things without a fee.

 

I agree on your nickel and diming point of view from Toyota. I wouldn't like it either. I am glad it is not a factored in cost though, because there are people like me who would never use that app and would not want to pay for it. You could save money installing aftermarket remote start, and if location is important there are inexpensive tracking options as well. Trying to squeeze more money out of you by Toyota is sometimes a sign to take your money elsewhere and go aftermarket.

 

I understand but on the other hand, automobiles have been around over 100 years and people have lived without all the fancy crap for at least 95 years.

 

I agree, i did not continue my subscription.

However you can still remote start your truck with the key fob. 4 clicks of the LOCK symbol, hold the 4th click for 5+ seconds and it will start up.

 

Good point and I didn't think of people that would not want it, but to know that I will have another expense to keep her exactly the way I drove her is off the lot is frustrating. Thanks for your point of view and have a merry Christmas!

 

I do that now, but the other features (location, door lock status, fuel status, mileage plus others) was helpful to see on my phone. Have a merry Christmas!

 

Well, that is true for just about everything now-a-days, no? If we went back another 30+ years, we would really have zero conveniences in our lives (and the world would be better IMO), but we have them and enjoy them. Have a merry Christmas!

 

I find it funny that people think that a constantly connected cellular device as well as the time for the software and hardware to be developed and tested should be free.

 

And to the counterpoint, Toyota should offer connected services as an add-on device that plugs in such that users can opt in.

They don’t though because they can sell tracking and usage data to advertisers and others by constantly recording.

 

Please tell me where I said it should be free.

 

Funnily enough, Toyota is still connected to your truck without the subscription. How do you think they know when you are near your next service interval? Or if you need any TSBs updated? Additionally, the customer pays for the data transfer, not Toyota (thats why when you initially download the app it makes you agree to use your personal data).

 

Because Toyota is in a competitive environment and competitors are doing it (GM Onstar, Subaru Starlink, FordPass, etc.)

At least Toyota isn't making heated seats or dual-zone climate control a subscription feature like in BMWs or Audis:

 

Unfortunately this is the way everything is going.. Automotive or not. Remember the good ol days when you could buy Microsoft Office and be all set as long as you owned the PC? No more. Its all a huge money grab. Im hoping sales start dropping off on this 'nice-to-have' type of shit and corporations start to learn they fucked up.

Just like streaming services. Everyone would pay for 3-4 subscriptions back when there were only a few big options. Now everyone and their cousin has their own dinky little streaming service. A lot of people are going back to pirating movies & shows. Why pay for a full subscription just for one good show or movie?

Anyway, at least Toyota isn't like BMW who tried to charge for heated seats

 

Software as a service pricing is not unique to Toyota or the automotive industry. Adobe moved their Creative Suite to this model years ago to the chagrin of Photographers worldwide. I get why companies go to the model and now there is infrastructure as a service like AWS and Azure that offer servers and VMs; they handle the infrastructure - you just build your website or run your virtual machine so you don't have massive overhead and have to man 24/7 technical support and monitoring for your servers.

Try to put yourselves in their shoes.... you are a developer that has overhead and has to constantly update and test your application to make sure it works across the major mobile operating systems and they update their OSs constantly. That takes a team of engineers, testers, requirements gatherers, infrastructure, etc. Bugs come along with all code. So you need to handle critical bugs ASAP as people tend to flip out when they pay for an app that can remote start and remote start doesn't work. You have to have a way for your app to talk to the vehicle so there is an integration point with something in the vehicle which means coordination with one of the platform teams for each model of Toyota and Lexus, I'm sure there is an architecture team that plans mobile strategy at the portfolio level (all Toyota and Lexus).

You are taking for granted the app just works and should come with a fixed cost but what you are paying for is a service, not a product. The Taco is the product. The ability to start it, check the status and location remotely, etc. is a service. Much like your gym or NetFlix membership.

I agree with this sentiment 100%. Fuck BMW. The seats and the seat heaters are a product that came with the car and they are selling it as a service. Fuck that. Assholes.

 

True but one difference with the features being discussed is that they require an app, network traffic and a hosting center .. so there are real on-going costs (device updates require application updates and developer time, security threats so servers must be updated, etc.)

If this were one of the big tech companies they'd offer the app/service for free and sell your data.

 

I never used any of that crap and will just let my subscription expire. I just wanted a truck, not “connectivity” to the mother ship.

 

They use a third party (close enough to) to manage those apps. They forget that you stopped paying and often do not get around to turn off features. The trick is to NOT draw their attention to that fact.