Toyota Subscriptions worth $80 year?

My 2020 Toyota subscriptions have expired as of December 2020.

I never used Destination Assist so that is a no brainer to me to not renew.

I am however unsure about the other two: Remote connect and Safety connect.

I have never (knock on wood) needed Safety Connect.

I have used Remote Connect (on phone) to see if the doors are locked and fuel level! I used to use Remote Start but since the app expired; it no longer works on the FOB.

Now my questions, I know it is a personal decision but what services do you think are worth the extra $80? Is there a discount that is out in the Toyota world if you bundle?

thank you

 

Been driving cars for 15 years unassisted.

 

FCA/XM Guardian wants $300 a year on my Jeep the same thing.

 

I wouldn't give them a fuckin penny of my money on principal alone. Charging me to use my own Key fob


ETA: get the @N2DesignsInc remote start and be done w it.

 

I went through some of these thoughts back in the day with our Saab that had the GM OnStar BS. The services were utterly useless the couple times that we tried to use them during the free period. Like, can you give us directions to this address? Nope, that's a private residence.

It was the crash reporting that really angered me. We were carrying around the tech in the car that I could still push the button and talk to the CS peeps to pay up, but if they detected a crash, they would ignore it unless I was already paid up. How unconscionable is that? It felt almost depraved?

Later, they made commercials showing that a cell phone was somehow inferior to their service that was based on older tech.

So, yeah. Out of principal, I would not pay a yearly ransom for a crash alert. Some nominal annual fee like $5, or a one time fee like $50? Maybe.


BTW, I know my Android phone has a free collision detection feature as part of the newer OSs. iOS may have a similar feature?

 

I never used them during the trial period so for me it was a no-brainer to not renew them. The only subscription I keep active is Sirus/XM.

 

It's like when land lines were a thing, and the telco's kept looking for the $1 - $2 a month add on 'service' that would rake in the cash for no cost to them.

Call waiting and caller ID are a couple of examples.

This stuff is just a brother from another mother.

 

When I learned of this subscription service, which would be an additional cost on top of the monthly payment I would be making on said Toyota. Has me not wanting anything to do with a new Toyota.

 

Most new cars, back as far as the mid 2000's offer subscription plans similar to this (On-Star from GM is one of many examples). They are very common across all makes and many models today. Opting not to use these optional services still leaves your Toyota with 99.8% of it's capabilities.

The only thing I don't like is I have an 'SOS' button on the roof of my truck which I'll never use. Truly not a deal-breaker for me.

 

99.998% would be a better guess.

I'm even pretty surprised things like Sirrus have made it this long.

I think it would be of interest to me if I was a regular cross country driver, but otherwise there are piles of free content available.

 

Based solely on usage over the last 9 months, I won’t renew any of them. But remember unless these sre turned off by Toyota, the info is still collected by Toyota.

And I’m not sure requesting they be turned off actually causes them to be turned off. The info is a cash crop for Toyota.

 

If u don't pay their subscription u lose snark key function. It's been common on the newer trucks.

 

I refuse to subscribe to a piece of hardware that I purchased, period.

 

that is pretty ridiculous.

 

Cell phones?

 

Paying for a utility service there. The cell phone still turns on if I stop subscribing.
Though don't get me started on the evils of the phone company, that's a different topic.

So how's that remote start feature?

 

I don’t disagree however I have a Sirius subscription in two of my vehicles. I drive a lot as part of my job and enjoy listening to some talk shows in my work truck which aren’t available on any other platforms (at least not live).

In the Taco it was a no-brainer since I had a subscription in another vehicle I drive monthly so I transferred my subscription from that truck to my Taco. It’s nice to have in the Taco for longer drives.

 

I subscribed to Sirius XM after the 3 months expired only when they offered a year at $169.00 for all access. I recently received a bill to renew Sirius at a $300+ a year.
I think I will let this subscription lapse and wait for a better renewal offer.

Made a good point about Toyota tracking me...had not thought of that.

 

Make sure the subscription lapses and doesn't convert to a standard fee. I know on my 2 Jeeps, I have to call and cancel before they convert at the end of each year period.

 

That is not really different than on the pre-2020s. The EDR has all the driving data but requires a wired connection to see. On the 2020s and up, Connected Services beams it out unless you can figure out the convoluted opt out scheme.