GM's OnStar (Or any other telematics help systems) have not been that successful but considering that there are only 70-75 MINI dealers in the country and some of them are hundreds if not thousands of miles away from each other...do you think that having an OnStar type of system would be beneficial in terms of added security?

 

Audi offers the GM OnStar system on its vehicles, although I don't know how successful they've been either. It seems to me that the OnStar attributes are welcomed only when there is no "monthly service fee" So why not include it as a pre-paid package, say $1,000, for the life of the vehicle? Same with XM, I hate paying for satellite t.v. (although not as much as O.J. Simpson) and can't bring myself to pay for radio.

Also as a Libertarian, I'm scared by the Big Brother aspect of OnStar. They can literally track you anywhere, call the police if the airbag deploys, and disable the vehicle via satellite transmission.

 

Agreed, we got a free yr of OnStar with our Envoy, but never bothered to continue it when the free year expired. I don't like the subscription model.

 

>>Audi offers the GM OnStar system on its vehicles, although I don't know how successful they've been either. It seems to me that the OnStar attributes are welcomed only when there is no "monthly service fee" So why not include it as a pre-paid package, say $1,000, for the life of the vehicle? Same with XM, I hate paying for satellite t.v. (although not as much as O.J. Simpson) and can't bring myself to pay for radio.
>>
>>Also as a Libertarian, I'm scared by the Big Brother aspect of OnStar. They can literally track you anywhere, call the police if the airbag deploys, and disable the vehicle via satellite transmission.


I would imagine that MINI will offer the BMW connect system in future iterations - very similar to OnStar.

 

As a former OnStar subscriber, I don't think it's worth it... yet. We had the premium service for two and a half years, and while the service is getting better... it still needs a lot of work. Heck we had so many problems with OnStar that more than half of time we had the service, it was free...

First off, we found that if you need any information from OnStar fast don't bother, all you will get is frustration. Any kind of long distance trip routing... unless your sitting with a pad and paper to copy down what their providing you, you will never remember everything they are passing along. I've got several OnStar horror stories...

About the only thing we really used OnStar for on a regular basis was to make dinner reservations. Considering how much more they want for their "concierge services" compared to when we had the service, you would have to eat out A LOT to almost make it worth while.

As for tracking the vehicle... let alone releasing vehicle position information to outside sources... Unless there's an airbag deployment, you are in or reporting an accident, or the car is reported stolen OnStar won't give out any information. I know, I've tried to get information on MY CAR all of the account information is in my name and OnStar wouldn't tell me anything. Heck, we called them once on a cell phone while we were in the vehcile, becuase we were having issues with the module... provided all the information on the account (including the VIN) and asked them to ping the car and confirm that it was providing the correct position, we didn't even ask them to tell us where the car was saying it's location was, we told them where we were and asked them to confirm that the car was saying the same thing... They wouldn't do it...

Now, if they tie OnStar in to an in car navigation system so that OnStar advisors could download trip and routing information directly to your car... that would be fantastic. But it's still quite expensive.

Also keep in mind that "OnStar" provides the roadside assistance for more than just "OnStar" vehicles, I know that in addition to the GM family of vehicles where they answer roadside assistance calls, they also provide services for Mercedes, and in some areas AAA as well.

 

I predict that OnStar will be gone in a number years. I have had it as well. The service is become more and more unuseful. With the strong penetration of cell phones and the fact that almost any car comes with Road Side Assistance, those capabilities of OnStar are not becoming prevelant. The concerige services are way to overpriced and can be done much cheaper through AAA, Nav systems (which are becoming quite prevelant), and through web-enabled cell phones (which are becoming even more prevelant). The only feature that I really liked about the unit was the emergency service for an accident and unlocking the door locks. But even with these features the coverage of OnStar was spotty. They couldn't connect to the car when it was in my driveway, but if it was a block away it was fine. I think all of these problems with the fact that superior competing technology is becoming much more prevelant will mark the end of OnStar. It is only surviving because a big company such as GM is putting it on all their new cars and therefore OnStar is collecting the initial fees that GM supplies it for new cars. I would guess that the subscription rates for subsequent years are nearly non existent. Most of the people I know have OnStar, but no one I know ever renewed it. Just too much money, for very little need.

 

>>Audi offers the GM OnStar system on its vehicles, although I don't know how successful they've been either. It seems to me that the OnStar attributes are welcomed only when there is no "monthly service fee" So why not include it as a pre-paid package, say $1,000, for the life of the vehicle? Same with XM, I hate paying for satellite t.v. (although not as much as O.J. Simpson) and can't bring myself to pay for radio.
>>
>>Also as a Libertarian, I'm scared by the Big Brother aspect of OnStar. They can literally track you anywhere, call the police if the airbag deploys, and disable the vehicle via satellite transmission.

I wouldn't worry about the big brother aspect of OnStar. They cannot track a vehicle without a police report and they can't disable your vehicle via satellite. I work for the ad agency that does all the radio, print and tv ads. I've listened to literally thousands of calls, from stolen vehicles to airbag deployments. I've even visited the OnStar call center in North Carolina and I can assure you that the Advisors have better things to do than track a vehicle for "the man." OnStar won't even call you inside the car unless it's an emergency. There's a bunch of privacy laws they can't violate. Anyway, love it, hate it but don't fear it. It's pretty harmless.