£140 a year for connected drive?
Discussion
sooty61 said:
No idea, bought a 10 month old 330d and saw it had this then found out the cost and all I seemed to be able to do was set the SatNav before I got in the car so I did 't sign up/pay fr it. The dealer never mentioned anything about it but then they didn't mention much...
It is free for the first 3 years, so no reason not to have it. If it wasn't activated by the first owner (BMW presumably given the age) then you should still be able to get the full 3 years from now.Chutney said:
So, apparently, my first free 3 years of ConnectedDrive are about to expire in my F10. Funny, still feels almost new to me. Does anyone know what functions will I loose, as £140 a year seems quite a lot.
If your car has RTTI (satnav which colours roads red/yellow/green) then you will lose that and revert to the older TMC data which comes from the radio rather than the mobile network. For me RTTI would justify the subscription charge on its own - it is hugely better than TMC and has saved me from numerous traffic jams.You will also lose in car email if you have that, the BMW Concierge Service (which I almost never use), and I think you will lose the accident reporting function (in a crash which fires the airbags, the car sends its location to the emergency services and opens a phone line to them as well I believe) - I have managed not to test this!
I may have forgotten an odd feature or two.
335d said:
It is free for the first 3 years, so no reason not to have it.
Maybe if you buy the car new but I bought an approved used. I have signed up to the connected drive and it recognises my car but wants to charge me £240 for connected drive, £80 for internet, £50 for remote services, £50 for real time traffic and £80 for concierge services. Total of £500 for the whole lot - no thanks sooty61 said:
Maybe if you buy the car new but I bought an approved used. I have signed up to the connected drive and it recognises my car but wants to charge me £240 for connected drive, £80 for internet, £50 for remote services, £50 for real time traffic and £80 for concierge services. Total of £500 for the whole lot - no thanks
Really. They must have changed it. My previous car was a 6 month old AUC (F10) and connected drive had not been activated, so I just called up and they did it free. It does sound very odd that you would get 3 years of free connected drive on a new car, but none at all on one a few months old. Perhaps check with the dealer as this doesn't sound right.
The dealer really isn't interested in me now I have bought the car so there is no hope there. I had a follow up call post purchase but I couldn;t take it at that time and I have heard nothing since. I even got a letter from BMW Customer Service welcoming me and talking about my welcome pack. When I phoned them to ask what this was they said it had been marked as being sent out to me. I have received nothing, As I have actually spoken to BMW Customer Service who said I cannot have the Connected Drive unless I pay (and they looked up my car) that is how it works now.
Very interesting, and while bloody annoying that it is no longer included, this should be useful to others in future who can make it part of the deal when buying an approved used car.
I would still hassle the dealer you bought the car from. It would be reasonable to assume that if a new car comes with 3 years of connected drive, a 10 month old car would at least have the balance of that 3 years.
I would still hassle the dealer you bought the car from. It would be reasonable to assume that if a new car comes with 3 years of connected drive, a 10 month old car would at least have the balance of that 3 years.
Actually it was 120, not 140.
I have lost the ability to text my destination to the car. Not sure if the sat nav has changed - dont think so, still tells me if there's traffic on the planned route. Email seems to have gone, but hardly ever used that. Texts still arrive and are read out to me (shame you cant choose an option to ring the sender back, but thats another matter)
Chutney said:
Not sure if the sat nav has changed - dont think so, still tells me if there's traffic on the planned route.
I assume it has switched from mobile RTTI data to radio TMC data for traffic delays, which is nowhere near as good. Are the roads still coloured red / yellow / green according to traffic flow? It is possible your car just pre-dates RTTI, which was around September 2012 build for the F10 I believe. In that case, it won't have changed and just used TMC all along, so you won't know what you're missing.335d said:
I assume it has switched from mobile RTTI data to radio TMC data for traffic delays, which is nowhere near as good. Are the roads still coloured red / yellow / green according to traffic flow? It is possible your car just pre-dates RTTI, which was around September 2012 build for the F10 I believe. In that case, it won't have changed and just used TMC all along, so you won't know what you're missing.
RTTI was more like Sept 2011 build onwards, for the 2012 model year. My car was registered July 2012 but built Sept/Oct 2011 and has it. I wasn't expecting it but was pleased to find not only that it was fitted but the Connecteddrive had never been activated, so I've got the full 3 years. sooty61 said:
...just phoned them up and the connected drive is NOT transferable so if you buy an approved used BMW (even if it is under 3 years old) you have to pay for it.
Also, not sure why OP is being quoted £140 and I am being quoted £240???
When I purchased my year old 3 series, an ex BMW car, I didn't have to pay. Just went through the registration service and was activated straight away.Also, not sure why OP is being quoted £140 and I am being quoted £240???
Edited by sooty61 on Saturday 26th September 11:39
I didn't have to pay for it.
Don't pay for mine (new MY13), except an extra option called "dragon drive messaging" which is a voice to text app.
The internet app is useless....iDrive input is a 'mare. Just use your phone where safe to do so.
Concierge...never occurred to me to use it.
RTTI very good, and given my driving mix i consider essential.
send to car....uses google to search for destinations, so you don't have to have a postcode. very useful for me.
The internet app is useless....iDrive input is a 'mare. Just use your phone where safe to do so.
Concierge...never occurred to me to use it.
RTTI very good, and given my driving mix i consider essential.
send to car....uses google to search for destinations, so you don't have to have a postcode. very useful for me.
sooty61 said:
Seems BMW are being inconsistent, but when I phoned them (BMW - not the dealer) I definitely had to pay for it if I wanted it. My car is an Oct 2014 (64 plate) bought in July from Coopers and they never mentioned anything about it and I didn't know it existed at the time
That sounds bizarre - even if had been activated for your car before you bought it, there should still be a couple of years remaining on the included subscription.Here's a link to the T&Cs:
http://www.bmw.co.uk/en_GB/topics/support/connecte... - the majority of the subscription services specifically state that they are free of charge for 36 months from first registration (not of the car, but of the service). The only potential hurdle is if it is registered to the previous owner you'll need to prove you've purchased the car to get it transferred. There's even a hotline number to call at the bottom of that page.
sooty61 said:
...just phoned them up and the connected drive is NOT transferable so if you buy an approved used BMW (even if it is under 3 years old) you have to pay for it.
Also, not sure why OP is being quoted £140 and I am being quoted £240???
When I bought my 760i AUC I asked that it was included after the price was agreed, they didnt even murmur they just enabled it.Also, not sure why OP is being quoted £140 and I am being quoted £240???
Edited by sooty61 on Saturday 26th September 11:39
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