Good. I swore my 2013 335i would be my last BMW, they keep giving me reasons not to regret the choice.
BMW to shame out-of-warranty UK drivers with smart billboards
171–180 of 351 posts
Re: BMW to shame out-of-warranty UK drivers with smart billboards
#172Earlier quoted context omitted.
I don't understand why this perfectly valid comment is getting downvoted. It is not like BMW sold the item and only then decided to start charging. When you buy it is up to you to understand all the up front and delayed cost. Most people prefer delayed costs.
I look forward to paying a monthly fee for using Bluetooth in my car.
Without sarcasm, I think cars as a subscription has some interesting possibility and I wouldn't object to it. Land Rover has a new subscription product but doesn't seem to have a lot of momentum behind it. You pay a monthly fee that isn't more than if you financed the whole car at the moment, and you can keep getting new vehicles and absolutely everything (servicing etc) is covered because they're motivated to keep re-sale value extremely high because re-selling it is their problem.
I think software, cars, etc, as a service is somewhat liberating and I'm in favour of it.
Re: BMW to shame out-of-warranty UK drivers with smart billboards
#173Earlier quoted context omitted.
That sounds like a weasel word version of "we can detect vehicle warranty status without using PII."
I think they're saying they can't even tell if it's actually out of warranty, ie if you did buy the extended warranty you'd still see the popup.
Most likely they figured out that they are about to violate GDPR and altered the code to also show the notice to those who bought the extended warranty. I cannot imagine execs spending so much money on a project to shame both those who bought an extended warranty and those who didn't. In that case you can just put a static printed ad for the warranty.
Re: BMW to shame out-of-warranty UK drivers with smart billboards
#174Earlier quoted context omitted.
For subscriptions they can just change the price at a whim, stop offering your the service whenever they want or change it in a way that you don't want to. When you own / own the license to the software / feature, they can't just pull a fast one as easily.
Wait this seems like an argument for subscription. If the product is changed with an update you don't like, or becomes incompatible with your new phone, or an update to your phone, or stops being useful to you for some other reason, you can stop paying. If you pay £2k up front for CarPlay as an option and then Apple changes the protocol and you can't use it you're stuck with a lemon you already paid for. As a subscri…
> the product is changed with an update you don't like
Well, you're just left with a 30-50k car with reduced functionality. And, to be honest, CarPlay functionality (or similar) is pretty much fundamental - music, maps - and there's a clear upside of having it integrated with the car (vs. the driver looking down at the phone while driving) and trivial cost (cheaper that developing own software & OS).
The reason I want CarPlay in the first place is because I don't trust carmakers to make good software (borne out of experience!). I'm buying a car to be a car, I want to BYOS (Bring Your Own Software).
Re: BMW to shame out-of-warranty UK drivers with smart billboards
#175I mean I know the UK just crashed out of the EU but surely there's a GDPR issue with this?
Re: BMW to shame out-of-warranty UK drivers with smart billboards
#176Last time I brought a used car ( from a dealership) , and was immediately inundated with dozens of extended warranty sales calls. I can't imagine this will be anything positive. Give it a decade and other advertisers will open the gate. File for divorce and dating ads will spam you at an intersection.
I really wish personalized ads were criminalized. Lets go back to contextual (by location of ad) and general ads. The stalker big brother ad industry needs to be stopped.
Agreed, although it will be an uphill battle. We are rapidly outsourcing governance to data brokers who will vigorously defend their core business model. Boycotts are likely a good place to start, at least until public institutions can be reclaimed, if they can be.
Re: BMW to shame out-of-warranty UK drivers with smart billboards
#177Last time I brought a used car ( from a dealership) , and was immediately inundated with dozens of extended warranty sales calls. I can't imagine this will be anything positive. Give it a decade and other advertisers will open the gate. File for divorce and dating ads will spam you at an intersection.
You’re lucky. You only got them after buying the car. I own a bicycle and a Metrocard and get one or two a week.
Re: BMW to shame out-of-warranty UK drivers with smart billboards
#178Earlier quoted context omitted.
I'm no fan of the design, but BMW has considered their "kidney grille" to be an iconic design element since 1933. https://www.bmw.com/en/design/the-bmw-kidney-grille-through-... In general, sentences of the form "(I heard from (?P .* ) that )?(?P .* ) is (?P .* )" should be treated with a great deal of suspicion. (Extra whitespace insertion to bypass HN formatting)
Look through that list, many of those kidney grills are modest deign elements with several of them including separate grills for air intakes. The silly giant kidney grills that most people agree look stupid are really an aberration. Their US market share peaked in 2014 and their total sales peaked in 2015. I am not going to say their a declining brand, but their 2019 market share is only up to 2010 levels.
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Re: BMW to shame out-of-warranty UK drivers with smart billboards
#179Earlier quoted context omitted.
Wait this seems like an argument for subscription. If the product is changed with an update you don't like, or becomes incompatible with your new phone, or an update to your phone, or stops being useful to you for some other reason, you can stop paying. If you pay £2k up front for CarPlay as an option and then Apple changes the protocol and you can't use it you're stuck with a lemon you already paid for. As a subscri…
> the product is changed with an update you don't like Well, you're just left with a 30-50k car with reduced functionality. And, to be honest, CarPlay functionality (or similar) is pretty much fundamental - music, maps - and there's a clear upside of having it integrated with the car (vs. the driver looking down at the phone while driving) and trivial cost ( cheaper that developing own software & OS). The reason I wa…
But this is the case whether you pay up front or as a subscription.
So what is the upside to paying up front?
Re: BMW to shame out-of-warranty UK drivers with smart billboards
#180Earlier quoted context omitted.
I look forward to paying a monthly fee for using Bluetooth in my car.
Without sarcasm, I think cars as a subscription has some interesting possibility and I wouldn't object to it. Land Rover has a new subscription product but doesn't seem to have a lot of momentum behind it. You pay a monthly fee that isn't more than if you financed the whole car at the moment, and you can keep getting new vehicles and absolutely everything (servicing etc) is covered because they're motivated to keep r…
You could call it a "lease"