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BMW to shame out-of-warranty UK drivers with smart billboards

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201–210 of 351 posts

Re: BMW to shame out-of-warranty UK drivers with smart billboards

#201
post #166
post #137

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Why does BMW even store the license plate? Is the warranty tied to a license plate? And if so, why?

Registration # information is public in the UK. You can just scan any vehicle on the road. I don't think ownership info is, but you can get all the detail of the car it belongs to (or is SUPPOSED to belong to).

Ah, this makes sense (not necessarily that this is public information, but why the scanning works)

Re: BMW to shame out-of-warranty UK drivers with smart billboards

#203

It makes sense, BMW quit being a car company in the past few years. Now they’re just clueless assholes. I’ve seen it in their IT systems, their design teams are either on crack or got outsourced to 4 year olds and their product/sales gurus are a mix of bean counters incapable of producing an original idea and a bunch of lifers running on nepotism. It’s starting to happen and will get even worse, BMW will have a tough…

For what it is worth, the 2021 models finally seem to have CarPlay as a standard feature, along with a digital dash. Basically parity to what Audi has had for years.

Re: BMW to shame out-of-warranty UK drivers with smart billboards

#204
post #194

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Ah right, I might have missed your point, if "subscription" is the only thing you're objecting to. First, it's obviously a scam. I'm not getting extra value in exchange for money, the product is done. It's even worse than various software subscriptions - at least there your code is continuously being improved and updated to the latest version. Therefore, literally the only reason the company is doing that, is to scam…

> I'm not getting extra value in exchange for money Wait, if you're not getting extra value from the product every extra month you use it, then stop paying the subscription! That's the beauty of it!

[deleted]

Re: BMW to shame out-of-warranty UK drivers with smart billboards

#205

Earlier 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…

BMW charged $80/yr for a feature that used to cost $300 total. They since reversed it and now offer the feature for free (i.e. back into the initial cost) due to backlash.

Re: BMW to shame out-of-warranty UK drivers with smart billboards

#208
post #194

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Ah right, I might have missed your point, if "subscription" is the only thing you're objecting to. First, it's obviously a scam. I'm not getting extra value in exchange for money, the product is done. It's even worse than various software subscriptions - at least there your code is continuously being improved and updated to the latest version. Therefore, literally the only reason the company is doing that, is to scam…

> I'm not getting extra value in exchange for money Wait, if you're not getting extra value from the product every extra month you use it, then stop paying the subscription! That's the beauty of it!

I mean, why not pay a subscription for a knife? You're getting "extra value" from it every time you use it!

Just, no. By "extra" value I mean "extra extra" value - in case of software, new features & updates (which, of course, could also bring no extra value to you, but they do at least in theory).

Btw, I'm not objecting to choice. You want to avoid paying up-front cost for your knives, buy subscription instead? Be my guest! But if the company is forcing you to do this, then it's obviously a good (profitable) deal for them, and a bad deal (scam) for you.

Re: BMW to shame out-of-warranty UK drivers with smart billboards

#209
post #100

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Exactly - BMW is the has-been German brand, that you can buy as a 10-20 year old import. It holds no cachet and is harder to maintain and less fuel efficient than other brands with similar features. Tesla is the brand that people aspire to own, that people snap their eyes towards on the street. In small towns, all of the owners of Teslas are known and prestigious individuals. Functionally though - Teslas are too big…

Teslas fit just fine into European cities, they are no larger than BMWs or a VW Passat, not to mention the humongous SUV "tanks" that seem to be so popular. Tesla isn't that popular in Europe simply because most are not insane enough to spend 80kEUR for Model S - for that price one can easily have a Porsche or some other real luxury or sports car. And Model 3 is very overpriced for what it is. 55k EUR? For a compact…

That is a very high level observation, although I do not disagree entirely. You should not forget about countries like Norway, the Netherland and Switzerland where people really have valley-like salaries. EV registration numbers are going thru the roof in Norway and the Netherlands. Also, the most basic Cayenne costs 100k EUR, at least in Switzerland.

Re: BMW to shame out-of-warranty UK drivers with smart billboards

#210

It makes sense, BMW quit being a car company in the past few years. Now they’re just clueless assholes. I’ve seen it in their IT systems, their design teams are either on crack or got outsourced to 4 year olds and their product/sales gurus are a mix of bean counters incapable of producing an original idea and a bunch of lifers running on nepotism. It’s starting to happen and will get even worse, BMW will have a tough…

> Now they’re just clueless assholes. I’ve seen it in their IT systems, their design teams are either on crack or got outsourced to 4 year olds and their product/sales gurus are a mix of bean counters incapable of producing an original idea and a bunch of lifers running on nepotism. Can confirm. BMW used to be quite innovative, at least on the scale of German automakers, with their connect services. We have a fairly…

The new front grill is atrocious. I saw their new electric model. An unispired SUV on steroids with a butt ugly grill.
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