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

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311–320 of 351 posts

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

#311
post #43

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Having a warranty is boolean, so can't be personally identifying (though it is personal private information). The license plate is unique to your car, so is personally identifying. Edit: the key term is that it's indirectly identifying: https://gdpr.eu/eu-gdpr-personal-data/

Being "called John Smith, living at 12 High Street and having an interest in titty bars" is a boolean too. I'm not sure I'd want that to leak out though, ..., aw crap.

Boolean means there are only two possible values, so the name and address mean that isn't boolean. Only the last bit is, by itself.

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

#312

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Not at all Chinese fault other than China being a huge market and companies tailoring one size fits all in order to profit more. This is a bad strategy and will likely please neither market in the end

Anyway plz don't blame the customers.

Wish you read what I said. I'm not blaming the customers, it's the companies that make unsound compromises to 'kill two birds with one stone'. Short term it works but likely to cost them in the long term

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

#313
post #132
post #38

Last 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.

The extended warranty folks are getting vehicle registration data from the DMV. Although, I wouldn't put it past a dealer to open a new revenue stream selling customer data too. (I'm still getting "Your warranty will expire soon!" calls for a 16 year old SUV...)

I got them for my 1 month old lease too. I guess it’s literally not worth it for them to target better.

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

#314

Earlier quoted context omitted.

>It makes sense, BMW quit being a car company in the past few years. BMW has always first and foremost been a logo marketing company. They exist so moderately rich people can show off how moderately rich they are by driving a car with a BMW logo on it.

I currently own a 23 yo and a 10 yo BMW. The first is a fun fun fun car to drive, and the reason I haven't sold it yet. The second is an awesome car... and cost me an ungodly amount of money to get and keep in shape. They definitely were a car enthusiast company, at some point. My next car will be Japanese.

which 23yo bmw do you own?

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

#315
post #168
post #4

I have a BMW and buying a Tesla Model 3 in a few months. I think it's just BMW for the 21st century.

I actually laughed out loud when BMW ads showed actors dancing around a car, taking their phone out of the pocket, and having to hold it up to the door handle to unlock the car as an example of how modern and tech-forward the brand is.

They truly rethought the driving experience right there.

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

#316
post #90

Earlier quoted context omitted.

2.0 engine in the new C63 AMG for gods sake This sounds bad until you realise that over the past 20 years manufacturers switched from cast iron to full aluminium blocks, which have over twice the thermal conductivity. There's no need for 4.0+ displacements anymore, because they were only there because of the low (tolerable) power density of iron block engines. Sure, turbos etc. sound like a hack and a hack they are,…

2021 Corvette Stingray (6.2l V8), 2021 Dodge Challenger (6.4l V8), 2021 Camaro SS/ZL1 (6.2l V8), 2020 Mustang 5.0, various trucks - there's still plenty of modern car with V8, often even N/A V8s. People buy cars like that because they like the V8 rumble. I have an older 3.0l N/A I6 BMW (N52), and not because I couldn't have gotten a more feature-loaded Honda for the same price.

I think it's important to point out that all those cars come from a country where gasoline is cheap and emissions rules lax. The rest of the world, for the most part, moved on.

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

#317
post #308

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Ok, but then I'm genuienly curious - which laws are being broken? Licence plates in the UK can be scanned by automated machines owned by private companies, that's been established many times before. To request the owner data from the DVLA you need their permission - but that's not necessary here, BMW doesn't need to know anything about the owner, so no such request would be made to the DVLA. Then on the other side, t…

The EU Charter of Fundamental Rights stipulates that EU citizens have the right to protection of their personal data. And the fact that you (the driver) have an expired warranty is private data. Period. https://ec.europa.eu/info/law/law-topic/data-protection/data...

Well, UK citizens are no longer EU citizens.

But surely, BMW also simply knows when they sold that specific car thanks to their own records, no?

Like, imagine you were selling cameras, you sold someone a camera and then they come in to your store 5 years later with the same device - is it ok for you to ask "hey, this device has an expired warranty, would you like to extend it?" - you know this because as a seller, you have to keep a record of every device sold. You don't even need to know the owner or any personal information about them - you just know that the camera in front of you has an expired warranty.

>> And the fact that you (the driver) have an expired warranty is private data.

Well I think that's where the problem lies. It's not the driver who has an expired warranty - it's the car that does, and there's nothing you can do, EU or not, to prevent BMW from simply knowing that a car they sold at point X only had a warranty for 3 years. They don't need to know anything about the owner at all.

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

#318

Earlier quoted context omitted.

>FWD has no meaningful benefit other than cost ... and lower weight, and no tunnel, and more boot space. If anything, it's RWD which struggles to maintain its significance and show its benefits outside of sports. Modern platforms can make the front wheels turn and spin at the same time without much fuss, with driving characteristics determined by other factors.

Weight is a wash. We're talking like a cumulative 100lb by integrating the front diff with the transmission and losing the drive shaft. Tunnel is nice but most cars still don't have a flat floor because they stick a tunnel in there for exhaust and the floor-pan is likely shared at least in part with an AWD crossover that puts a drive shaft there and it's usually important enough for floor rigidity so they don't omit…

> Don't get me wrong, FWD is great for bringing 0% no money down economy cars to the masses and creating bottom dollar van chassis for employees to abuse but even at its best it's still never going to make varsity in any context where performance actually matters

It's exaggerated. At least 90% of car drivers aren't "performance actually matters".

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

#320

Earlier quoted context omitted.

BMW went on stage at WWDC this year to talk about Digital Key for the car. Their marketing page said it works on all 2021 models. The detailed list says Series 1, 2, 3, etc.. I thought this feature is really cool. I am going to buy this car for it. I talked to 2 dealers and confirmed the feature. I looked up all the info online but could not find any more details. I bought a 2021 m240i for $50,000 USD. I could have g…

If it's any conciliation personally I think you have the nicer car mechanically. The m240i is a rwd straight 6 with the legendary zf 8hp gearbox whilst the newer m235i is an awd 4 cylinder with some inferior aisin gearbox.

Thanks! I think so too which is why I didn't put up a fuss about it. I really wanted this car a lot. Lot's of therapy sessions to get over the fact I need to use a real key though.
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