Vauxhall sale leaves onstar facilities redundant

johntollerton

Hi guys,

So I have a fairly new (just under a year) Vauxhall Astra. The car I have comes with onstar built in. The general benefits of onstar include; Automatic Crash Response, Ability to turn car into a WiFi hotspot, Smart Phone function (app which can be used for a number of things including locking the car), stolen vehicle assistance, vehicle diagnostics, ability to call an advisor and ask just about anything plus more. When I bought the car, I had the option of having a cheaper trim which did not include this however I went ahead and spent the extra money for the trim that has this, amongst other things as I thought it sounded useful. Recently I received an email from Vauxhall stating that onstar services, including ability to have WiFi hotspots will end from 31st December 2020. Reason is due to sale of Vauxhall but not the sale of onstar. I personally feel cheated here. There was a fairly large difference in price to have the technology added to the car. I have two problems, 1, should I want to use what I paid for after that date I can’t. The technology, buttons, stickers will all be useless. 2, surely this will impact and reduce the resale value of the car. I feel that customers should be due a refund for the difference in trim cost. I wondered what people’s thoughts were or if anyone else in the same boat thought the same? Thanks guys.

facade

Is there no chance that Peugeot will take it on (for a massive subscription)?
Otherwise December 2020 is a long way away, and I'd think a majority of owners would have changed car before then as their PCP ends.

AdrianC

OnStar is a GM-owned service, so PSA most probably have no choice about running it or not, as the closure will simply be down to GM refusing to allow continued access.

The PSA purchase of Opel was announced in March 2017, so was known (albeit not conclusive) at the time you bought your car. It was big news at the time - http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/business-39161173

Let's quantify your actual losses here... You think you should have a refund of the cost between trim levels, but was OnStar the ONLY difference between the trim levels? You admit it is not, so you are still getting the benefit of that higher spec. It is an option on trim levels that didn't include it - £415 currently.

It's not as if it was free to use, anyway - 12mo included in a new car purchase, £89.50/yr thereafter, taking the effective new cost of the service to £325 - but by the time of closure, you will have had over 3.5yrs of use from the service. What was the pre-closure-announcement difference in used value between equivalent cars with and without the option? You might have an argument that that is the extent of your loss, but no more.

Ultimately, the terms and conditions will undoubtedly state that it is a subscription service, not a physical product, and that it can be closed at any time with sufficient notice - they are giving over 2.5yrs notice.

Lucky_Duck_2

I suspect there are going to be more cases of owners feeling aggrieved when subscription services such as this become unavailable when the car is relatively young. The manufacturers cover themselves in the terms and conditions but people aren't used to having functionality of their case being taken away fromthem

On American forums there is talk of legal action if VAG don't renew their license for google earth images at the end of 2020!

johntollerton

Hey guys,

Thanks for the replies. It!!!8217;s helpful to hear other people!!!8217;s thoughts. It!!!8217;s true that the trim does have other things too that I am benefiting from. The issue is that had OnStar had not been advertised I probably wouldn!!!8217;t have been swayed towards paying the extra for this trim. The sales people made quite a thing about it. Also, and probably the biggest concern is resale value after the service becomes redundant to the car. Almost certainly this will be lower than it would have been if the service was still useable. I can!!!8217;t sell or change car before then as the car is on HP not PCP over a five year plan.

AdrianC

johntollerton wrote: »

Also, and probably the biggest concern is resale value after the service becomes redundant to the car. Almost certainly this will be lower than it would have been if the service was still useable.

I very much doubt it makes a penny of difference.

It shouldn't be hard to sort values of cars of the trim levels where it's an option, with and without it installed - or even just look in the used price guide. They'll tell you if it adds anything to used value.


Ultimately, you'l have had 3.5yrs of use out of a £325 component, and are complaining it will be unavailable for 1.5yrs of your ownership. Except it didn't cost you £325 - it cost you much less when you break down the item cost of the packaged trim level increase. It may have helped make the decision for you, but you'll have had the use for 70% of your ownership.

Mercdriver

Lucky_Duck wrote: »

On American forums there is talk of legal action if VAG don't renew their license for google earth images at the end of 2020!

Yeah, but some Americans will sue for a paper cut.