Whose car is it anyway?
There were a number of references in the 8 July issue to ‘subscription services’ and ‘on-demand’ upgrades, which seem to be a version of the business model that has been used by software vendors for many years.
For those who lease or finance a car, I can see that paying an extra few quid per month to keep the heated seats working may not be seen as untoward. However, some of us still buy our cars, and then the situation is rather different. I can’t be the only one who will object to shelling out, say, £50,000 only to be told there is a monthly fee to pay if I want the car to actually work. Unless, of course,
the manufacturer will credit me a fee every month if I turn off all the stuff I don’t want or need, such as lanedeparture warnings, flashing brake lights and ‘enhanced’ engine noise.
Maybe it’s just another opportunity for the ever resourceful aftermarket. A one-off fee for activating all the extras in perpetuity sounds good to me, but less flippantly and on a wider note, whose car is it anyway? I’ve paid for it, so why should I allow the vendor any access to it in any way at all? My suspicion is that I won’t get any choice in the matter… Bill Gysin
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