Although automakers have been trying to exploit the monthly subscriptions model, customer willingness to start paying monthly fees for features that have historically been included in the purchase price is low, a new Cox Automotive survey shows.
Three-quarters of consumers surveyed by Cox Automotive said they would not be willing to pay an annual or monthly subscription fee for most items on their next vehicle. They said, instead, that they expect the majority of features to be included in the sales price.
That indicates that automakers have a job to do to convince consumers to subscribe to services. A whopping 92 percent of those surveyed said that heated and ventilated seats should be part of the upfront price. Similarly, 89 percent of those surveyed said that remote start should be included in the purchase price as well.
Read Also: GM To Add Around 50 “Value-Added” Services To Vehicles By 2026 In Subscription Push
Prospective buyers also expect safety features to be included in the purchase price, rather than paid for on an ongoing basis. Of the 217 consumers who said they would be buying a new vehicle in the next two years, 89 percent believed that lane keep assist should not be a subscription service and 87 percent said that automatic emergency braking shouldn’t either.
However, among the 25 percent of participants in Cox Automotive’s survey who said they would be willing to pay a monthly fee for service, the functions they were the most willing to pay for were safety features. In fact, they said they would be willing to pay $30-$35 per month for things like lane-keep assist and automatic emergency braking. Those customers also said they would be willing to pay up $25 per month for added performance and up to $31 a month for creature comforts like Wi-Fi. That last category was the one that consumers who generally disfavored monthly payments objected to the least.
What do you think? Are you for or against recurring payments for vehicle features? What features would you most consider paying for? And which ones would you object to paying for the most?
