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OnStar

tRustyK5

tRustyK5

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I just bought a 2015 GMC 1500. Love the truck, but get the activation message when I start it. So today I grabbed pen and paper and pushed the blue OnStar button to activate the free 6 month trial.

Anyone actually use this system and think it's worthwhile? First thing they offer is to sell me minutes for the phone portion. Hello, I can pair my phone using bluetooth and use my unlimited minutes...why would I pay for minutes?

I have 6 years of free emergency roadside assistance through my warranty, why do I need OnStar?

I despise NAV systems. No value there...I will literally never turn on the NAV even if I'm lost in middle eastern bumblefuvk.

Am I alone?
 
only thing I can tell you these days as a tow truck / roadside provider guy .............................. AAA the only 3 letters you need to get .

a lot of the road side crap you get dirt cheep with insurance and or other super cheep discount programs = SUCK . they don't pay us on time / or fair price . so lots of times you need to wait and wait and wait for them to find someone to bite on the price before they get you someone coming .

I have repetedly heard at least in my area some times 2hr wait before they get a call back saying someone is on the way .

now with AAA its fast / easy / bam done on the phone most times 5min or less and you have a answer .

the factory new warrenty stuff is better but still not as good as AAA .

now bigger citys might be different than my area for this info .
 
tRustyK5 said:
Yeah, I have AAA too. (AMA here...but same thing)
Click to expand...

also lots of people do relize there is different levels .

here basic covered 3-4 mile tow depending on member location area .

plus covers 100 mile tow .

so if you do a lot of driving get plus . cause YOU pay for the overage per mile towed .
 
It was nice when my wife got a tank of e-15 in ohio one year. She called me and said it was running bad. She pressed the onstar button and they did an on the fly diagnosis. Turns out, an 08 trailblazer will not run correctly on e-15. Onstar showed cylinders 4 and 5 were miss firing.

Eillen kept driving and filled the car at 1/4 tank intervals and it cleared up. But what would you do on Sunday afternoon in the middle of nowhere if your car started acting funny and you were driving cross country?

My dad used the medical button when he had one of his heart attacks. Probably saved his life.

But I did not pay for it in my truck.
 
When I got the sonic I never once used it. Apparently the phone in the vehicle is supposed to get service anywhere, as in places that don't get cell service :dunno:


I miss the Xm radio though after it ran out. I need to sign back up for that.
 
Mine has the 4G LTE satellite wireless too. Sounds cool, but is of as much practical use as tits on a teddy bear.

The XM/Sirius I will be subscribing too.
 
Onstar can unlock your car too, my mom drives a 12' GMC Acadia, she was at the lake with some friends and locked the keys in the car, called onstar on her cell and they unlocked the car.
 
My wife loves it and uses it all the time to send destinations to the nav system. We have 3 years free on the Volt and 6 months on the new 2500. I don't see us paying for it after the trials run out though.

They have 4G service for the wifi options but it isn't satellite based. It goes through a local cell provider.

The cell phone minutes are satellite based. It would be useful if you travel into areas without cell service but that is it.
 
If you have AAA or AMA then its almost not needed. I still pay for it because it gives me a discount on my insurance. I also have the app on my phone so i can view all the vitals on my truck, lock/unlock it, and remote start it. The remote start through the phone is useful if you are out of key range. Plus stolen vehicle recovery is nice to have.

The navigation and phone minutes are completely useless though if you have a smartphone.
 
I have onstar in my 2014 that I pay monthly for. I almost never use it beyond remote starting my truck with my phone (which is useless as it only runs for 10 minutes twice between key starts). I keep it for the security it provides while running up and down highway 63 every week. If I crash or something in the middle of nowhere with no cell reception I know that someone will know about it and send help if I am unable to do so myself.

Their phone packages are incredibly expensive. 200 minutes is like $150 or so. They sell the first pile of minutes to you super cheap then the rate goes up once you use them up. They also expire in 90 days if you don't use all the minutes up.

I never use the nav services. I have called in once or twice to get a CEL checked out when my truck was in limp mode but they cannot clear codes for you.
 
I keep the most basic coverage on my 05'. They can unlock my doors, I lock my keys in the truck about twice a year:doah:

They also send me emails to let me know the EGR system on my truck needs attention for about the last 150,000 miles. It's unplugged and blocked but the computer keeps a soft code stored.

I have a friend in Denver that had his 03' stolen from his driveway, he called Onstar while his wife called 911. Onstar had the truck located and stopped before the cops were done asking questions on the phone.

It's a nice idea, I keep it for $20.00/Mo. but I also have tin foil hats moments about big brother knowing where I am at all times.
 
I have it in my Wife's Tahoe, it costs $31 a month but it has unlocked the doors for her twice when I was out of town and she called in a panic, and the navigation saved me some long detours when I got turned around in New Mexico recently. I have AAA but I look at this as just another "piece of mind thing", they have always been most helpful and expedient when I needed them.
 
kennyw said:
Don't worry, they keep logging your data even when you don't pay them.
Click to expand...

I know:confused:

At least I have a record of every oil change and can make pretty graphs of miles driven each year.

Not my first choice to have, but I figure just the unlocked doors deal is worth $50+ each time I do it so the "security" is worth it. :dunno:
 
The navigation system doesn't stop working when OnStar expires though. It only means you have to enter the address yourself.
 
i had it in my 2011 sierra. since i never owned a cell phone,i decided to pay after my free time was over. after one year they want to renew but the price was higher,so i told the guy i didn,t really needed it . i had maybe used 1/4 of the accumulated phone minutes. so he starts to deal with me and i end up with a pretty good discount! so i took it for another year. after that i drop it all together really no need for it. i use on star maybe twice. and the first time was just to see what they had to offer.the moral of my story is you can deal them down ,make them an offer it worked for me!!!
 
Somehow I've survived 33 years of driving without it. I don't see any need or wonderful benefit, so I'll use the free trial and let it expire.
 
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