Got a Pretty Good Onstar Discount Today

17171 Views 26 Replies 13 Participants Last post by Lgndryhr, Jun 8, 2011

Richard

Discussion Starter · Apr 10, 2011 (Edited)

My 2010 Malibu just turned one year old, so my one year of free Onstar ended. I called Onstar and they wanted $300 + tax for the Directions and Connections plan. They were just about to bill my credit card and I told the representative "I heard that Onstar Offers discounts". I found that out from this forum. Sure enough, she checked into it and I got 1 year of Directions and Connections for $240 + Tax. Just a simple question and I ended up saving about $70 with tax.

It bothered me a little bit that I had to ask for the discount. Why didn't they offer it to me in the first place?

In my opinion, if you have Navigation, it's worth it to spend the extra money for Directions and Connections. That's the feature I use most with Onstar. All the other features are great, but you really don't use them much unless there's an emergency situation. I even use the Directions and Connections to get phone numbers and addresses. It's a lot cheaper than calling 411. And you can even get phone #'s and addresses from your home phone.

So if you're renewing, ask for the discount. You will probably get it.

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KenM10759

· #21 · Jun 3, 2011 (Edited)

MalibuKen said:
I think you have some mis-conceptions about how the Onstar routing works......or doesn't work. I don't know about previous year models but the 2011 does use "true" GPS tracking. It's "accuracy" is similar to my stand alone GPS.

At an extra $100 per year......or even the discounted $50......I don't think it's a very good value, unless maybe you have lots of $$$ and your main concern is ease of use but it is not the cheesy service that you make it out to be.

Tower triangulation can be off as much as 1/4 mile in many cases and would be pretty much useless for routing purposes.......as it is for 911 locations.

Whatever.

I have a 2009 and a 2011, and no intention of pressing that blue button on either one. I don't care how accurate the system may be, the graphics SUCK.

I recently paid the $89 to Garmin for each of my Garmin GPS units (Zumo 550 and Nuvo 1450T) for lifetime maps. That's all I'll ever need or want. I want no subscriptions at those OnStar prices, thank you.

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budman65

· #22 · Jun 3, 2011

I never had any problems with the accuracy of Onstar. I just don't think that it's worth anywhere near what they charge for driving directions and yes the graphics are very simplistic. Maybe they would have better luck charging per use instead of a flat rate? I only need driving directions a couple of times a year so a monthly rate just doesn't make sense to me!

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MalibuKen

· #23 · Jun 3, 2011

KenM10759 said:
Whatever.

I have a 2009 and a 2011, and no intention of pressing that blue button on either one.

That's fine. That is your choice......and I am likely not renew my "turn by turn" when it expires either....BUT......

Blatantly misrepresenting the systems operation and capabilities is quite another matter. It is irresponsible and your "whatever" response is rude.

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BillD64

· #24 · Jun 3, 2011

I agree the graphics suck but they suck on even the best GPS unit you can buy no matter who makes it. The directions on the best GPS unit suck as well. The unit may know where you are located to within inches but it doesn't matter since the location of the place you have entered may not be known within miles. All of that data is based on information gathered from local sources that don't have a huge interest in accuracy. Just had a murder in our region over that very issue. Some idiots were traveling to a location for some criminal enterprise and entered the location in their GPS. The GPS took them to the correct address in the wrong county. They didn't know understand they weren't at the correct place and had an argument and one of them ended up being shot. They were over 100 miles from where they planned to be.

The best GPS is still a human brain and a map.

I get the Safe and Sound plan for one reason. Accident notification. The On Star phone can reach out to cell towers much further than a hand held cell phone so there are fewer No Service areas so it can get in touch when it needs to and it automatically turns on so you don't have to crawl around inside your crumpled car looking for your blue tooth ear piece or cell phone that got blown or knocked into the back seat.

Bill

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Lgndryhr

· #25 · Jun 4, 2011

Bill's reason for having the safe and sound plan is the same as mine. I have onstar for that reason alone. I do not use any of the other features but once in a while such as my cell phone not working or needing to know why traffic is backed up via Traffic reports from DOT.

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MalibuKen

· #26 · Jun 4, 2011

Lgndryhr said:
or needing to know why traffic is backed up via Traffic reports from DOT.

That reminded me of a question I had.............

Are the weather and traffic reports a part of the "basic" safe-and-sound package OR only with the extra traffic routing package ?

I don't remember my Onstar book mentioning either of those services at all.

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Lgndryhr

· #27 · Jun 8, 2011

MalibuKen said:
That reminded me of a question I had.............

Are the weather and traffic reports a part of the "basic" safe-and-sound package OR only with the extra traffic routing package ?

I don't remember my Onstar book mentioning either of those services at all.

The reports are offered with any of the packages OnStar offers, but to use them you have to have OnStar handsfree minutes. On their website you can adjust how big of radius you want of traffic reports, which order to the reports in, and if you want to include stocks too.

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