OnStar - buy or ditch?

[Drumminxx]

Ditched it. I already have navigation and the key fob stuff is free so what's left? An accident where no one is around to help....you have a better chance of being struck by lightening...

[Chevy_cowboy]

Originally Posted by NYCamOwner

I have yet to pay the full price for Onstar in any of my vehicles. Every time it comes up for renewal, I call them up and negotiate a price.. That is all you have to do...

yep, same here, especially since we have 3 cars on the account. After the negotiated rate + discount from the insurance company, we're paying very little for it.

Originally Posted by Drumminxx

Ditched it. I already have navigation and the key fob stuff is free so what's left? An accident where no one is around to help....you have a better chance of being struck by lightening...

I guess that depends mostly on where you live/drive. Happens pretty often around here, a lot of quiet country roads where you'd wait 6 or 8 hours before another car happened by. Plenty of places to end up well off the road where traffic could not see you also.

[Blk-Ice]

I like it and have it even though my Camaro is not my daily driver.....i have a habbit of leaving my keys on the ledge in the trunk and they have saved me many times....lol! I also like the direction feature as a backup to my personal Nav.

[Drumminxx]

Originally Posted by Chevy_cowboy

I guess that depends mostly on where you live/drive. Happens pretty often around here, a lot of quiet country roads where you'd wait 6 or 8 hours before another car happened by. Plenty of places to end up well off the road where traffic could not see you also.

That's true. I am thinking in my area, even out in the country someone is bound to come along in 10 minutes or so. Now whether they stop is a different story but I did put my old caprice in the ditch and a farmer came along and pulled me out with his tractor

[garfin]

I cancelled the OnStar accounts on both our Cadillacs last year after I was outright lied to by a customer service agent.
I signed up for a promotion that gave me Directions & Connections for the same price as the Safe & Sound package on my 2010 CTS-V. I negotiated the same deal for my wife's 2007 SRX. At the time, I had Safe & Sound on the CTS-V and OnStar upgraded me to Directions & Connections at no extra charge for a 6 month period. My wife already had Directions & Connections on her SRX and OnStar gladly dropped the price to the promotional price (for 6 months) for her SRX when I asked if they would do that. At the end of the 6 month promotional price, I was able negotiate a further 6 month deal on both cars, again at the promotional price. After the 2nd 6 month term I noticed that OnStar had bumped the price to the standard rate on the SRX (the V's 2nd 6 month term wasn't up yet). I called Onstar and they confirmed the history on the accounts, but declined to offer a continuation of the promotional pricing on Directions & Connections. I must say I was somewhat surprised as OnStar had always cooperated in the past. I wasn't happy... so I called back the next day and explained my dissatisfaction to the customer service agent "du jour" who seemed surprised that my request for promotional pricing was turned down. He explained that he'd be happy to reinstitute the promotional pricing for both vehicles - no problem at all. He also explained that OnStar has "a lot of flexibility" when dealing with customers in cases like this. We spent the next 1/2 hour talking hockey as he was a Detroit fan and expressed a lot of sympathy for me as I am a Leaf fan.
So the upshot was that about 2 weeks later the monthly charge for OnStar shows up on my credit card bill - at the regular price! I called OnStar back to question this and was told there was no record of my last conversation with the agent (he had said that he put notes on the file), and there were no promotions available to me. I still had a couple of months left on the V at the promotional price plus over 100 phone minutes. I cancelled both accounts on the spot. I really have a problem doing business with an outfit when the left hand doesn't know what the right hand is doing the customer ends up being lied to.
My actual experience with OnStar while I had it was that it sent me to the wrong location twice and actually got me lost once by sending the wrong route to my Nav system.

In my wife's SRX, I use a Garmin Nuvi 2595 that is amazing for POIs and connects to the phone via bluetooth ('07 SRX does not have bluetooth). A few months of OnStar fees will pay for the GPS. As well, I have free lifetime updates for the Garmin.

All that being said, (no app for me for 2010 model in Canada) I suppose the plusses for OnStar are:
a) can locate your car if stolen and disable it
b) can send help if you have an accident and are unconscious (and nobody is around)
c) you can make a phone call if you are in a remote area with no cell service
d) can unlock your car if you've left the key fob in the car and its battery dies (just don't leave your cell phone in the car at the same time!)

Unfortunately, it can really ruin your focus and concentration while on a road course when an operator calls to see if you are OK because they are seeing your vehicle generating unusually high G-forces!

Best regards,

Elie