Toyota owners have to pay $8/month to keep using their key fob for remote start

Re:Toyota owners have to pay $8/month to keep using their ke... by charcircuit on Monday December 13, 2021 @08:03PM (#29546877)

There are two main strategies in pricing something. Bottom up pricing is where you take the price to create / run the product / service and then add a profit margin. Top down pricing is where you find a price based off the value it provides independent of what it costs to actually make.

Right now you are looking at it from a bottom up pricing perspective when Toyota priced it using a top down strategy. The price isn't from being able to do those two queries, but from the value of being able to remote start your car or whatever.

[ Parent | on HN ]

Re:Toyota owners have to pay $8/month to keep using their ke... by ravel-bar-foo on Monday December 13, 2021 @08:45PM (#29547173)

Here the owners have had the car for three years. They are locked into this market, have no negotiating power, and cannot leave the contract (without a loss) because the price of the key fob subscription is going to be subtracted from the resale value of their car.

Legally, Toyota cars are now like timeshares: you "own" it, but usage fees may increase arbitrairly over time. It's probably legal, but it's a shitty move to charge the consumer the price the market will bear when the consumer has no negotiating power.

I wonder if it is even possible to add aftermarket remote start features.

[ Parent | on HN ]