[Shivetya]

First things first, what use have any of you made of Onstar? Do you end up talking to a person each time? Other than, oh no I have a flat... Does anyone buy data plans for their car?

So about that carpet/etc in the trunk. What evil is this? Cargo Organizer Blocks are what I have used in my previous cars and I brought them along to my Volt.

OH
MY
GOD

I swear they felt as if they had welded themselves to the carpet. I actually had to fight them to get them off. So I guess Velcro type fasteners and that carpet material are not a good combo. On the good side ain't anything held between those blocks going to move unless I have a rollover.

 

[ianjay]

Funny you should mention rollovers. If you are in a bad accident and have knocked yourself unconscious, an active onStar account will probably save your life. Having just driven back from Florida, I can safely say that onStar only needs to be needed once to be worth it.

 

[Geohec]

If your car throws an alert at you, like "shift to park" then the Onstar personnel can have a diagnostic and provide you with some info (code # and generic description of issue). They're some forum members that have use this service to determine if they needed to go to dealer ASAP or whether the car was safe to drive and could wait a day or two before be taken to dealer.

Hasn't t happened to me but if i was on my drive to work and i got an alert/message on the DIC, I'd call Onstar to see how serious the issue was.

 

[RFE]

I have used OnStar for Codes and with the OnStar RemoteLink App.

 

[Shivetya]

so basically once outside of three months you are on your own to call the dealer when you car pukes. good one GM.

think I will just replace that button with a garage door opener

 

[Insight Refugee]

When my free OnStar trial was up, I paid for the protection plan; mainly for the crash response.

I have an AT&T account for my iPad and it was easy to add the Volt as an additional device.

 

[Off Oil]

I've been in a bad accident, so yes the crash response is well worth it when a fast response determines whether you live or die. I also like the notifications when the alarm goes off or charging is interrupted. I also use heavily the remote start and status, monthly reports for electric usage, and WIFI for weak areas. The vehicle recovery also reduces my auto insurance.

This said to each his/her own. You can decide whether it's worth it for you to keep it or not. Personally I'm happy the options are there.

 

[Qinsp]

I love OnStar and won't buy a vehicle without similar capabilities.

1) I do not play with cellphones while driving. OnStar has a built in hands-free phone. No junk calls. Nobody has EVER asked me over the OnStar Phone, 'are you busy', or 'what are you doing'. If you have my car number, you know I'm driving, so it better be important, and brief.
2) I like talking to a human to get directions. Especially when I'm not sure what city or the spelling of the destination.
3) I can track my kids in their OnStar cars.
4) I can check status on tire pressure, gas level, charge, etc, of our OnStar vehicles. Even when one of them is 180 miles away. She has 41-42psi in her tires, she apparently refuses to charge the car, she has 1/2 a tank, 22,103 miles on the car, oil life is 85%, and it's at her dorm.
5) CEL codes to see if it's important, and allows you to join Voltstats.net.

6) And the function nobody wants to use. Emergency help with geolocation, even if you are unconscious.

 

[Bacardi]

If your car throws an alert at you, like "shift to park" then the Onstar personnel can have a diagnostic and provide you with some info (code # and generic description of issue). They're some forum members that have use this service to determine if they needed to go to dealer ASAP or whether the car was safe to drive and could wait a day or two before be taken to dealer.

Hasn't t happened to me but if i was on my drive to work and i got an alert/message on the DIC, I'd call Onstar to see how serious the issue was.

Actually this happened to me and I've seen two others report the same...When "shift to park" was displayed, OnStar could not communicate with the car...They did offer to call a tow truck for me, yet the process wasn't any simpler than calling roadside assistance...

 

[Barry]

I have the free basic connection plan. Higher level plans offer features that I consider mostly redundant with my cell phone. I am not the kind of person that would prefer to talk to an operator for directions, reservations or a tow. I can and would generally prefer to do that myself with a nav app or Siri or whatever.

On the other hand, I can't deny that the automated crash response is a unique and desirable service. It is not enough to tip the scale for me, though. Maybe I am too optimistic.

 

[DrMiguelitoLoveless]

so basically once outside of three months you are on your own to call the dealer when you car pukes. good one GM.

think I will just replace that button with a garage door opener

Some services like remote telematics are included free. The rest is up to you whether it is worth the monthly fee. Kind of like insurance. If you need it and don't have it, things can get pretty bad. If you have it and don't need it, well you are out the premium.

 

[Shivetya]

so i need to go the site to see what is free. I cannot imagine I would lose the ability to check my car stats just because I am not turning over money each month. I like to see my charge/tpm/etc and remote start it but as for directions and such I never have a use for that (to anal, I plan out my trips)

so do they bargain on rates like satellite radio does?

 

[Off Oil]

The functionality isn't "free" forever. You would need to read over your documents to see when different things expire. Connecting to the car with your mobile device or to pull stats means the car has to be connected to a mobile network, which involves an on-going cost. The base On-Star package would cover what you're looking for. I prepay for the year verses monthly which also reduces the cost.

 

[madmike]

I like the vehicle location function (stalk your kids/wife) and that you can get directions downloaded to the car...but not enough to pay for them (I let my onstar expire after my free period).

 

[quirkySquirt]

I've commuted for decades in very busy traffic. Perhaps I'm optimistic too and hope someone else will call help for me. When I see an accident, the least I do is stop and call 911. I don't get out, just stop and call 911. Everytime, the 911 operator just ask me to stay present and parked on the shoulder until police arrive if I'm already stopped. Sometimes I can't stop safely so I just note the mile marker or nearest exit when I call 911. Before I had Android Auto, I had both a physical voice command button hooked to my 3.5mm headset jack on my phone and "Ok Google" turned on so I can make calls hand free.

So OnStar for me, is too expensive for my needs. However, if I were commuting in rural areas (regardless of cell phone coverage), you betcha I'd get it. It's just another form of insurance like my full-size spare.

 

[NickHark]

I have maps, data, Sirius-XM traffic. I use Bluetooth to connect my phones. The calls made hands-free on my phone are accessed by the hands-free button on the steering wheel. The OnStar calls are made from the OnStar button on the roof. I have the minimum minutes each month to provide my wife with a little more security.

The data, over wi-fi enables me to get to the internet from almost anywhere; the shark's fin is there for a reason. Once on the internet I can securely access my music library on my home media server, and other streaming audio services.

 

[Arcanox]

First things first, what use have any of you made of Onstar? Do you end up talking to a person each time? Other than, oh no I have a flat... Does anyone buy data plans for their car?

So about that carpet/etc in the trunk. What evil is this? Cargo Organizer Blocks are what I have used in my previous cars and I brought them along to my Volt.

OH
MY
GOD

I swear they felt as if they had welded themselves to the carpet. I actually had to fight them to get them off. So I guess Velcro type fasteners and that carpet material are not a good combo. On the good side ain't anything held between those blocks going to move unless I have a rollover.

I bought jumper cables (hopefully I'll only ever have to use them to help another unfortunate soul start their car) and put some relatively-high-strength-adhesive velcro circles on the box so it doesn't slide around when I'm driving, but when the dealer removed the box during a service visit, the velcro stickers stuck to the carpet and I almost couldn't get them off...I think I may need to use very very tiny pieces of velcro because you're right, it sticks to that carpet like it was welded there.

 

[turboguy327]

I love OnStar and won't buy a vehicle without similar capabilities.

1) I do not play with cellphones while driving. OnStar has a built in hands-free phone. No junk calls. Nobody has EVER asked me over the OnStar Phone, 'are you busy', or 'what are you doing'. If you have my car number, you know I'm driving, so it better be important, and brief.
2) I like talking to a human to get directions. Especially when I'm not sure what city or the spelling of the destination.
3) I can track my kids in their OnStar cars.
4) I can check status on tire pressure, gas level, charge, etc, of our OnStar vehicles. Even when one of them is 180 miles away. She has 41-42psi in her tires, she apparently refuses to charge the car, she has 1/2 a tank, 22,103 miles on the car, oil life is 85%, and it's at her dorm.
5) CEL codes to see if it's important, and allows you to join Voltstats.net.

6) And the function nobody wants to use. Emergency help with geolocation, even if you are unconscious.

You do realize there are many other ways to do all of these but 6? The volt has Bluetooth so 1 is void. Google/apple maps is very helpful for 2. You can track their cell phones very easily and that's more helpful than the car although if I was 18+ I'd have my own phone and if my father felt the need to track me I'd stop speaking to him. The tire pressures are known to be inaccurate at best. Do you need to remind them to fuel up or something?

 

[quirkySquirt]

If you need to reduce the velcro strength, just get some scraps pieces of cloth that stick to velcro hooks and cover up the existing velcro on your cargo organizers.

 

[Dutch]

From the start I've had a problem with the business plan of OnStar. Some things are free for various periods, but "crash alerts" you have to pay a fairly substantial amount for? No, crash alerts should be some dirt cheap $5/month fee and then start billing higher amounts for the other not-really-safety-related stuff.