In-car subscription services are a massive scam, and I’m tired of it

Do you ever feel like there are one too many hands reaching into your wallet?

What about feeling like it’s harder than ever before to get ahead? There’s a myriad of reasons for that latter point in 2025, but a big one is subscriptions. Everything comes with a subscription today, from the music we listen to, the books we read, the shows we watch, and now, even the cars we drive. Many customers shot down early innovators with the idea of charging subscriptions for common car features, but that didn’t stop every brand, and now, manufacturers are getting even more creative when it comes to devising new ways to charge your card.

Usually, I stick to gadgets and gizmos to help drivers go about their days or road trips, but can’t stand how much subscription fatigue wears me out, and we don’t need our cars piling on to the problem. Therefore, I’ve set out to create one place where the worst of the worst car-subscription services can be found. It ain’t much, but it’s honest work.

Tesla is the worst culprit

Charging for everything you should already get with a car

For those who have never sat in a Tesla, they’re not bad places to be. I quite like the minimalist, clean styling, and have never had a poor trip in one, per se. However, I do not own one, and I doubt that I ever will for a multitude of reasons. Chiefly among those reasons is that to access most of the features on the car, you have to pay an extra $100 a year or be charged $10 a month, which is just enough to piss me off.

The cheapest Tesla, the Model 3, starts at as near as it makes no difference $45,000 for out-the-door prices, with a $7,500 tax credit until September. Tax credit or not, that’s no small amount of change, and arguably the biggest selling point of a Tesla, outside the EV part, is its robust infotainment system, which you cannot fully access without paying a subscription.

“Oh, can’t you just opt to not have the subscription?”

You most certainly can, but allow me to list off just some of the features that require the premium connectivity subscription for you. Keep in mind, this is nowhere near the whole list.

• Satellite-view maps
• Speed cameras
• Live traffic maps
• Mobile app dashcam viewer
• Music and video streaming

Those all seem pretty important, and big selling points for any Tesla. Now, allow me to list out every single option you get with the standard plan.

• Navigation With Real-Time Traffic Along the Route

That’s it. That’s the only one. Absurd.

That’s before we even talk about self-driving

You best believe that there’s more

If you thought I was done ragging on Tesla for the wild amount of subscriptions being charged by a car company, think again, because it reaches a completely new level when it comes to the cost of self-driving subscriptions. However, this isn’t a Tesla-only problem, though. Tesla, Ford, General Motors, and Mercedes all charge subscriptions for their autonomous driving software, with Mercedes being the most expensive at around $2,500 per year. However, manufacturers aren’t always giving the whole truth when it comes to their self-driving levels, so take each of these with a grain of salt.

The kicker here is that Tesla’s self-driving mode, which has seen some debate in its time, is just a Level Two system, which the company first attempted to charge $200 a month for. The price now sits at $99 a month, while Ford charges under $50 for Blue Cruise, and General Motors charges anywhere from $20-$40 per month, depending on the vehicle, but only after the first three years of ownership. So, if you’re a Tesla owner, just know that the same tech can be had in other cars for much, much less, and you might not even end up like poor Wally from Alabama, whose FSD-equipped Tesla steered him straight into a ditch.

BMW tried to start the fire

But it died out thanks to some smart consumers

Back in 2020, when everyone lost their minds a bit, myself included, BMW really went off the deep end when they decided to start charging customers to use things like heated seats and advanced safety features in their cars. Consumers rose up against the changes, and just a few model years later, BMW canned the idea in favor of the traditional option checklist yet again. The thing about cars is that there always has to be a back and forth between customers and consumers. When customers like things, they tend to buy them, the manufacturers make more of them, and then the manufacturers make more money. Everyone wins.

However, what we’re seeing with subscription fatigue in modern cars is different. Most customers do not like them, and the vast majority are not buying them, yet companies like Tesla are still rolling them out at exorbitant prices, so they must be making money off them somewhere. Whether it’s the age of materialism that we live in or the completely blind eye being turned towards actual drivers in 2025, I’m not sure, but if it’s ever going to stop, it will take consumers deciding, as a group again, that this isn’t something they’re going to spend their hard-earned money on. That looks to be fast approaching, but it’s hard to tell just how fast.

Only one subscription out there makes remote sense

Porsche might have a decent idea

Realistically, there are three legal ways to have a car in your possession. You can buy one, lease one, or rent one. I guess you could build one, but who has that kind of time? That last one, though, is where Porsche’s Drive subscription might come in handy if, say, your work allows for a certain amount to be spent on a car lease/rental per month, or you simply have the cash and want access to a stable of cool, new cars.

Porsche Drive starts at around $1,700 per month for one car under a one-month or three-month subscription agreement.

After that time is up, you can either swap out the Porsche you’ve been driving for another model or keep going with the one you have. Currently, Porsche Drive is only available in select cities across the U.S. and Canada, but if you live in one of those larger cities and have the income, it actually sounds quite nice. Who wouldn’t want to be able to swap their 911 for something like a Macan for the family vacation at a moment’s notice?

In my view, this is the only car subscription that makes remote sense, and it’s really only reserved for those of us who can stand making that kind of payment, which does not include me and the majority of the world. Every car company is trying to create a vehicle for every person now, and find one model that can go through a sales boom.

However, I’m sorry to tell you, that boom is not coming anytime soon as long as there are extra subscriptions and fees attached to every car on the market.