Also nothing new with "paying" to have a dealer install an "option" or feature on motorcycles now. Motorcycle manufactures are charging, on some lower than top of the line models, where some features are baked into the original selling (MSRP) price for things like self canceling turn signals, addition of heated grips and heated seats, remapping for aftermarket or manufacture accessory (legal) exhaust system. Would you really expect to get your car tuned or re-jetted by a dealer or even a performance shop for free? As for the "Right to Repair" that's an issue that I'm behind as far as protecting the mechanics and dealers that pay to be a franchised dealer and have to pay their bills and their mechanics and their manufacture's spent lots and lots of time to develope certain aspects of their product so why should they give it away free? Harley Davidson has had to deal with this for decades with local non-Harley repair shops hanging a Harley-Davidson sign out front of some old gas station bike shop. Then when they screw up someone's bike on a repair or tune up they don't get the bad reputation for the botched repair and $#!t running Harley Davidson does. You can still do 99.9% of the repairs and adjustments without the factory data or special electronic equipment and JD, Harley, Honda, Chrysler, etc., are NOT going to hand over data and the programs they spent millions of dollars to develop for free so their dealers could make an income and protect their franchised business. Funny how my best friend had to pay Snap-On a fee of around $600 to update his Snap-On OBD scan tool.......I said you could go to Autozone and pick up a scan tool for less than a hundred bucks...........he looked at me sideways and I said "just joking" lol. No one is stopping anyone from working on anything if they want to work on something......the worst that happens is not warrantable, no free repair parts and no diagnostic tools or data for free to make the repair quick, easy, cheap and correct. The local franchised dealer gets to pay their overhead and pay their employees and the employees get to feed their familes and pay their mortgage and pay their go to work vehicle bills too. If you were a John Deere dealer you would hope that John Deere would go to bat for you to protect your franchised business that you have, in some case millions of dollars invested and in most cases for decades. Want to work on your combine you're more than welcome to do so..........just don't head over to the JD dealer and ask them to borrow their diagnostic equipment for a day or two........better to go to NAPA or Tractor Supply Company and see if they have a $100 JD combine scan tool you can borrow for free

Mike what are some of these options that are being deactivated ?

The most prominent examples are the auto pilot/self-driving features.

They do not, no. I just gave that as one example.

https://www.drive.com.au/news/tesla...d-cars-after-owners-sell-them-privately/

The most prominent examples are the auto pilot/self-driving features.

Here to stay. In fact, Tesla (and I think BMW?) has previously deactivated options that you purchased if you end up selling the car. Not pay-as-you-go items, either. You bought the car, paid for the option like you would on any other car, but you sell the car, and they deactivate it.

I am not a pay per month advocate on anything. Greed is all it is.

BUT

How can a car company provide a cell phone based service each month without incurring a monthly cost?

Maybe I just do not understand how the cell based remote start systems work, but it seems to me the phone and the car would need a cellular service to make that long distance connection?

GREED is ALL it is.
one can only hope "what goes around comes around", and "karma is a b$tch"

A lot of OEMs do that now, at least with some of their models. For example, you have to be OE Audi certified to get any structural parts on the TT, A8, R8. Tesla only sells structural parts to OE certified shops. My friend owns an OE Tesla shop, and whoo boy, are those things built like trash...but I digress.

i agree with the right to repair stuff. but there should also be some limits to this.
my case in point.
i work in a VW dealer body shop. VW restricts selling structural body parts to only qualified repair shops with the proper equipment to install them properly. i know GM does this also. i hear a steady stream of stories from the guys in the parts departments about joe blow hack autobody car rebuilder who try to buy them and are denied. they are screaming about how they are violating the right to repair laws.
i myself agree 100% with VW on this. they should be allowed to restrict who buys these parts. if you are not qualified and don't have the proper equipment to install them. chances are they won't be installed properly and in extreme views can de value the car brand.

And long distance remote start is not the only feature you get with that option in the vehicle. Even now keyfob short distance is not free even if some think that it is, it's baked into the MSRP of the vehicle when originally purchased the vehicle just like power locks, power windows, etc., A SiriusXM subscription my seem like it's free for the first year when you buy a new vehicle but it's also baked into the price of the vehicle/model. When that "free" period ends get out the credit card and pay if you still want it.... and it's way more than $80 a year.