[RickP]

I will have owned my Kia Niro EV for one year in February and just received a notice that in order to keep my remote start, remote lock etc. I have to pay a monthly fee. When I purchased the car they did not tell me that some of the selling features would only be available for a year unless I wanted to pay more per month! The car costs over $40K and now a year later they want more money? This is ridiculous!

 

[atc98092]

UVO is similar to OnStar in GM cars. Of course there's a cost. There's a cellular radio in the car that has to have an account to maintain the data connection with the Kia servers. I don't think even Tesla continues the connection for free forever.

I'm surprised your "free trial" was only one year. Mine is three years, which just happens to be the length of my lease. It sounds like your sales person didn't describe the features of the car to you adequately at the time of purchase. Considering the actual knowledge level of some car sales staff, this isn't too surprising. I just checked the Kia web site, and it did take a little digging to find out how long the free trial lasts, and it does say one year. But they have made pretty clear it was a subscription service.

 

[RickP]

I could agree with the "on star" analogy for emergency siuations etc but the remote start should not be a "pay for service" if it is sold as a feature of the vehicle. Its like saying the intermittent wipers or auto on lights will only work for one year unless you pay an extra monthly fee. If you are paying that much for a car that should be included,add it to the initial cost but don't spring it on someone a year after you have the car. Just saying!

 

[perk1329]

i did not activate uvo because i was not interested in paying a subscription fee when the free trial expired and didn’t even take the trial because by doing so you are agreeing to kia distributing (selling?) whatever data they get. worrying about who has data on you is probably a waste of energy in today’s world but i wasn’t going to make it easier for them. i probably would have tried it if kia restricted the data to kia.

 

[atc98092]

I could agree with the "on star" analogy for emergency situations etc but the remote start should not be a "pay for service" if it is sold as a feature of the vehicle. Its like saying the intermittent wipers or auto on lights will only work for one year unless you pay an extra monthly fee. If you are paying that much for a car that should be included,add it to the initial cost but don't spring it on someone a year after you have the car. Just saying!

Remote Start is not a feature of the car, it's a feature of UVO. If remote start was part of the key fob, as it is on a number of cars, that doesn't need a subscription, and I would agree that there would never be a charge. But any remote start via an app is always going to be a subscription, since it requires the cellular connection to the car that has to be maintained.

 

[RickP]

Remote Start is not a feature of the car, it's a feature of UVO. If remote start was part of the key fob, as it is on a number of cars, that doesn't need a subscription, and I would agree that there would never be a charge. But any remote start via an app is always going to be a subscription, since it requires the cellular connection to the car that has to be maintained.

My other car (VW) has the remote on the key fob as you say. I didn't realize the difference when I leased the KIA. I guess the problem I have is that the car was presented to me as having certain features, like my VW has, the remote start being just one of several that influenced me to lease the car. It would have been a more honest approach to me if the sales person had said that certain features were as you say on an "app" and therefore only available as a subscription that you pay for after a certain amount of trial/free time, in my case one year. To have that sprung on people as in my case after one year, is unfair or at least misrepresented to the purchaser.

 

[atc98092]

My other car (VW) has the remote on the key fob as you say. I didn't realize the difference when I leased the KIA. I guess the problem I have is that the car was presented to me as having certain features, like my VW has, the remote start being just one of several that influenced me to lease the car. It would have been a more honest approach to me if the sales person had said that certain features were as you say on an "app" and therefore only available as a subscription that you pay for after a certain amount of trial/free time, in my case one year. To have that sprung on people as in my case after one year, is unfair or at least misrepresented to the purchaser.

No argument there. Unfortunately another case of a sales person not fully understanding what they're selling. For cars, that's been the case for decades, especially as cars become more and more technology driven. But I see it in other areas as well. If I go into Best Buy looking for something specific, 90% of the time I know far more than the sales associate that tries to help. Not trying to knock them too hard, but there's some things that someone should know when they're selling something.

 

[yticolev]

It would have been a more honest approach to me if the sales person had said that certain features were as you say on an "app" and therefore only available as a subscription that you pay for after a certain amount of trial/free time, in my case one year.

Not sure I generally agree. It is not normal practice to issue caveats per feature when a salesperson is going over benefits of a model - nor does it appear in marketing. And as counterpoint, a well functioning app would be a benefit over a key fob feature. Key fobs are getting very close to obsolete with smartphone apps that unlock cars. From today's news:

BMW Announces Plans to Launch Ultra Wideband Version of Apple's Car Key Feature by Early Next Year

BMW today announced future plans to roll out Digital Key Plus, an enhanced version of Apple's Car Keys feature that incorporates Ultra Wideband...

www.macrumors.com

I do agree that subscriptions that change in cost after a year are seldom disclosed as much as consumers want. And there are perhaps hundreds of millions of Americans surprised after a year of cable or online services (among other things) for failure to read and understand copious fine print. It is a despicable, but normal practice.

Buyer beware! Personally, I don't sign up for any "free" one month services that require a credit card number and a positive declination to unsign up to avoid further charges. Not worth it. Likewise, I don't sign up for first year only deals, and I would put a UVO subscription in this category, and in part base my car buying decision on that.

 

[Dwind]

Something is confusing about UVO. I’ve had my 2019 PHEV for almost 2 years. About a year ago they sent me an email that ‘offered ‘ UVO, different levels, for a price. I said no and kept the free version that became Kia access. I can do about everything, I think, with it although only use it for checking battery status. But it has panels for start, charging settings, etc.
Am I missing something?

 

[atc98092]

Something is confusing about UVO. I’ve had my 2019 PHEV for almost 2 years. About a year ago they sent me an email that ‘offered ‘ UVO, different levels, for a price. I said no and kept the free version that became Kia access. I can do about everything, I think, with it although only use it for checking battery status. But it has panels for start, charging settings, etc.
Am I missing something?

I don't believe the free level allows remote door locks or environmental control. Here's a link to the page that describes all levels. Note that the free level is only for five years.

About UVO Link

owners.kia.com