Making matters even more complicated, automakers sometimes bundle certain desirable features into options packages. To help you keep track of it all, we looked at several of the most common and popular new technology features that exist in the gray area between free and fee so you can be better equipped to research and ask about them and how much extra they may cost you—before you sign on the dotted line.

A Subscription for Remote Start (and Subscriptions in General)

As car tech options have proliferated, automakers have taken a page from tech companies and started charging monthly subscriptions designed to provide them with ongoing revenue streams long after a vehicle is purchased. GM recently announced that it generated $750 million in the first quarter of 2026 through subscription-based connected services such as OnStar and Super Cruise.

This has led some automakers to charge subscriptions not only for new tech features, but some that previously came with a car either as standard or with one-time purchase option. BMW experienced so much blowback when it implemented subscriptions for heated seats in 2022 that it quickly abandoned the idea. And this was after BMW initially charged an $80 annual “subscription” for Apple CarPlay—a feature offered for free by every other automaker—and eventually backtracked and now offers it for free.

BMW’s ConnectedDrive collection of digital services offers various features on a subscription basis, including remote engine start, a feature that for years was either standard equipment or an option on some trim levels and operated via a button on a car’s key fob. Because activation of remote start has started shifting to automakers’ smartphone apps rather than a key fob, more car companies have started charging for the feature.

In 2021, Toyota began charging for remote start from the key fob or an app for 2018 and later vehicles. The remote start function is now part of Toyota’s Remote Connect service, and when the subscription expires, remote start is disabled whether using a key fob or an app. Depending on the vehicle model, Remote Connect with remote start is free within the first one to three years of ownership, after which it costs $15 a month. Unfortunately, most other automakers now charge for remote start after a similar free trial period. Ford, Lincoln, and Tesla are the only automakers that still offer the feature subscription-free.

Like Toyota, many other automakers bundle remote features such as door locking/unlocking and map-based vehicle location via an app into a suite of connected services, and to keep them activated requires a subscription that kicks in down the road. Genesis, Nissan, and Toyota/Lexus offer free trials for remote features for up to three years, while Stellantis now offers basic remote services for 10 years on its new vehicles. Others, such as BMW, Ford, and General Motors, provide only a three-month trial of remote features on new vehicles, though some services are offered free of charge for longer. Stepping up to a luxury vehicles from Bentley or Maserati or a Polestar EV gets owners these features free for the life of the vehicle.

It’s important to understand what an automaker subscription service offers you and how much it may cost you in the future through the life of your vehicle.