BMW Assist

I am assuming this feature works similar to the American car companies Onstar?

Is this feature free of charge for 1 year and you have to pay for this service after that?
Or is it a lifetime service as long as you own the car?

The 2007 5 series includes the basic Assist service for 4 years. 2006 models include 1 year. The BMW USA website describes in detail what is included with the various Assist packages that are offered.

Yes, but BMW changed it to 4 years now as Gary informed you.

The first call you make on it is free since that is how you activated it. I did one day on the drive into work. Pretty wild talking "on the phone" to the service. Anyway, this call is to setup the service and you provide them a CC # so they can charge you like $6 for all future calls using the BMW Assist.

So, it really isn't "free" near as I can tell unless things are different now but I didn't read anything at the BMWNA website either so I could be wrong as usual....

Originally Posted by Gary1227

The 2007 5 series includes the basic Assist service for 4 years. 2006 models include 1 year. The BMW USA website describes in detail what is included with the various Assist packages that are offered.

Holy crap! I just paid the $240 to renew for my second year. Now its free for 4 years . I asked them once and they said that the call is free, but I am not sure if that is the case for all things, maybe just for testing the system and roadside assistance.

Well, its not really free for 4 years, its just that now you pay for it up front as part of the overall price of the car.

Originally Posted by Me530

Well, its not really free for 4 years, its just that now you pay for it up front as part of the overall price of the car.

Is anything really "free"???

You know what they say, there's no such thing as a "free" lunch!

So I'm still confused.

4 years of bmw assist... I can use the assist for direction, recommendations for a resturant, emergency, etc. etc. free of charge for the 4 years then after that I pay the annual fee of whatever it is. Or the assist is only free of charge for roadside assistance and emergency only for 4 years??

Assist is only "free" for 4 years (but you paid for it as part of the cars purchase price) for roadside and emergency use. Everything else costs extra.

When I activated last year, the operator explained that this is only for emergency assistance. If you push the sos button - they can locate you and send help. Also if you are in an airbag-deployed accident, they are notified automatically. They do not provide directions, nor restaurant recommendations or anything of the sort.

BMW increased the price of the 2007 models by over $600 to cover the cost of 4 years Assist.

Few were renewing.

No one would even buy it if it were not for the fact the bundled it with bluetooth.

You already get 4 years roadside assistance for free.

Originally Posted by chuck92103

BMW increased the price of the 2007 models by over $600 to cover the cost of 4 years Assist.

Few were renewing.

No one would even buy it if it were not for the fact the bundled it with bluetooth.

You already get 4 years roadside assistance for free.

They charge too much for it. Plain and simple.

Originally Posted by sdriver

They charge too much for it. Plain and simple.

i agree. if it were on par with a AAA membership (slightly more would be fine in light of the automatic call to the police when airbags are deployed) it would be much more reasonable. how they justify an annual cost of $240 is beyond me...

Let me come at this from a different angle, I just paid the money to renew for another year, and I wish that on my year vehicle (05) they would have included it in the price. It would have added like $8 month to my overall lease payment, and that to me would have been better than $240 all at once, especially since I could potentially negotiate the price down enough to cover it from the get go. I DO agree that it is way overpriced for what you are getting, but it gives my other drivers peace of mind, so I had no choice but to renew.

Thanks I understand now.