For one reason or another, my free Acuralink subscription was not activated when I purchased my vehicle. After about a year or so, I had an occasion to use "the button", and activated it at that time.

My question is does my 3 free years start when I purchased the vehicle or when I activated it? (I cannot seem to find a definite answer.) Also, I cannot seem to find any prices to renew the Standard package - I am only interested in the NAV real time updates. When they got them via XM, you could not just sign up for updates which was a pain.

 

My understanding is the 3 years start from the date the vehicle was purchased and its the Dealer that needs to activate it.

The Standard Package cannot be renewed after the 3 years, you have to subscribe to either the Connect or Premium Package.

 

Yes, that's what I thought I heard also. Which is why I was under the impression that is was already activated by the dealership.

The Connect and Premium pkgs are pretty expensive considering I just want the GPS updates. Kind of a money grab if you wanted XM and AcuraLink.

 

It is not activated by the dealer you have to call. Log onto you account and your subscription info should be there.

 

AcuraLink updates traffic real-time but if you want updates to the GPS maps displayed, you need to buy that each time. Currently there is no update yet for the TLX.

 

Am I the only person that thinks that it totally shady, particularly for a "premium" brand? They give you 3 free years of service, but they don't activate it for you or specifically make it part of the delivery process to activate it at the dealership?

It's almost like they want you to forget and ignore this benefit. Of all the "premium" cars brands I have purchased, Acura seems the least committed to the upscale brand feel. Even trying to get a loaner car for extended service is a pain, when that is one of the reasons to pay extra for a premium brand. (Honestly, MB, BMW, and Lexus have this down pat.)

And Acura was the first premium Japanese car brand.

 

In the states the acuralink, like the button by the moon roof controls, only works for 3 months. Traffic is good for 3 years though...hmm....not sure

 

Sounds like dealership incompetence. Not sure why you didn't go back and make them activate it days after buying the car. My dealership activated mine immediately and told me about it (I honestly didn't know the car had that feature).

 

The current situation on the AcuraLink Next Generation is you have to press the AcuraLink button or call and enable the link through them. They will need a credit card because you automatically get a free three month subscription to the Premium services but you have to cancel that within three months before they start charging you for the Premium annual service at $259 per year. This is the only way that you can get the standard free connectivity for three years. It’s a pain but I just activated tonight. Unfortunately the app does not let you open your car doors or get any kind of stats from your vehicle like they claim you do. I believe you have to do that from online only and not through the app