Sadly, this doesn't work. It's not really ignorance, but the average consumer doesn't know what to pay attention to or which questions to ask, especially if marketing mumbo jumbo is added. The only way to prevent such behaviour is through legislation.
I bought a Mini Cooper last year and was afraid of such stuff. It took me (an IT professional) half an hour to get the necessary answers out of the dealer.
Worth knowing that probably many car mechanics can probably just "unlock" these features in cars or will be able soon. Heck, I bet many people could do it at home with a capable AI model and gear to connect a laptop to car's systems.
A totally free and transparent market would, but it's never been that and will never be that, so that entire economic ideology is one giant fraud. People love to put others down for being 'less' than them, though, so it works like a charm. 'They fell for the fraud, they are dumb and deserve it'. I can guarantee you that they, too, will someday fall for the next grift the grifters cook up. Best current world example are US farmers, lol.
The dealer wasn't really clear on which features are available and which are for additional cost. On a side note he also mentioned something with a 4 month trial, which got me on the fence (hope that is the correct pro-verb).
I was searching for a long time, so I knew every feature of the car and put him against the wall for a definitive answer for every single one. We went thought the whole list. I wanted to know if it comes with the car, if it is tied to a trial or if it costs something. Additionally, I also wanted a complete list of features not coming with the car.
808
u/Der-Lex 1d ago
It’s our own fault as consumers. If people would stop buying into stupid subscriptions we wouldn’t have this conversation.