Sync Services Renewal? Yea or Nay?

[tgara]

I have a 2015 MKZ that included 1 year of complimentary Sync Services.  Other models (before 2014 I believe) got 3 years of free complimentary Sync Services.

 

At the end of April, my Owner Page was showing that my Sync Services subscription was going to end, and offered me a link to renew it. The cost was $200 per year, very expensive in my opinion for services I was largely not using.  All the Turn by Turn Directions, Business Search, Horoscopes (really??), Weather, Sports scores, etc. were already provided by either the OEM navigation system in the car or by Sirius TraveLink (free).  So, most of the Sync Services stuff was duplicative, at least for me.

The only Sync Service feature I used was to send a map point from the Sync Destinations app on my phone to the car's navigation system. That was handy at times.  But I was not going to spend $200 for the convenience of doing that maybe 6-8 times per year.  In the end, I did not renew.

 

Curious to know if other owners are renewing Sync Services or not, and why.

[JoeBrown]

I never even activated it for the same reasons you let it lapse.

[R2D2]

I have never used it in either my 2013 or 2014. I do use the travel link info but do not listen to music so I only subscribe to that sat service. As I have a NAV I did not see a point to the Sync service.

[drolds1]

I have never used it in either my 2013 or 2014. I do use the travel link info but do not listen to music so I only subscribe to that sat service. As I have a NAV I did not see a point to the Sync service.

Me either.  No real point if you have nav.  I do listen to music but I recently dropped Travel Link.  It was useful when I first got it in 2009 , but all that info is available via smartphone now, e.g., gas prices, traffic, weather, sports scores, etc.

[tgara]

Me either.  No real point if you have nav.  I do listen to music but I recently dropped Travel Link.  It was useful when I first got it in 2009 , but all that info is available via smartphone now, e.g., gas prices, traffic, weather, sports scores, etc.

 

 

Yeah, I think when software like Apple's CarPlay becomes standard in 2017, Sync Services will largely go away.  You've got it on your phone, now just pipe it into the car.

[R2D2]

I happen to like the fact that traffic information (construction, accidents, delays, etc.) are intergraded into the NAV based the destination I set. The screen being much larger than my cell phone makes it easier to get other services.

 

I do a lot of traveling alone by road to golf events to this is important to me.

[SteveB_TX]

I refused to pay the $200 renewal fee for something I never used.  Well, the only thing I used services for was to download directions via Sync Destinations.

 

Also, the renewal is only $60.00 for Ford vehicles (such as our 2013 Fusion Hybrid), but $199.00 for my Lincoln?  Talk about a rip off!!  The only difference I can see is with Ford, you only get 20 operator assisted calls vs unlimited for Lincoln.  I have never used operator assist. 

[riff raff]

I've not used it yet, for the same reason I never used the OnStar in our trucks.  My '14 has NAV but I don't use that either, relying on my Wayz app.