No Need to Buy a Cadillac, Mercedes-Benz, or Volvo When You Can Simply Subscribe

EDITOR's NOTE: Why subscribe when you can rent by the hour or day or week from GM's Airbnb-like Maven?

Washington DC August 8, 2018; The AIADA Online newsletter reported that over two weeks, Chris Woodyard at USA Today tried out two SUVs and a hot station wagon that are part of the Book by Cadillac subscription program.

Cadillac was one of the first with a program, but the notion has caught on. Now Mercedes-Benz, BMW, Porsche, Hyundai, and Volvo are among those adding subscriptions to leasing and straight-out sales as ways to move cars off lots and into customers' hands.

Automakers agree that subscription customers tend to be younger than other buyers, having come to wealth earlier in their lives. But subscription services aren't cheap. No matter how they are structured, they can be far more expensive than buying or leasing.

But there's hope as automakers refine their programs.

BMW introduced a new, lower tier at $1,099 a month, and it dramatically lowered the price of its upper levels.

The mid-level tier, for instance, is now $1,399 a month, down from $2,000. By no means cheap, but certainly less.

Read more here.