CarNet - Your Thoughts?

dzcad90

Rolex & gin
Joined
Mar 15, 1999
Location
Joliet, IL USA
TDI
Jetta - 97 (RIP), '03 (Sold), '09
So when we got our '14 Passat TDI it came with a 6 month trial of CarNet. I activated it instead of losing out on the trial. They didn't require a credit card for activation, so I'm out nothing on this whole deal.

So far, the service is fairly useless for what I've used it for. I'm pretty handy with the Googles if you know what I mean... so pushing the button up top and asking for directions somewhere isn't really my bag. I also use the Waze app more for navigation than I do the RNS-510.

As for the iPhone app, it's fairly useless. It supposedly lets you check the vehicle status and show open doors / trunks and parking location. It also is supposed to let you unlock and lock doors as well as flash the lights / sound the horn to aide finding your car. It also shows you the amount of fuel remaining with an estimate of DTE.

The information provided by the iPhone app, it's usually hours out of date. Clicking the refresh button is futile. Even coming back a few minutes later the car hasn't yet updated it's status with the CarNet service. If the app worked better - I'm also with everyone else, Why no remote start from the app?

I'm sure if there were some type of airbag deployment the service is worth it's weight in gold.. (Even though services have no real weight....) However for $17.99/month it's pretty steep for what you get. The only service discount I could find was prepaying for up to three years. Each year you buy gives you 1 free month of service basically.

Has anyone had a better experience, or am I missing something with this service?
 

TDI2000Zim

Veteran Member
Joined
Jul 23, 2010
Location
NJ
TDI
VW hat meinen '14 Passat TDiSE getötet.
Thanks for confirming to me that to press the little new colored button up near the sun-roof controls would be useless :D.
 

ABS

Veteran Member
Joined
Mar 17, 2003
Location
South Central Minnesota
TDI
2014 Passat SE TDI, 6MT
Don,

Thanks for the update on the service. I opted not to have mine activated based on what I read about it. You confirmed my doubts about the benefit vs. cost, which after the free 6-mos is, indeed, steep!
 

compu_85

Gadget Guy
Joined
Sep 29, 2003
Location
La Conner, WA
TDI
... None :S
I was more impressed with the "911 Assist" feature a Fusion I rented had... really the only feature I'd want from an OnStar, etc, type service, but with no monthly fee! Well I guess the vehicle tracking would be nice if the car was stolen.

-J
 

Pods

Member
Joined
Feb 5, 2009
Location
Central IL
TDI
Passat
Car net has no remote start feature.... for the very inferior remote start range and poor performance of it....Car net almost a useless POS compared to GM onstar and Chrysler...
 

VeeDubTDI

Wanderluster, Traveler, TDIClub Enthusiast
Joined
Jul 2, 2000
Location
Springfield, VA
TDI
‘18 Tesla Model 3D+, ‘14 Cadillac ELR, ‘13 Fiat 500e
I think it's pretty useless, based on the descriptions posted on the internet. Definitely not worth any sort of monthly fee.
 

tdireader

Veteran Member
Joined
Jun 21, 2004
Location
USA
TDI
TDI
(telematics based insurance) + (typical TDI driver) = higher rates

If you drive 60,000 miles plus a year, a telematics device could very likely lead to HIGHER rates.
 

kydsid

Veteran Member
Joined
Apr 18, 2012
Location
Texas
TDI
2012 Passat
Car net has no remote start feature.... for the very inferior remote start range and poor performance of it....Car net almost a useless POS compared to GM onstar and Chrysler...

Ford has cellular remote start/lock/unlock/alarm notification now too. ;) $50 a year. VW is way behind the curve on their driver electronics. Sad too because the Audi offering isn't too bad. Still behind the curve imo but better.
 

dzcad90

Rolex & gin
Joined
Mar 15, 1999
Location
Joliet, IL USA
TDI
Jetta - 97 (RIP), '03 (Sold), '09
If it did everything you state the Ford system does and was only $50/year, I'd sign up without a second thought.
 

panther_v

Well-known member
Joined
Feb 28, 2003
Location
orange county, so calif
TDI
'13 Passat TDI SEL
carnet was one of the reasons i decided to get a 2013 instead of 2014.

i thought it was a big deal when vw was advertising it early in 2013, but after i read the details, it didn't look as good as i thought.

i felt 1 extra year of free maintenance is more valuable than the 6 mo free trail.
 

herbert68

Veteran Member
Joined
Mar 1, 2008
Location
State College, PA
TDI
2013 Passat TDI SEL Premium, 2010 Jetta TDI Sedan. Both bought back by VW on 12/06/2016
I find it hard to believe how such old/ancient technology is still pushed at us. It's almost like those decision makers at VW USA have never heard what the competition does, what we customers are doing all day long with our digital devices, and how, in general, technological advancement has moved way faster than they are.
 

quattroginger

Veteran Member
Joined
Apr 24, 2014
Location
Hughesville MD
TDI
14 Passat SEL
sucks compared the the onstar in my wifes terrain. super slow. then she says "let me know when the route hits your navigation" after seeing it i hit accept then they both are talking at same time and i cant understand either of them, lol.
 

ChinaBob

Well-known member
Joined
Feb 10, 2013
Location
Newburyport, MA
TDI
2016 BMW 328d x-drive; 2015 Audi A3 TDi
I traded my '13 Passat TDi SEL for a '14 Jetta TDi Premium with Navigation about 6 weeks ago and the CarNet was an unexpected and most welcome bonus. I travel a lot and use CarNet daily to enter destinations into the Jetta's navigation system from my laptop, tablet or smartphone, whichever is handy at the moment. Yes, it's led me astray a couple of times (but, then again, so have the prepackaged destinations in the RNS315) but it sure beats sitting out in the car poking buttons trying to find destinations that may or may not be there. With CarNet I can enter and verify them from the comfort of my living room, and I know that they are there because I put them there; I just get in the car, download them from CarNet, and I am ready to go. I presume the Passat's CarNet works the same way.

I agree with other posters that after the 6-month trail the $17/month subscription is pretty steep, and may not be worth it if you don't go out of your home territory too often, but, then again, I might have yet another reason to like it if I clobber something hard enough to set off the airbags.
 

BarryT82

Veteran Member
Joined
Mar 26, 2010
Location
Charleston, WV
TDI
‘12 JSW TDI
They could come up with something better. My other vehicle is an F-150 and the nav in it has a feature to dial 911 if my airbags deploy and it's free.
 

MikeTV

Veteran Member
Joined
Feb 16, 2013
Location
Chicagoland
TDI
Non-TDI 3.6 SE
(telematics based insurance) + (typical TDI driver) = higher rates

If you drive 60,000 miles plus a year, a telematics device could very likely lead to HIGHER rates.
True. I did a two year trial on a telematics/"pay as you go" type auto insurance. The only way to save money was to leave the car parked in the garage.
 

czeetah

Veteran Member
Joined
Jun 29, 2014
Location
Mountains, NC
TDI
2014 Passat 6MT / Opera Red
Just called to see if they had a service like OnStar where for $4.99 a month you could get the accident report and the "oh sh^t I'm having a stroke" button activated.

Nope, $18/mo and that's it.

Oh well.
 

Sinner

Veteran Member
Joined
Dec 6, 2002
Location
Greenville, NC
TDI
none
I'm not paying $18/month for such a limited set of functionality, specially after paying all those green bucks for the car.

Slow, no remote start, slow, not easy to use, slow, can do almost nothing, slow, very expensive,did I say it's slow yet?
 

Manual preferred

Veteran Member
Joined
Sep 21, 2013
Location
Chevy Chase, MD
TDI
Passat
Useless

I agree with all who said it is useless. I have a smart phone and can call 911 or #77 if need be and then there is AAA on my phone as well so what else can Car Net do that I can't?
 

Sslott

New member
Joined
Apr 22, 2015
Location
NC
TDI
2014 Beetle Conv
Carnet

So, okay, after 2 months of my carnet free trial, I finally found a use for it. I had just received a notice of need to update ECM software on my 2014 Beetle TDI. On my way to work at 6:00 AM, I remembered that the carnet literature stated "schedule dealer appointments" as one of the "services". Yeah, a small thing, but what the heck, if that would save me from having to take time at work during the day to be placed on hold, etc, etc, in scheduling an appointment, it would be nice. Carnet could schedule my appointment and send me an email with the date and time.

So, I punched the carnet button, was given the obligatory "Your conversation may be recorded" and was connected to a very pleasant female carnet associate, or however they term themselves. When I asked for her to schedule an appointment for my recall update, she told me, pleasantly, that I would need to call back later in the day during working hours of the dealership, at which time she would be glad to connect me to the dealership.

Hmmm, so for $17 per month I can get a service that my SIRI will already do for me at no extra charge........or, I could just eliminate the middleman altogether and call my dealership directly.

Yes, maybe providing a connection to the dealership was all they meant by "schedule a dealer appointment", but if so, I personally would not have even listed that as a "benefit".

So, since I already have SIRI to place calls for me, can punch in destinations on my GPS system, keep up with where my car was last located, not lock myself out, and really don't need to be told once a month that 3 systems on my car are A-okay.........odds are pretty good that I will not extend my carnet after the trial period ends.
 

Sinner

Veteran Member
Joined
Dec 6, 2002
Location
Greenville, NC
TDI
none
It'll probably be better just to buy a CarPlay (or GoogleAuto) enabled entertainment system and control it through the phone: useful, faster, GPS up to date and no monthly payments.


Sent from my iPad using Tapatalk
 

big_ole_truck

Veteran Member
Joined
May 23, 2010
Location
NW FL
TDI
2015 VW Passat TDI SEL
CarNet is horrible IMHO. If you could:
-roll up windows/close sunroof
-see stored error codes
-lock and unlock the car (I could only find the temporary unlock; remote locking the car would have a nice feature)
-send destinations for the nav (this feature was removed within my trial period)
AND it was reasonably priced service, it may have a chance.

At any rate, it seems to me the service was poorly conceived, poorly implemented and horribly priced out of the market.

Ford's SYNC on my weekend warrior is way better with just the 911 Assist. VW could learn a few things by checking the competition when it comes to the electronic features and user experience/interface.
 

nord

Veteran Member
Joined
Mar 5, 2010
Location
Southern Tier NY
TDI
All turned back to VW. Now a 2017 Hundai Tuscon. Not a single squalk in 10k miles.
Thoughts? CarNet is as much a mystery to me as teats on a boar hog. The one and only thing it did for me was display the compass on my SE. Somehow I didn't see the value in the subscription fee but am more than a little disturbed that it (compass) came up missing.
 

mejpassat

Well-known member
Joined
May 26, 2014
Location
California
TDI
2015 Passat TDi (NOS), 2014 passat TDI (Buy back), 2001 Tdi Golf (Gifted to Son)
My experience with car net was good....
I was in an unfamiliar area and hit a pot hole hard enough to destroy the tire.
Was able to change the tire, and contacted car net for the nearest dealer. Within minutes they downloaded the directions to the nav and had me talking to the dealer through car net. Long story made short is my total inconvenience was minimal, the dealer they sent me to for a new tire was great, and after that I went for a 15 month renewal.
 

MK05HJ09

Member
Joined
Mar 22, 2013
Location
Indianapolis
TDI
'13 B7 TDI SE 6MT '15 B7 TDI SEL DSG
Just bought my '15 SEL last week, set up my free 6mo trial of CarNet on Monday, so far I'm not impressed. I was presented with a price of $17.99 per mo or $199 per 1 year, and an additional rate for 3 years which escapes me at the moment.
 

AAChaoshand

Member
Joined
Apr 28, 2015
Location
Texas
TDI
2015 Passat TDI SEL Premium
Nope, Corvette has On Star and after the trial ended I wasn't interested. Monthly reports on tire pressure, oil, and mileage is something I can do myself with little to no hassle, especially since I'm anal about my cars anyways. Don't need another monthly payment for something I won't ever use and won't impact me if I do or do not have the service.
 
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