OnStar offers a discount on its FMV replacement mirror for Mother's (and Father's) Day.
Sure, some folks will buy mom a mirror for Mother’s Day. It might be inside a nice, expensive package of make-up, or perhaps a wall-mounted mirror over the vanity. But OnStar is betting your female parental unit might like a mirror for the car.
A replacement mirror, to be more precise, this one dubbed FMV, or For My Vehicle. It’s a way to get the OnStar service in just about any car on the road, whether a Ford, Chrysler or Toyota.
Introduced last year, the FMV has proven to be an unexpectedly popular aftermarket option, the General Motors telematics division so far selling about 30,000 of them. And now, OnStar is betting it can sell quite a few more by temporarily cutting the price from $299 down to $99.99. The good news for dad is that the deal lasts until June 16th, covering Father’s Day, as well.
Now, the hardware price doesn’t cover it all, OnStar cautions. You will still need to sign up for service. Think of it as the same loss leader deal that most cellphone companies today offer. That iPhone would cost several $100 more if you weren’t agreeing to a multi-year contract. In OnStar’s case, you can choose from several different service packages.
That starts with the “Safe & Sound” package, at $199 a year. That includes OnStar’s basic emergency assistance services, including Automatic Crash Notification. The mirror can sense when you’ve been in an accident serious enough to need help and will automatically call an emergency line without driver action.
The more advanced “Directions and Connections” package runs $299 and provides an assortment of additional features, such as turn-by-turn navigation – which could help you find the nearest coffee shop. OnStar officials pointedly note that the full-feature package works out to $1.09 a day – and that the 2012 Coffee Business Statistics Report shows the average cup of java is now $1.38.
There were plenty of skeptics when OnStar first unveiled the FMV “smart” mirror – which is now available through a variety of outlets including Best Buy. After all, most manufacturers now offer infotainment and telematics systems of their own. But the sales statistics are quite surprising.
Nearly 16% of those first 30,000 FMV mirrors were purchased by Toyota owners, with Ford close behind at more than 12%. Yet a full 30% of those Ford owners already had that maker’s Sync system installed in their vehicles.
OnStar data also shows that the FMV mirror has been used primarily on 2011 model-year cars, followed by vehicles from 2007 and even new models from 2012.