onboard navigation for cars...question

[Qwest]

my mom is gettin a car and wants to have onboard navigation. i think its useless as id rather just go to aaa and get the maps and stuff. anyway, its pretty expensive, but my question is, is there a yearly fee? and how much do they usually run? from what i understand, you have to update the dvd or something every year; thanks for any clarification.

 

[jtusa]

Services like OnStar have a fee. If you just get a GPS system there shouldn't be a fee involved. You don't have to update the maps, but you can if the roadways have changed or if you just want to. The nice GPS car systems can get pretty pricey though.

 

[Qwest]

its not onstar, i know that.

so there's no fee at all?

 

[jtusa]

Doublecheck to be sure, but if it's just GPS, no fee. That's a service Uncle Sam provides free of charge.

 

[HappyPuppy]

Join AAA for $30 a year and get all the roadmaps you will ever need for free. No rational person needs GPS or onboard navigation. What if it takes you through a bad neighborhood just because it is the shortest distance between two points?

 

[m2kewl]

Originally posted by: binoculaz
my mom is gettin a car and wants to have onboard navigation. i think its useless as id rather just go to aaa and get the maps and stuff. anyway, its pretty expensive, but my question is, is there a yearly fee? and how much do they usually run? from what i understand, you have to update the dvd or something every year; thanks for any clarification.

is it worth it...depends who you ask. there's no annual fee, if you don't want the updates - don't buy the dvd, imo, it's only worth upgrading every 3-4 yrs.

i drive a lot, so not pulling over and asking questions in a ghetto ass neighborhood where you can get carjacked and plugged with bullets is worth it (aka Newark, ghetto DC, South Bronx)!! that having no maps all over my car = priceless

 

[Qwest]

i usually dont like these types of services or even mapquest, cause they never give the most efficient directions. like happypuppy said, i'm already an aaa member, where you can get your trip planned out for you entirely. but for going somewhere for a day, i could see how this could be convenient. its really up to my mom, she's the one who is going to be driving the car. thanks for all the input everyone.