Car Net Renew, Worth It?

[Dundrummin]

I have got Car-Net connected (hotspot to my phone) and registered etc but being a 2nd hand van the contract has expired and it's asking for 70 quid to renew, my question is simply, is it worth it?

 

[Nigel W]

I have got Car-Net connected (hotspot to my phone) and registered etc but being a 2nd hand van the contract has expired and it's asking for 70 quid to renew, my question is simply, is it worth it?

It’s a big no from me - only ever used it for sending POI and destinations over from my pc but just as easy to do manually. If it was a token charge of say £10 I would perhaps consider it but £70, in my opinion, is a farce.

 

[Dundrummin]

I've already updated the maps from my laptop so that's done, I wondered if it meant the navigation maybe gave you more 'live' info like Google Maps does?

 

[Nigel W]

Haha, nope it’s basically pretty useless, below is a link to the VW info page which describes the ‘features’
We Connect

 

[Nigel W]

Rather than spend £70 a year on this I would recommend, if you don’t already have it, you upgrade to app connect then you can then use google/Apple/Waze/CarPlay on your head.

 

[Dundrummin]

Rather than spend £70 a year on this I would recommend, if you don’t already have it, you upgrade to app connect then you can then use google/Apple/Waze/CarPlay on your head.

That sounds like a better option then, you need to visit a dealer to do this correct?

 

[cgtmiles]

I too was wondering if there are any hidden features that I’m benefiting from, traffic info on sat nav maybe?

Coz using this to download destinations takes ages of messing around to get it connected to the hotspot (I’m hoping I’ll get slicker at this though!). And so I’ve either just not used it and entered the post code manually or spent ages getting the destination to download and so I might as well of entered it manually! The advantage has got to be being able to point a pin at the exact location and download that but I haven’t needed to do this yet.

Also I have app connect already so I might take the advice above and just use that for maps!

seriously though, no other features for £70?! Could just get an Uber

 

[Nigel W]

That sounds like a better option then, you need to visit a dealer to do this correct?

Yup and you won’t get much change out of circa £180.

 

[cgtmiles]

Yup and you won’t get much change out of circa £180.

Over 200 quid for me as they needed to upgrade the usb (of course they would)

 

[Dundrummin]

Yup and you won’t get much change out of circa £180.

 

[Dundrummin]

Over 200 quid for me as they needed to upgrade the usb (of course they would)

Blimey, maybe I'll just stick to using my phone like I've always done then

 

[Nigel W]

Blimey, maybe I'll just stick to using my phone like I've always done then

To be honest the mapping on the VW satnav is really, in my opinion, very good and should serve you well.
However if you drive distances or holiday in Europe then you would really appreciate the extra info supplied on Waze or, as you say, you could have have both the inbuilt and your phone both running at the same time with different mapping.
We used to do that and it was really funny to hear them arguing with each other whether to turn right or left.....

 

[Dundrummin]

To be honest the mapping on the VW satnav is really, in my opinion, very good and should serve you well.
However if you drive distances or holiday in Europe then you would really appreciate the extra info supplied on Waze or, as you say, you could have have both the inbuilt and your phone both running at the same time with different mapping.
We used to do that and it was really funny to hear them arguing with each other whether to turn right or left.....

ha ha, I bet.

So you are saying the VW Sat Nav is pretty good without needing the Car-Net subscription and it's purely down to choice whether to have the app connect or not

 

[Nigel W]

ha ha, I bet.

So you are saying the VW Sat Nav is pretty good without needing the Car-Net subscription and it's purely down to choice whether to have the app connect or not

I don’t think carnet contributes anything to the satnav. I didn’t subscribe and I still get traffic warnings on the map as I think they come via the radio.
The VW satnav has never let me down and I can load the extra POI I need via the usb stick.
I only paid to get app connect because I picked up speeding tickets in France and wanted Waze. I did try running two systems side by side but in the end just went for it as I also wanted to stream my Apple Music and it just makes it much simpler.
If I were you I would just run it as is for a while to see how you get on with it - some people love it and others hate it.
But as for carnet I really wouldn’t bother.

 

[Dundrummin]

Ok thanks Nigel

 

[Pauly]

I would agree with the above, carnet is really not worth it
I have CarPlay so I can run nav of my phone if need be but generally I use the standard VW nav for most things but if I’m going on a long trip I plug in my phone for charging and use Waze

 

[Higgidav]

Carnet is a waste of time and hardly ever works in my experience.

 

[Salty Spuds]

we paid for 3 years subscription to Carnet when we bought the van. 3 years on & I've still no idea what it does

 

[Dundrummin]

So Car-Net is dead in the water but still maybe a case for App-Connect

 

[Salty Spuds]

So Car-Net is dead in the water but still maybe a case for App-Connect

IF I was determined to spend my money, that would be the order I'd spend it in. Saying that, we also have app connect & I think we've used it once in 3 years. I could certainly live without it.