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Columbus Sat Nav map update pricing?

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  • Columbus Sat Nav map update pricing?

    Has anybody been quoted a price for up to date maps for their Columbus?
    There was a ****ty letter from a Toureg owner in the Melbourne paper today claiming that he was told it would cost him $1900 to upgrade the 3 year old map info in his Feb 2010 purchased vehicle. I assume that the actual map data in all VW family vehicles will be the same so it would be interesting to see how the price varies across brands.
    My Škoda photos here

    Flickr : Blog

  • #2
    I think I heard my parts guy say they had dropped them to $500 for the Skoda disks but I cant promise thats the case. Ill chase it up on Monday.
    Heath Eustace... Sales Manager - Bayford Skoda Preston, Vic

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    • #3
      Originally posted by K1W1 View Post
      ...$1900 to upgrade the 3 year old map info in his Feb 2010 purchased vehicle....
      Interesting... When we were considering SatNav as an option (before we decided on the Superb) over buying a TomTom, multiple salespeople (2 x VW & 1 x Skoda - so both brands involved here) told us that the maps get upgraded automatically during the life of the warranty. I was skeptical about it but they all swore blind it was the case.

      Bayford Skoda, can you ask them if this is true or was it another crap sales pitch?
      2008 VW Golf V - GT Sport TDI
      2010 Skoda Superb Wagon - Elegance TDI

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      • #4
        There was a second letter of complaint in the Melbourne Sun yesterday on the same subject this time from a Mitsubishi owner complaining that they (Mitsubishi) wanted $580.00 for a disc that was exactly the same as the one Whereis sell for under $200. The problem is that the Mitsubishi sat nav will only work with the Mitsubishi encoded disc which is I guess what all OEM products do.
        Seeing as I'm getting the next 18 months worth of upgrades from TomTom for $50 as they are released (on a subscription basis) the whole concept on in dash sat nav seems floored to be for anything other than convenience.
        I wonder which manufacturer will be the first to realise that they would have a huge marketing advantage by offering free sat nav upgrades for life provided the vehicle is serviced at approved dealerships. They would more than make the cost of the discs back in other service related charges.
        My Škoda photos here

        Flickr : Blog

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        • #5
          A mate used to compile Subaru satnav discs somehow. I didn't have Subaru satnav, so it didn't concern me how it was done or where the base maps came from but it seemed that you needed an Apple computer to do it.
          carandimage The place where Off-Topic is On-Topic
          I used to think I was anal-retentive until I started getting involved in car forums

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          • #6
            I'm a programmer, so, I can understand why you get charged an upgrade fee. There is no doubt that some work goes into building and testing the new version of the maps on the software. However, as the base software doesn't change in the car (its not like they rebuild the software for each version, they would just copy new map files), my eyebrows are raised. Its like having a 2 year old Sony plasma and them charging you $500 to get the new digital TV channels that are popping up.

            I understand a small fee for putting together the disk, and they possibly have to licence the use of the updated maps and maybe a bit of cream on top to make it worth their while. But $500 sounds a bit rich. I don't think it should be free as it would cost them *some* dollars. But its pretty unfair when you can pop down the shop and pick up a TomTom for $150, buy an app for your phone for $70 or use the free google maps on your phone.

            They are probably paying a pitance for the maps (they've already licenced the map, they probably do a deal to get access to free upgrades). If they send out thousands of these every year, I'd fall out of my seat if it cost them more than $10 per disk.

            I applaud people like Mazda (and now Skoda) who've been standardising sat Nav in affordable cars. However, they are probably doing so knowing full well that the extra cost will be more than offset by people paying to upgrade sat-nav. And we will be seeing more of this as they start thinking Apple and Google are onto something...

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            • #7
              It's costs huge money to superimpose that copyrighted manufacturers logo on the opening splash screen of somebody else's maps - not!
              When I was looking for a vehicle I seem to recall that Mazda were quoting $400 for map upgrades (early 2009, Mazda 6)
              As I said at the beginning this is one of the things that has kept me away from in dash Sat nav.
              My Škoda photos here

              Flickr : Blog

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              • #8
                It's always been a mystery to me why car GPS systems still cost what they did years ago. 4yrs ago I bought the top of the range Tomtom for $600, these days its more like $300, and yet most GPS units were well over $1600 with extortionate prices for updates, the price of maps has fallen to below $50 as Kiwi said, and no GPS is worth anything without a few updates as generally most maps are 12mths or more behind.

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                • #9
                  What maps are Skoda running on their Sat Navs? (Google, Whereis, etc etc?) How can a simple map update cost $500 let alone $1600.
                  Could you possibly purchase a VAGCOM set up and then through the laptop connection do a Map Upgrade direct from the Map supplier?? Might be a cheaper option??

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                  • #10
                    Originally posted by dazag View Post
                    What maps are Skoda running on their Sat Navs? (Google, Whereis, etc etc?) How can a simple map update cost $500 let alone $1600.
                    Could you possibly purchase a VAGCOM set up and then through the laptop connection do a Map Upgrade direct from the Map supplier?? Might be a cheaper option??
                    I doubt there's an interface and software to perform the upload through a Vagcom. The DVD would probably have a boot loader, encryption and a program to update the map files. If it doesn't have any encryption, I can imagine someone would be able to put together a DVD that would allow you to update with the required maps. Ie, you'd be able to buy them online somewhere at a reasonable price. Which is why VAG would have some sort of encrypted key to stop that happening.

                    Could be wrong... I've worked places where we'venot bothered with security because we figured anyone savvy and dedicated enough to hack their way to something free can have it

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                    • #11
                      Originally posted by K1W1 View Post
                      There was a ****ty letter from a Toureg owner in the Melbourne paper today claiming that he was told it would cost him $1900 to upgrade the 3 year old map info in his Feb 2010 purchased vehicle.
                      I'm surprised the owner was able to actually put together a sentence if he's so stupid to think it would cost him $1900. The update is available for ~$400 from the spare parts counter.

                      He would also have V2 maps installed which are only 1 release (1 year) older then the V3 maps which use current whereis (Sensis/Telstra) data.

                      I assume that the actual map data in all VW family vehicles will be the same so it would be interesting to see how the price varies across brands.
                      You've assumed wrong, only the RNS 510 and Columbus use the same maps. Audi's navigation uses a different map format.
                      Last edited by Maverick; 13-07-2010, 11:20 PM.
                      website: www.my-gti.com

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                      • #12
                        Originally posted by dazag View Post
                        What maps are Skoda running on their Sat Navs? (Google, Whereis, etc etc?) How can a simple map update cost $500 let alone $1600.
                        It's very simple. How many Volkswagen cars are sold with Satnav in Australia compared to the number of Tom Tom units for example? Like most things volume means you can drop costs.

                        The data has to be licensed from Whereis in this case which has a cost involved plus a cost per unit that VW onsell, the data has to be modified to suit the system in Germany and any enhancements and fixes performed so that's where the $400 comes from.

                        Could you possibly purchase a VAGCOM set up and then through the laptop connection do a Map Upgrade direct from the Map supplier?? Might be a cheaper option??
                        No, as was pointed out Vagcom/VCDS has absolutely nothing to do with the maps. You cannot do a map upgrade from whereis unless you're prepared to pay for access to the data ($$$$$$$$$) and a cost per unit installed ($$$) plus convert the maps to the format required by the head unit.

                        You can modify BMW map discs to install however they are more expensive and this breaches the license so you may as well get them from Channel BT or borrow one.
                        website: www.my-gti.com

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                        • #13
                          Originally posted by Maverick View Post
                          Originally posted by dazag View Post
                          What maps are Skoda running on their Sat Navs? (Google, Whereis, etc etc?) How can a simple map update cost $500 let alone $1600.
                          Could you possibly purchase a VAGCOM set up and then through the laptop connection do a Map Upgrade direct from the Map supplier?? Might be a cheaper option??
                          It's very simple. How many Volkswagen cars are sold with Satnav in Australia compared to the number of Tom Tom units for example? Like most things volume means you can drop costs.

                          The data has to be licensed from Whereis in this case which has a cost involved plus a cost per unit that VW onsell, the data has to be modified to suit the system in Germany and any enhancements and fixes performed so that's where the $400 comes from.
                          I know that overheads due to the Australia-to-Germany-to-Australia round trip would be not inconsiderable, but I'm pretty sure that even German sat-nav updates would struggle to be worth anywhere near the $400 mark, licence fees or no licence fees.

                          What are they really worth anyway? It took WhereIs? almost 12 months to recognise a new highway here in WA - and it had been under construction for a good 3 years, not like it just appeared over night or whatever. Google maps, still doesn't have it. If they're only as good as their information, then they're probably only worth $50!

                          As for the option of the in-dash sat-nav in the first place, I think the reason they cost what they cost (and their updates) is quite simple - people still option them (whether for the convenience, or just so they have everything, it doesn't really matter), so why would the cost go down? The cost will only go down when manufacturers find that people are not optioning their sat-nav's due to price. Personally, I don't see that happening any time soon - after all, when you've already spend $40, $50, $60K+ on a car, another couple grand may not seem that much. Pragmatists will use their TomTom/iPhone/etc, those who must have it all will still tick the option box.

                          For mine, I'm happy to use google maps before I leave, then double check en-route if necessary with my phone...I don't normally get lost, and when driving in the country, good old fashioned paper maps are more useful anyway, due to the scales involved.

                          Originally posted by Maverick View Post
                          Audi's navigation uses a different map format.
                          I hope the VW one is better! The Audi system was not all that wonderful - had an A6 hire car in Melbourne last year, and the sat-nav was okay, but far from brilliant

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                          • #14
                            I think like all good ripoff things, they will only start charging the appropriate price once the cheaper competitors have dropped their price, or start including sat-nav standard like what is happening now. Maps are cheap as cheaps these days, so if reconfiguring them is an issue, then maybe they should adapt to using a system that has the volume. Mazda are using an adapted portable kit for that reason, logic says between Garmin, Tomtom, Sygic, VDO etc etc, someone can make a deal with them for their motor group and then that issue is gone.

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                            • #15
                              Originally posted by woofy View Post
                              I think like all good ripoff things, they will only start charging the appropriate price once the cheaper competitors have dropped their price, or start including sat-nav standard like what is happening now. Maps are cheap as cheaps these days, so if reconfiguring them is an issue, then maybe they should adapt to using a system that has the volume. Mazda are using an adapted portable kit for that reason, logic says between Garmin, Tomtom, Sygic, VDO etc etc, someone can make a deal with them for their motor group and then that issue is gone.
                              Mazda are using a portable unit because it's cheap and nasty, they don't have the resources that Volkswagen do to be able to create a sat nav unit like the RNS 510 that fully integrates into the car and is without a doubt the best sat nav head unit on the market from any vehicle manufacturer.

                              If you're happy to have a tiny screen gps that doesn't integrate into the car there is nothing stopping you from buying one and sticking it to the dash or windscreen.

                              Volkswagen or any other manufacturer are not going to drop prices just because some other manufacturers might drop their price, if you wanted to buy a car based on price you should have gone to a Hyundai dealer instead of Volkswagen.

                              The map prices are priced that way because of volume, as more cars are sold with the RNS 510 the maps will become cheaper. The US is the cheapest place to get maps as unlikely most other countries (including Australia and most of the EU) there is no "ownership" of mapping data by private companies.
                              website: www.my-gti.com

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