Auto Parts
Information Platform


Auto Parts
Information Platform

Volkswagen wants you to subscribe to your car

Have you ever looked at all your streaming subscriptions and thought: “I wish I could pay for my car like this?” Oh boy, you’re in luck!

On Wednesday, Volkswagen rolled out a new month-to-month vehicle subscription service in the Atlanta metro area, aiming to simplify car ownership. Called “VW Flex,” the service, launched in partnership with Volkswagen Financial Services, combines maintenance, insurance, and 24/7 roadside assistance into one, simple monthly fee.

Isn’t this just a glorified lease?

The idea of a “vehicle subscription” may just seem like a new marketing term for a lease, but it differs in a few notable ways.

With VW Flex, customers can borrow a vehicle for as little as a month or keep it for as long as they want. When they’re ready to give it back, they just have to give Volkswagen 30 days’ notice before they return it to the dealership. And unlike traditional loans and leases, VW Flex also does not check your credit score or approve applications based on creditworthiness.

Flex customers can choose from a range of models, including the Atlas, Atlas Cross Sport, Tiguan, Golf GTI and Jetta (sorry, no Golf R here). While this model offers flexibility and avoids being locked into car loans or long lease terms, it does come at a cost.

Related: Volkswagen has some brutal news for employees about their future

What’s the catch?

If all the details so far have you eager to start a subscription for a new Golf GTI, just be ready to open your wallet.

Before you can start a subscription, you have to pay a non-refundable $495 activation fee. After this, you can pay anywhere from $599 for a Jetta to $799 a month for an Atlas. Depending on what you compare the Flex program to, this could be a pretty good deal or a total rip off.

Putting VW Flex pricing up against a traditional lease isn’t a flattering comparison. With our back-of-the-envelope calculations, we found a 36-month lease for a Jetta in the Atlanta area comes out to about $12,000. By comparison, subscribing to a Jetta through VW Flex for that same amount of time will run you about $22,000. Of course, Flex prices already include insurance, but that doesn’t manage to close the roughly $10,000 gap.

On the other hand, comparing VW Flex to a long-term rental car makes the new subscription service pretty appealing. If you’re only needing a car for a few months leasing isn’t an option, but an average rental would run you about $5,500 on average in the Atlanta-area, according to NerdWallet. For that same period of time, a Jetta from VW Flex would cost less than half that.

Related: Hyundai RN24 debut at N Day 2024 showcases the future of compact, high-performance EVs

Final thoughts

The idea of a “car subscription” isn’t a particularly appealing one on first impression, but VW Flex does fill a pretty sizable gap in the market between vehicle rental services and long-term leases.

As of now, the service is being offered at just two dealerships in the Atlanta metro area, but depending on its success we expect it will expand to other major cities in the future—maybe with a Golf R on offer (fingers crossed).

Leave a Reply

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *