They never said anything about a transfer fee. I don’t know if it makes a difference if the radio comes with the car from the factory of if it’s an aftermarket one.
I had two after market radios and then two factory ones (just a seamless part of the factory head unit like most cars have now) so after I had the first one I transferred my subscription three times and each time there was a ‘transfer fee’. But, like I said, I just had to ask for it to be waived and they didn’t charge me.
Each time I have to go through it, I really can’t understand why they don’t allow us to do it online. I don’t know if it’s a way to try to get that $15 from people or if they just don’t feel like putting the money into re-writing their website to allow it. For the record, I can ping my radio from the website, so I know that user side of the website does connect, in some way, to the radio.
In 2009 I called to get my ex-wife’s radio removed from my account. During that call they offered me a lifetime subscription for around $400. After doing the math I accepted the offer. A few years later I called to transfer from my plug and play unit to a factory unit. Turns out that is not possible on the lifetime plan. I would have to start up a new account and pay accordingly. I refused to do so.
Between Spotify, Slacker, MLB At Bat and my iPod I have no use for sat radio anymore. I still have the service (I’m not going to cancel something I no longer have to pay for) but I couldn’t tell you the last time I listened to it. Based on their rates when I got the lifetime sub I definitely got my money’s worth.
I’d love to get a lifetime subscription, but they’re not transferable and since I lease my car it gets moved from one unit to another every few years. Even when I had my after market unit (a SkiFi and a SkiFi 2) I found they only lasted a few years.