Any way to get Homelink on a 2021 M3 LR without paying $300 to Tesla? Thx.

[JCtx]

My wife was pissed to find out her upcoming $50K car doesn't even have Homelink. And no way we'd pay $300 for that, plus having to take car to a dealer. I'm sure there's programming involved, so even if you don't want a dealer tech touching your brand new car, it's probably not a DIY job, right? Is there an aftermarket option that can be integrated, meaning 'plug and play'? Probably not, but rather ask. Otherwise, like our poor days, a freaking remote on the console will have to do it. At least for now. Thank you in advance for your help .

 

[MP3Mike]

Not that I am aware of. And you usually don't have to go to a service center; they will ship the Homelink module to you, and then you schedule a mobile tech to come install it and update your software to enable it.

I wouldn't be surprised if a significant portion of the $300 goes to Homelink for the licensing costs.

There is rumor that at some point, maybe in V11 that is rumored to come later this month, Tesla will add an option to work with WiFi enabled garage door openers to avoid having to add the Homelink module.

 

[SalisburySam]

Absolutely. Cheaper and best working Homelink option: the garage opener’s remote control, as you’ve already identified. The cost is unbeatable, the performance is excellent and only fails if the battery weakens (easily fixed for cheap). Beats all other options. All.

 

[jjrandorin]

To answer your thread question, you could theoretically buy a module from ebay or something, but tesla also charges to activate it. Might save $30-$40 that way.

There are other ways to open the garage door from the car, but that isnt what you asked. They (tesla) can also do the install via mobile ranger, in most cases, and that $300 is parts and labor, and activation. I think they charge $100 ish or so just for the activation.

 

[Ruffles]

A mobile ranger came out and installed my homelink and I watched him do it. He plugged the module in but it wasn't recognized by the system until he connected his laptop and changed some feature codes. It wasn't just plug it in and reboot and it was detected.

 

[LionXng]

Leave her and take the car. Get homelink installed and move in next door. She can watch you open your new garage without pressing any buttons from her kia or whatever she wants with homelink pre-installed.

 

[INeedMoreBass]

I agree that $300 is really steep. I bought it and I sort of regretted it but I am appreciating the convenience since I bounce between 2 homes. Although then again, I could have just bought a garage remote with multiple buttons for like $30 ‍:facepalm:

I kind of feel like Tesla is just price gouging us since there isn't any better/comparable alternative that we can install directly into the car.

 

[dmurphy]

Couple of thoughts... Yes, it's expensive, but most of that is HomeLink licensing fees. The modules themselves go for $150-$160 on Amazon, and then of course there's installation time, software programming time, etc. that Tesla charges for. Expensive but I don't think Tesla is profiting much - if anything - on it. Just rolling a Mobile Service vehicle to your house probably costs them anywhere from $80-$100.

Now all that said, of course the cheaper option is to use the visor clip-on. The reason I don't care for that is because all someone has to do is pop the window on my car, and boom, they're in my garage. At least with HomeLink, the module is useless unless they've woken the car up and authenticated to it. Much, much more work.

Somewhat theoretical, but somewhat not.

 

[cimci]

Does Home link auto opens the garage when you are near enough or do you still have the push a button on screen ?

 

[drtimhill]

Does Home link auto opens the garage when you are near enough or do you still have the push a button on screen ?

It can be setup to both open and/or close the door automatically. I only use the open, but it works perfectly, the door opens as I pull into the driveway. In my case I got the car when it was standard so didn't have to justify the $300 to myself, but I do enjoy the integrated convenience and lack of clutter (and, as someone noted, the increased security).

The programming is also very easy compared to any other cars homelink I've used. The car walks you through the process, very nice.

 

[ShoreTrooper]

I bought a $10 remote on Amazon, programmed it to my door opener, put a small piece of velcro on the back and attached it to the underside of my center screen. No one knows it's there and I saved $290. Having the door open automatically would certainly be cool, but that wasn't worth the money to me. I can push the button on my own.

 

[f308gt4]

I bought a $10 remote on Amazon, programmed it to my door opener, put a small piece of velcro on the back and attached it to the underside of my center screen. No one knows it's there and I saved $290. Having the door open automatically would certainly be cool, but that wasn't worth the money to me. I can push the button on my own.

Yep, this is the way to do it. I used Velcro tape so that it can come off easily to change the battery. Also, I lined the button up so it’s right behind the fan button on the screen. Not visible to anyone who doesn’t know it’s there.

 

[Watts_Up]

It can be setup to both open and/or close the door automatically.
I only use the open, but it works perfectly, the door opens as I pull into the driveway.
In my case I got the car when it was standard so didn't have to justify the $300 to myself,
but I do enjoy the integrated convenience and lack of clutter (and, as someone noted, the increased security).

The programming is also very easy compared to any other cars homelink I've used.
The car walks you through the process, very nice.

If you search for previous threads about Homelink, some users complained from having the door closing too earlier,
damaging the glass roof, to the door not closing at all, leaving the garage door opened all the day.

Some other users complained that the garage door closed as soon as they moved their car out of the garage to the driveway
to wait for other members of the family, but the garage door had to be reopened to let people walking out from the garage.

Automatic GPS controlled door opening is a nice feature, but I think that a push button is simpler and safer for most use cases.
The only issue I would think, is that if you back up your car into your garage, then you might forget to close the door when leaving,
as you will not see the garage door in front of you.

 

[Ruffles]

It can be setup to both open and/or close the door automatically. I only use the open, but it works perfectly, the door opens as I pull into the driveway. In my case I got the car when it was standard so didn't have to justify the $300 to myself, but I do enjoy the integrated convenience and lack of clutter (and, as someone noted, the increased security).

The programming is also very easy compared to any other cars homelink I've used. The car walks you through the process, very nice.

I had the auto open set up to open just as I reached my driveway and just sold my house. Then, while back in town, my wife wanted to drive past our old home to see if the new owners had decorated it nicer than she had and insisted they wouldn't recognize our car. Unfortunately, they were outside when I drove past and I opened their garage! Needless to say we were completely embarrassed and have definitely removed the HomeLink programming until my new home is ready lol.

 

[JCtx]

There are other ways to open the garage door from the car, but that isn't what you asked.

Always open to alternatives, of course, but the one below is the perfect solution IMO.

I bought a $10 remote on Amazon, programmed it to my door opener, put a small piece of velcro on the back and attached it to the underside of my center screen.

That idea of putting the remote behind the screen was genius. And you don't even have to buy a remote; just use one of the 3 (or 4) I have, since all of our other vehicles have Homelink. I just replaced the battery, which should last years, and I'd attach it to the back to the screen with 4 little squares of industrial double-sided tape, so it's solid. And if needed, it could be removed relatively easily, but would never come off by itself. Brilliant solution. Refused to pay $300 for crap like that, especially when it was included before. Geez. Thank you very much for all your help, and ideas .

 

[MP3Mike]

Refused to pay $300 for crap like that, especially when it was included before.

Prices have been lowered way more than $300 since it was removed...

 

[Uncle Paul]

Believe the reason Tesla does this, is that Homelink charges them hefty licensing fees for every one they put in. With a tremendous number of owners, homelink is not an issue, so why pay for the gadget and fees.

If the buyer really wants and values the addition of Homelink over $300 they can simply have it installed by Tesla. If not, then Tesla does not need to pay the fees.

I believe that Tesla is working on their own system, that can be easily integrated in to their cars. Perhaps a Wi-Fi, cellular or Bluetooth system. Then they can charge other car companies that want to include it in their vehicles.

 

[JCtx]

Prices have been lowered way more than $300 since it was removed...

NOPE! Just checked Tesla's website yesterday, and that's why I started this thread .

Believe the reason Tesla does this, is that Homelink charges them hefty licensing fees.

I don't think so. It's just that Tesla wants to charge an arm and a leg for it. Yes, the Homelink brand module is probably the most expensive, but probably not by that much. Plus there are other brands as well. The way you know it's Homelink is if a button/housing has their trademark little house carved in. At any rate, what pisses me off is not that Tesla removed it (well, I little bit. Ha ha), but that they don't offer it as a factory option, and you'd have to take your brand new car to get worked on at a dealer. Plus paying freaking 300 bucks.

You could buy a Homelink mirror a lot cheaper than that too, but I don't want to d*ck with that on an electric Tesla. So will just follow the great idea somebody had of invisibly attaching the garage remote to the back (bottom) of the screen, and be done with this .

 

[MP3Mike]

NOPE! Just checked Tesla's website yesterday, and that's why I started this thread .

So you are saying Tesla hasn't lowered the price of the Model 3 by more than $300 since 2019? (Yeah, they dropped it from being a standard feature in the first half of 2019.)

 

[JCtx]

EVERYBODY is lowering prices of electric vehicles man, due to cheaper battery manufacturing, so that has nothing to do with that. They're just skimping on features, like most manufacturers, to be fair. But that's no justification; they just want more profit, period. They're already more expensive than they have to be, but enough suckers (me included) keep paying Tesla what they want, so they keep getting away with it . But I'm not going to keep filling their coffers unless I absolutely have to have something... and with the Homelink, it's not the case.