Most Expensive Car Maintenance by Brand

[Aquineas]

http://twocents.lifehacker.com/the-car-brands-with-the-highest-maintenance-costs-over-1781639773

Hyundai at #20.

 

[Mark_888]

http://twocents.lifehacker.com/the-car-brands-with-the-highest-maintenance-costs-over-1781639773

Hyundai at #20.

I would question the accuracy of that story.

For example, it says BMW is the most expensive to maintain. However, the methodology used was to look at the Owners Manual or Service/Warranty Booklet and figure out what maintenance is required (2 oil changes per year was used for all vehicles, plus whatever specific maintenance applies to each brand), and then get the dealer prices for those items.

But it fails to mentions that BMW USA, for all "model year 2015 or 2016 vehicles sold or leased by an authorized BMW center on or after July 1, 2014, the BMW Maintenance Program is provided for the first 4 years or 50,000 miles (non-transferable) whichever comes first. These maintenance programs cover all factory-recommended maintenance as outlined in the vehicle's Service and Warranty Booklet." There is no charge for the program in the USA, and it covers factory-recommended maintenance services, including engine oil, engine filter, brake fluid, and spark plug changes.

However, starting with 2017 BMW models, that has been reduced to 3-years/36,000 miles.

 

[Audio]

On top of what Mark said, I see a lot of major flaws here. This was not an extensive survey of ACTUAL maintenance/repair costs by owners of each respective car in each lineup from each manufacturer. It was based on very very very basic information and a LOT of generalization and speculation. With that said, I've owned 4 very high mileage used BMW's and have not really found them to be the nightmare repair cost monsters so many people out of the know seem to assume they are. And on top of that "luxury brands ranked highest".. really? Well.... yeah. I would completely assume repair and maintenance costs on much more expensive cars made with much more expensive parts to be higher. On top of that, Scion, Toyota's throw away cars at the bottom along with Toyota who has hundreds of thousands of mega cheap to buy and fix Corollas included..... just all around flawed. All this said, that is fact, is "A Corolla is cheaper to own than a 750iL" You know, stuff we already knew.

 

[Genentec]

oil change for 5 0 v8 sedan was 35 bucks every 5000 miles.

its $450 for mercedes v6 every 10k miles. do the math.

 

[Mark_888]

oil change for 5 0 v8 sedan was 35 bucks every 5000 miles.

its $450 for mercedes v6 every 10k miles. do the math.

The article is based on what dealers charge for service.

MB and BMW just charge more for routine service items than most others, and it doesn't actually mean they require more service items to be performed. There is no good reason why it should cost that much, other than they know that MB owners have more money than Hyundai owners. I guess that is why there is an independent MB shop right across the street of a MB dealer near where I live.

In any case, BMW provides free routine maintenance for the first 3-4 years, which should take the sting off the maintenance costs. Also, even if one cannot change the oil themselves, I assume changing the air filter, cabin filter, etc can be done by most owners.

MB has the Mercedes-Benz Premier Prepaid Maintenance that allows owners to "lock in" the costs of the required services for up to 4 years or 40,000 miles. It costs about $1500, but not sure what that actually covers.

As I mentioned above, there is no reason why one must take a car to the dealer for routine maintenance. However, I would not take any car to a Jiffy-Lube.

 

[Mark_888]

MB has the Mercedes-Benz Premier Prepaid Maintenance that allows owners to "lock in" the costs of the required services for up to 4 years or 40,000 miles. It costs about $1500, but not sure what that actually covers.

Here is what the Mercedes-Benz Premier Prepaid Maintenance plan covers. Cost varies by dealer, but they say average cost is about $1500 for the 4-year plan:
https://www.mbusa.com/mercedes/service_and_parts/prepaid_maintenance

Once the 4 years - 40K miles are up, MB also has another prepaid service program for 2007 or newer vehicles with a total vehicle mileage ceiling of 80,000 accumulated miles.

 

[homeofstone]

Bad list, too many brands not on the list at all. No Bentley, no Aston Martin, no Jaguar, no Ferrari, no Lamborghini, no Lotus, no Mclaren, no Rolls Royce, etc. My point is there are many cars that are expensive to maintain and they are not on the list. Not even Lincoln.

 

[Audio]

no Lotus

On the more modern ones, they wouldn't have fared any worse than most of the lower portion if this list....

 

[danygenesis]

The article is based on what dealers charge for service.

MB and BMW just charge more for routine service items than most others, and it doesn't actually mean they require more service items to be performed. There is no good reason why it should cost that much, other than they know that MB owners have more money than Hyundai owners. I guess that is why there is an independent MB shop right across the street of a MB dealer near where I live.

In any case, BMW provides free routine maintenance for the first 3-4 years, which should take the sting off the maintenance costs. Also, even if one cannot change the oil themselves, I assume changing the air filter, cabin filter, etc can be done by most owners.

MB has the Mercedes-Benz Premier Prepaid Maintenance that allows owners to "lock in" the costs of the required services for up to 4 years or 40,000 miles. It costs about $1500, but not sure what that actually covers.

As I mentioned above, there is no reason why one must take a car to the dealer for routine maintenance. However, I would not take any car to a Jiffy-Lube.

Agree with you Mark, let's say I have a 2016 MB C350 not AMG, $1500 will include 4 oil changes, 2 cabin filters and 1 engine filter replacement but what impress me is that you need to change brake fluid every 20K miles. I think is too much money for this. Any good mechanic shop could do that for half of the price. Of course I'm talking about a simple affordable C350. For the people who can afford an S550 that's not money just pennies.