Capped price servicing: Light cars

Capped price servicing has taken out much of the unknown costs out of running a car and in the super-competitive mainstream light-car segment, where cars are priced very similarly, there can be extraordinary differences in scheduled service costs.

If you bought a Hyundai i20, for example, and ran it over three years, it would cost you one-third of the cost of maintaining a Honda Jazz for the same period.

Then there are the special sales deals that involve free servicing — Holden has such a program on now, so while the Barina is not the cheapest light car to service in our comparison table, it certainly is if you buy a new one before the end of August 2014.

Then there are some reasonable price estimates given to us on non-CPS cars — a Proton Gen.2 or S16 is not remarkably more than the cheaper CPS light cars to service over a three-year period.

If you feel like an Italian love affair, be prepared to pay for it — the Fiat Punto, also a non-CPS light car, will cost you more than any other light car to service over three years and in fact nearly four times as much as the cheapest cars, the Hyundai i20 and Accent.

There is a lot of variation in how long the CPS schedule lasts too — the minimum is three years (Holden Barina, Hyundai Accent and i20, Renault Clio, Toyota Prius c and Yaris) and the longest is 16 years (Mazda2).

Mazda’s CPS period may give Mazda2 owners bragging rights around the barbeque but they had better not set aside the money now for the 16-year service just yet — a lot can change in that time, and most of all to the price Mazda charges. It is, of course, like all the prices quoted here ‘subject to change’.

All of the CPS schedules run to the same method as non-CPS servicing — that is, you have a time limit or a kilometre limit to reach, and whichever you reach first is when a service is due.

Some vehicle components must be maintained on a time schedule, and because we all drive different distances, some manufacturers split them off the CPS schedule and price them separately. Pollen filter replacement and brake fluid replacement are the most common service procedures to be split from the standard CPS.

Also, the CPS in all instances is not a broad-brush, capped-price maintenance program — you will pay extra for consumable items like brake pads and rotors, tyres and wiper blades.

Some manufacturers, such as Ford, take the sting out of the cost of such extra items by capping those, too. Disc brake machining and brake pad replacement are capped for the Fiesta at $88 for disc machining and $259 for front pads (fitted).

Most vehicle maintenance programs have more intensive servicing requirements for vehicles used for severe conditions. Severe conditions are defined as driving regularly in dusty conditions, regular trailer towing and regular short-distance driving.

If you drive in these circumstances your vehicle will need more frequent servicing and therefore you will pay more than the CPS suggests.