Capped price servicing: Light luxury cars

When you enter the realm of premium light cars, you do not necessarily have to pay a premium for servicing.

In fact, for the category defined in VFACTS as light cars above $25,000, the cars are in some instances cheaper to service than much less expensive light cars.

The Renault Clio, for example, costs just $897 over three years, undercutting many light cars such as the Mazda2 and Suzuki Swift. If you're prepared to pay up front, the MINI is cheaper again at $800 for three years of servicing.

Confusingly, not all cars in this category actually cost more than $25,000: the Alfa Romeo MiTo 0.9-litre Progression is included with its upper-spec siblings in the category, despite costing $22,500 plus on-road costs. For this reason we've included the 1.4 Progression ($26,500 plus ORCs) in the table.

The Renault Clio range also starts at well under $25,000 — the Clio Authentique is $16,790 (plus ORCs) and appears in both categories of light cars (Light Cars <$25K and Light Cars >$25K) in VFACTS.

Only the Clio GT and GT Premium cost more than $25K ($25,290 and $28,790 respectively). All Clios have the same capped price service (CPS) costs, of $299 per service.

The Citroen C3 range also starts at less than $25K — in fact, only the 1.6-litre Exclusive breaches the $25K barrier, at $25,990. The C3's CPS pricing is the same across the board.

The Peugeot 208 is another car that starts out cheaper than $25K. The cheapest 208 is the 1.2 Active at $18,490; only the 1.6 Allure Premium ($26,490) and GTI ($29,990) exceed $25k.

However, the 208 range shares the same CPS deal, except for the GTI, which is marginally more expensive with its CPS ($105 more than the rest of the 208 range over three years).

The MINI does not have a fixed service schedule; sensors in the car detect when fluids have degraded sufficiently to require a service. Hence the service estimate give by the manufacturer is an approximate price only.

Confusing the issue with the MINI is that while it does not have a price cap on servicing when you pay-as-you-go, it does have a CPS deal available if you pay up front when buying the car — and at $800 for three years, it's a bargain.

Audi offers a similar deal with the A1; you pay $1580 up front and that covers you for the first three years or 45,000km of services.

Like the MINI, Audi also does not have a pay-as-you-go CPS schedule, but the manufacturer was not able to give us a price estimate for A1 servicing costs when paid for at the time of the services.

Audi A1's prepaid servicing is for three years/45,000km, available at new-vehicle purchase or up to when the vehicle is 12 months old.
Peugeot 208 excludes GTI, which costs $1395 over three years/45,000km ($2340 over five years/75,000km).

Table shows Alfa Romeo MiTo 1.4 Progression. The MiTo 0.9 Progression costs $1059.66 over the same period.
MINI service price approximate only. MINI also offers a pre-paid three-year service plan for $800.