Buick has some of the least expensive vehicle service costs in the automotive industry, according to the Deepview True Cost Second Owner Study (SOS) published this week by predictive analytics and data company We Predict.
According to We Predict, the Deepview True Cost SOS “measures actual money spent by owners and manufacturers of 2018-model-year vehicles during their first three years on the road,” to determine which manufacturers have the least expensive service costs on average.
The study found that Kia had the least expensive service costs, with Kia owners spending an average of $369 on service-related expenses over three years. The closely related Hyundai brand was second at an average of $381, followed by Dodge in third at $420. Mazda was fourth at $443, while Buick trailed it closely in fifth at $452.
Mini was the most expensive vehicle to service among mass-market brands with pricy average three-year service costs of $1,316. Volkswagen had the second most expensive service costs at $1,081 over three years, followed by GMC at $923.
We Predict says this study is based on an analysis of more than 13 million individual vehicles across 400 models and 5 million service or repair orders that totaled more than $7.7 billion in parts and $9.5 billion in labor costs. Service or repair orders included maintenance, unplanned repairs, warranty and recalls, service campaigns, diagnostics, software updates, and warranty on factory-installed options.
Based on this study, it seems as though vehicle service costs “are increasing even as industry-wide vehicle quality continues to improve,” We Predict says. This could suggest that emerging technologies are driving up vehicle service costs, despite the fact that many owners have observed increased build quality for new vehicles.
We Predict Founder and CEO James Davies says automakers can position themselves strongly in the market by having low service costs, which frees up money for the company to spend on new products or other more important ventures.
“While manufacturers’ average service costs per vehicle may seem relatively small, cumulatively they add up very quickly when you consider the volume of vehicles sold per brand,” Davies said. “Having an industry-wide view of the market and being able to anticipate problems, and intervene quickly, can help automakers avoid millions of dollars in repairs. Those savings can then be applied elsewhere in the company.”
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Comments
More good news for the great Buick brand. The thing I noticed is that this list must be non-luxury brands? Not sure (or maybe I missed it in the article), but this list must be just the mainstream/non-luxury brands. Considering that Buick (and maybe the Chrysler brand) are the only near-luxury brands in the top spots, that’s really good. The rest are all mainstream brands that are really designed to costs less to own.
chrysler is dead. it is 2021 not 1961.
i believe on the surface this article is misleading . you need to look at the vehicles included under the brand. EG. Hyundai and KIA produce mostly smaller inexpensive 4 cylinder cars, while Chevy has trucks ,Camaros , Vettes etc with 6 and 8 cylinder engines that are more expensive to service. Oil changes , spark plug, replacement tires, etc all cost more in a vehicle with a larger engine. Dodge is low cost but they only produce 1 or 2 vehicles under the brand , look where RAM is at in costs with mostly trucks . The low costs at the top are for manufacturers /brands that are not full line manufacturers and produce only smaller vehicles that should be less expensive to service and operate. I think Chevrolet has done very well here with 1of the most diverse offerings and if you compare to other full line manufacturers , they are at the top in low cost of maintenance .
At 36 months, no one is replacing plugs. Tires probably still good at 3 years as well. Oil changes are pretty standard pricing until you get to dry sump. My 8 cyl wet sump is the same price as a 4, my dry sump 8 cyl is much more though, but close to 11 qts. The big surprises for me was Mini VW and GMC. Why? What was the additional costs from. And I thought I’d been seeing ads recently by VW about how their Tiguan was cheaper than a Toyota to maintain. Maybe VW knows they have a problem.