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‘Kitna deta hai?’ – that’s something everyone wants to know, but how much do you spend on the maintenance of your car? Service bills may only come every few months, but they can be big and they all add up.

  • Premium and Executive SUV maintenance costs compared
  • Factors in service parts & life, labour rates and service intervals

So, to give you an idea of just how much you’d spend maintaining your car, we’ve designed our first ever ‘Maintenance Cost Study’. And it’s not just the cost of spares or one service alone that we’ve analysed, but the total cost of service parts, their service life, the labour rates as well as the service intervals of each car, extrapolated over 60,000km.

For most owners this would come up at around the 5-year mark, and so this study will give you a very good insight of the cost you’d incur over a typical ownership period.

Over the years, our ‘Spare Parts Study’ has compared the cost of typically consumed parts across three baskets of service, mechanical and accident repair, thus giving you a very good insight into the likely expenses you would incur. But this Maintenance Cost study will give you an even better picture.

Maintenance cost study methodology

Arriving at a model that is fair and can be uniformly applied across vehicles is quite tricky though. Some vehicles may have a longer service interval (in kilometres) but you may be called in for a service periodically, irrespective of the mileage you’ve covered. And even then, some brands will allow you to extend the service life of certain parts if the condition is found to be ok.

Thus, in a bid to keep things uniform and reduce complexity, the study takes into account the cost of the service parts, the frequency of their change and the cost of associated labour for services undertaken up to the 60,000km mark, as per the manufacturers’ recommendations.

You will notice that Maruti Suzuki is not a part of the study, as the company declined to take part, and our efforts to get the pricing from dealers too proved to be in vain. It’s disappointing to see this, as transparency is the watch-word these days, and we were clear with all the brands about our study and its aim. Also, while the Nissan brand too did not take part they did however do so for the Datsun brand.

Let’s get started:

 

Premium SUVs

This segment is sub-divided into two classes of vehicles – monocoque SUVs like the Honda CR-V, Volkswagen Tiguan Allspace and Hyundai Tucson; and body-on-frame SUVs like the Mahindra Alturas G4, Toyota Fortuner and Ford Endeavour.

Monocoque Premium SUVs

  • The Hyundai Tucson offer petrol and diesel engines, as did the Honda CR-V before BS6 (it is petrol only now), whereas the Volkswagen Tiguan Allspace is a petrol-only offering.
  • Besides being an import, what makes the Tiguan Allspace the costliest is the costs for transmission fluid, transfer case oil and spark plugs, all of which need replacement at 60,000km; even the total labour charges will set you back by Rs 27,893 over the second, third and fourth paid services.
  • The Honda CR-V is the only one that requires a coolant change that happens every five years.
  • Hyundai charges for labour from the 40,000km service at a flat Rs 2,910 per service. The Tucson proves to be the most pocket-friendly, with the fewest parts requiring replacement, as well as affordable rates.

Body-on-frame Premium SUVs

  • The Ford Endeavour is the most economical to run, with the lowest cost of replacement parts, and a flat labour rate of Rs 3,240 for the paid periodical services.
  • Mahindra boasts of the cheapest replacement parts and labour rates, but it requires additional replacement parts such as a fuel filter, transmission/transaxle oil, rear differential oil, transfer case oil and clutch fluid, thus it comes in a bit higher than the Ford.
  • The Fortuner diesel is a bit more expensive to run than the Endeavour as, among other things, Toyota replaces the rear differential oil every 40,000km.
Premium SUVs maintenance costs (in Rupees)
Manufacturer Mahindra Alturas G4 Toyota Fortuner Ford Endeavour Honda CR-V Volkswagen Tiguan Allspace Hyundai Tucson
Engine 2.2 D 2.8 D 2.7 P 2.0 D 2.0 P 1.6 D 2.0 P 2.0 P 2.0 D
COST OF PARTS
Air Filter 800 1748 1748 1385 750 1132 1103 727 643
Oil Filter 399 412 412 418 175 395 1244 172 392
Fuel Filter 1400 NA NA 1161 NA 1250 NA 445 1725
Fuel Filter - In Tank NA NA NA NA NA NA NA NA NA
Washer Drain Plug 35 59 59 NA 36 36 279 NA NA
Spark Plug (for entire set) NA NA NA NA NA NA 6332 NA NA
Timing Belt/ Chain NA NA NA NA NA NA NA NA NA
Fan Belt/ Drivebelt NA NA NA NA NA NA 446 NA NA
Belt tensioner NA NA NA NA NA NA NA NA NA
Coolant NA NA NA NA 1928 1699 NA NA NA
Engine Oil 2106 3563 3563 2543 1169 1978 5472 1288 1594
Transmission/Transaxle Oil 5400 NA NA NA NA NA 4094 NA NA
Rear differential oil 928 1607 1607 NA NA NA NA NA NA
Transfer case oil 780 NA NA NA NA NA 2691 NA NA
Brake fluid 563 345 345 489 330 330 518 NA NA
Clutch fluid 563 NA NA NA NA NA NA NA NA
Power steering fluid NA NA NA NA NA NA NA NA NA
Pollen / HVAC filter 1100 1840 1840 1462 1400 1400 989 1147 1147
SERVICE INTERVALS 1 year or 10,000km 1 year or 10,000km 1 year or 10,000km 1 year or 10,000km 1 year or 10,000km 1 year or 10,000km 1 year or 15,000km 1 year or 10,000km 1 year or 10,000km
1st Service Cost (parts+labour) 3799 4034 3131 2961 2780 3809 10948 1460 3133
2nd Service Cost (parts+labour) 4599 5874 4971 7663 9147 10144 21622 2607 5501
3rd Service Cost (parts+labour) 7143 8920 6270 7851 5895 7148 25820 2187 3133
4th Service Cost (parts+labour) 9921 11653 11898 9048 9147 11563 44280 5428 8187
5th Service Cost (parts+labour) 6029 7172 6270 6201 5565 8517 NA 4370 4896
6th Service Cost (parts+labour) 13570 10760 8110 8824 9477 10474 NA 6600 8187
Total Cost (up to 60,000km) 45061 48413 40650 42548 42011 51655 102670 22652 33037
Maintenance cost per km 0.75 0.81 0.68 0.71 0.70 0.86 1.71 0.38 0.55

Executive SUVs

The petrol competitors include the MG Hector, Jeep Compass, VW T-Roc and the Skoda Karoq, all of which use turbo-petrol engines. In the diesel camp, three out of the four competitors, namely the Compass, Hector and Tata Harrier, are powered by the same 2.0-litre FCA diesel engine, while the fourth rival, the Mahindra XUV500, uses an in-house 2.2-litre powerplant.

 

  • The petrol MG Hector has a service interval of one year/ 10,000km, while Jeep and Skoda have a 15,000km annual service. However, the MG is the most economical to run due to considerably lower-priced spares and more pocket-friendly labour rates.
  • The Jeep’s parts costs are much higher than the Hector’s and what further drives up costs is the 1.4 turbo-petrol engine’s spark plug set, which costs Rs 3,960.
  • The fully imported Skoda Karoq’s running costs are higher than those of the Hector and the Compass, and a significant cost is its fanbelt/drive belt replacement at the fourth year or 60,000km service, which costs Rs 6,108, excluding labour.
  • But the most expensive petrol offering is the also-imported Volkswagen T-Roc, and despite the first service being free of labour charges, the second, third and fourth service labour charges alone are over Rs 28,000, thus contributing to a significantly higher running cost.
  • All the SUVs powered by the FCA-sourced 2.0-litre diesel engine have a service interval of one year/15,000km, whereas the Mahindra XUV500 needs a service every 10,000km.
  • What comes as a surprise is that the homegrown Tata Harrier is the most expensive to run. This isn’t down to higher spare costs alone, but because of labour-intensive jobs like the fan belt/drive belt and belt tensioner replacement every four years.
  • Also, in addition to regular service intervals, the Harrier also requires a basic check-up at 22,500, 37,500 and 52,500km, each of which costs Rs 1,416 (which we have added to the 2nd, 3rd and 4th service costs).

Did you find this maintenance cost comparison helpful? Tell us what you think in the comments section, and stay tuned for more maintenance cost comparison surveys of other segments that are coming soon.

Executive SUVs maintenance costs (in Rupees)
Manufacturer Tata Harrier MG Hector Jeep Compass Skoda Karoq Volkswagen T-Roc Mahindra XUV500
Engine 2.0D 1.5P 2.0D 1.4P 2.0D 1.5P 1.5P 2.2D
COST OF PARTS
Air Filter 943 395 395 767 767 1312 822 925
Oil Filter 867 241 606 507 649 99 99 171
Fuel Filter 2962 413 1306 NA 2990 NA NA 595
Washer Drain Plug 373 95 86 195 326 16 155 9
Spark Plug (for entire set) NA 784 NA 3960 NA 4416 4416 NA
Timing Belt/ Chain NA NA NA NA NA 382 NA NA
Fan Belt/ Drivebelt 3052 NA NA NA NA 6108 382 1449
Belt tensioner 3348 NA NA NA NA NA NA NA
Coolant 1484 NA 935 NA NA NA NA NA
Engine Oil 4750 1332 4363 2884 3389 4128 4128 2106
Transmission/Transaxle Oil NA 655 2230 NA NA NA 1089 NA
Rear differential oil NA NA NA NA NA NA NA NA
Transfer case oil NA NA NA NA NA NA 2691 NA
Brake fluid 305 476 476 377 377 518 518 375
Clutch fluid NA NA NA 377 377 NA NA 375
Power steering fluid 492 NA NA NA NA NA NA NA
Pollen / HVAC filter 537 225 225 514 514 556 1787 1170
SERVICE INTERVALS 1 year or 15,000km 1 year or 10,000km 1 year or 15,000km 1 year or 15,000km 1 year or 15,000km 1 year or 15,000km 1 year or 15,000km 1 year or 10,000km
1st Service Cost (parts+labour) 10355 1920 7013 5183 9087 4986 8487 3456
2nd Service Cost (parts+labour) 17316 2728 7013 13414 12886 12549 19736 3456
3rd Service Cost (parts+labour) 16709 3180 7489 7897 11801 10719 15711 7897
4th Service Cost (parts+labour) 18800 4970 11485 13414 12886 18203 27916 8932
5th Service Cost (parts+labour) NA 4162 NA NA NA NA NA 6288
6th Service Cost (parts+labour) NA 6885 NA NA NA NA NA 8489
Total Cost (up to 60,000km) 63180 23845 33000 39908 46660 46457 71850 38518
Maintenance cost per km 1.05 0.40 0.55 0.67 0.78 0.77 1.20 0.64

 

 

 

 

 



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