Cost of servicing and service plans

[AussiePete]

In preparation for the arrival of my new ZS EV I’ve started looking at service costs and service plans. Really glad I did as there are some major differences in price so shopping round can save you quite a lot. I started with MG’s website which lets you get quotes from dealers all over the country - Service Plans. Based upon an hour or so of research my observations are

1) If you take the package on the MG site its basically the sum of individual services with an added management fee of £1.20 for each month of your agreement. So in my case each one had a management fee of about £70!!! I’d expect that if you were going direct to the dealership you should not have this management fee applied

2) Shopping around could save me £200 or roughly 20% - admittedly I’d have to drive 140 miles. However I’d definitely travel 10 miles more for a £150 (about 15% saving)

3) If you reduce the duration of the service plan it is still sum of individual service plus £1.20 for each month of plan. So there’s no discount for taking out a longer service agreement

4) I think I’d be in a bette position to get future upgrades like BMS & Comfort 2 included if I’m signed up to a service plan

5) Armed with this information I know my starting point when I walk into the dealer and ask for a 5 year service plan

 

[Mclean93]

 

[Mclean93]

This is the service plan i was given when i bought the car.

 

[AussiePete]

Good prices . I’ve yet to ask the dealer for a package deal for servicing, but with this information I’ve got a good starting point

 

[Paulie68]

Serious question, why would anyone want a service plan? They lock you into one dealer, who you may find you don't like after one service, seem to cost exactly the same, or even more than just paying as and when, and if you decide to sell the car early, I doubt you're going to get a partial refund... Apart from the trivial advantage of hedging against the risk of inflationary increases in annual service costs, I see zero benefit at all!

 

[AussiePete]

Serious question, why would anyone want a service plan? They lock you into one dealer, who you may find you don't like after one service, seem to cost exactly the same, or even more than just paying as and when, and if you decide to sell the car early, I doubt you're going to get a partial refund... Apart from the trivial advantage of hedging against the risk of inflationary increases in annual service costs, I see zero benefit at all!

Paulie, for me the main reasons would be

1) if you can get the service plan at a significantly discounted price or even better included in the purchase price of the vehicle

2) on a service plan your more likely (but not guaranteed) to get updates like comfort 2 as part of the service package

However you are right, you could be tied in with a dealer.

 

[Jake]

My service plan costs around £106 for years 1,3 & 5. Year 2 is around £200 and year 4 £340 plus 58x£1.20/month management fee. I am happy with this supporting local business. My dealer is 800 yards away and I've known for several years (formerly a Ford dealer). Benefits of a plan include courtesy car, continuing breakdown assistance and inflation proof. The overall cost is about double that of the BMW i3 (£350 for a 4 year plan) which I previously had but I think that may have been a subsidised offer at the time in 2016 when BMW/Chandlers were heavily discounting EVs (bit like MG at the moment).

I think you have to balance convenience and confidence against cost when choosing a dealer. The difference in cost between your lowest and highest quotes spread over 5 years is a very small percentage of the depreciation of the car in that time. It can make all the difference in 5 years of happy motoring or not as the case may be. Good luck with your research.

 

[ARealHuman]

Got the 3 year service plan included with the car, part of MGs offer. It doesn't lock you to a particular dealer, it's an MG offer.