Servicing Costs for MG EV ZS Trophy

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ajcooper

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We've just been sent a proposed service plan for our MG ZS Trophy and I wanted to know if it sounds reasonable to you all as this is the first electric car we've owned and can't really compare to previous ICE servicing.

The four year plan with 2 MOT's is coming up as £554.

Does that sound reasonable? It's from our MG dealer rather than MG directly
 
ajcooper said:
We've just been sent a proposed service plan for our MG ZS Trophy and I wanted to know if it sounds reasonable to you all as this is the first electric car we've owned and can't really compare to previous ICE servicing.

The four year plan with 2 MOT's is coming up as £554.

Does that sound reasonable? It's from our MG dealer rather than MG directly
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That doesn't sound too bad.
 
ajcooper said:
We've just been sent a proposed service plan for our MG ZS Trophy and I wanted to know if it sounds reasonable to you all as this is the first electric car we've owned and can't really compare to previous ICE servicing.

The four year plan with 2 MOT's is coming up as £554.

Does that sound reasonable? It's from our MG dealer rather than MG directly
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I'd be happy with that if I was offered it. Are you close I may contact them to take it up. When I asked my dealer for a plan they came up with the equivalent of 794 for 3 years no MOT . I believe year 4 is the more expensive battery coolant replacement too. Did they ask what milage you would be doing?
 
Gadget Geek said:
That doesn't sound too bad.
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That sounds horrific in fact. My Peugeot 207 would cost half that price for 4 year service plan and it was diesel. I was told 100s times that EVs are cheap to maintain because they have no moving parts. What is this price for then when there is no oil changes etc.

Unfortunately because a lot of people don't touch EV servicing we are getting scammed on exaugurated prices for actual work done on a car.
 
Maciej said:
That sounds horrific in fact. My Peugeot 207 would cost half that price for 4 year service plan and it was diesel. I was told 100s times that EVs are cheap to maintain because they have no moving parts. What is this price for then when there is no oil changes etc.

Unfortunately because a lot of people don't touch EV servicing we are getting scammed on exaugurated prices for actual work done on a car.
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Please let us know if you get a cheaper deal. :)
 
I am not saying you can get it cheaper. I know you can't but is baffles me that EV service is twice a price of deiseal service when there is half the work to do on it.
 
Maciej said:
I am not saying you can get it cheaper. I know you can't but is baffles me that EV service is twice a price of deiseal service when there is half the work to do on it.
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That's because with so little to do to an EV compared to a ICE, the garages have to make their profit on the labour costs. They can't put the mark up on ignition plugs, oil filters, timing belts, etc, when an EV doesn't have them.

Edit: Actually, it would be interesting to look at the cost breakdown on an ICE service and see how much was labour costs and how much was parts.
 
That still sounds extra scummy as business practice. There is less to do so our price per hour is now £50 rather than £25 sounds rather bad to me. I hope that sooner rather than later independent services will start taking more EVs and charge sensible pricing on them dealers can't get away with crazy pricing like this. You have paid at times £10 000 more than petrol equivalent in order to save on petrol now your insurance went up and so did your service cost quickly the savings become less and less.

It's tempting to just not do a service if MOT is fine as service isn't legal requirement.
 
Lets think about the "standard" service items on an ICE car in comparison to an EV

ICE Minor service - circa £100-£400 depending on dealer/brand
Engine oil and microfilter

Ice Major service - circa £300-£700 depending on dealer/brand
Engine oil and microfilter
Air filter
Fuel filter (?)
Pollen/particulate/cabin filter (whatever each dealer calls them these days)

Items not always included but some dealers will include/recommend at certain intervals
Spark/Glow Plugs
Coolant
Brake fluid
Power Steering Fluid
Valve Clearance
Timing belt/chain
Gearbox oil (haldex etc)
Clutch fluid

EV Service
Air filter
Brake Fluid
Pollen/cabin filter
Coolant
Inspection of HV cabling

Both ICE and EV are hooked up to diagnostic computers to check for any errors/faults.

So in all, what is the point of this exercise I have done? to prove that there is literally no reason why an EV's service should cost more than that of an ICE car... it is pure profiteering at it's best because as has been already stated, they cannot use markups on parts like engine oil, belts, filters and plugs.

700+ is insanity for an EV service plan. My wife's diesel A-Class is only 640 for 3 years
billybonfire3 said:
I'd be happy with that if I was offered it. Are you close I may contact them to take it up. When I asked my dealer for a plan they came up with the equivalent of 794 for 3 years no MOT . I believe year 4 is the more expensive battery coolant replacement too. Did they ask what milage you would be doing?
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The only thing I can think is that based on your location on your profile you are falling majorly foul of the "London" tax and it might be worth your while (and your wallet) to get a quote from a dealer/garage outside of London.
 
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Your prices are too high. My Peugeot was £60 for small service and £110 for full service. But I agree on the rest that cost should never be higher than that of regular car. 1st year service can't possibly be more than hooking it to computer and quick visual check that everything is working fine.

According to MG website during first service there is no need to even do pollen filter or break fluids those happen every other year at larger service. Coolant is only replaced at year 5.
 
Maciej said:
Your prices are too high. My Peugeot was £60 for small service and £110 for full service. But I agree on the rest that cost should never be higher than that of regular car. 1st year service can't possibly be more than hooking it to computer and quick visual check that everything is working fine.

According to MG website during first service there is no need to even do pollen filter or break fluids those happen every other year at larger service. Coolant is only replaced at year 5.
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I have never seen a service (from a main dealer) as cheap as £60... average labour cost for dealerships is between 80 and 120 per hour these days.

My comparison was based on experiences of main dealer prices for servicing... cheaper alternatives are always available from independent garages.
 
Some of these expectations are from a different decade. Surely it'd cost minimum £30 for oil and £10 for an oil filter for a Peugeot 207. I don't think you're getting labour and the rest of the service for £20 even from a back street garage.

4 year plan and 2 MOTs on the ZS from a dealer for £554 is reasonable.
 
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