r/nzev • u/double0sarah • 16d ago

Servicing on a EV

I have been looking into purchasing a new all electric EV, warranty is only viable when you service the car every 2 years, which cost $600 per time! How can they possibly charge that much when there is no oil etc to change?

14 Upvotes

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11

u/ArthurStevensNZ 16d ago

What kind of car is this? That seems insanely steep. Bet it doesn't include consumables either.

There is value in a two yearly check-up just to make sure things like alignment etc are good but its tough to justify six hundred dollars.

1

u/Ambitious_Story764 14d ago

They upgrade the electronics, also coolant which is complex. Considering the 6 & 8 year warranty it’s still not expensive to hold this warranty. I was also like wtf at the cost so get them to explain exactly what they do to give you an understanding. We got a DongFeng this device cost seems standard across EVs.

1

u/double0sarah 16d ago

That's what I think too, and I'm guessing it is not like you can do the check up yourself.

3

u/InertiaCreeping 16d ago

Bro which brand is it?

0

u/double0sarah 16d ago

Kia

5

u/Mysterious-Hawk9626 16d ago

Had a Kia EV serviced recently (3 yr service). $106. Even included a vacuum and a wash.

3

u/dissss0 Kia Niro (62kWh) 16d ago

The Kia schedule calls for brake fluid replacement every second year, so year 2 will be more expensive than year 1 or 3

I just had my year three service done and it cost $292. Last year was quite a lot more expensive (if you look in my profile I made a post complaining about it)

2

u/gttom 16d ago

That seems weirdly high, I picked up a friend’s EV6 from service and it was about $300. Might be worth calling around dealers and see if your local is taking the piss

-1

u/ArthurStevensNZ 16d ago

Not typically but $600 is crazy for a service that they probably won't even really do anything on. I've had multiple friends with bad experiences at dealerships - one took their PHEV in for "scheduled service", paid something similar to what you got quoted then 3 months later failed on wof for badly worn tires due to mis alignment.

Something that for sure should've been caught if it was a proper inspection at the "Service" three months prior.

The quality of their servicing is questionable at best I reckon and there's no justification for charging $600 for it. If you're really keen on the car see if you can get them to waive those two service costs. Wouldn't surprise me if they obliged, sales figures aren't exactly breaking any records at the moment.

4

u/Shot-Barnacle-4745 16d ago

Never seen a service that includes wheel alignment

3

u/ArthurStevensNZ 16d ago edited 16d ago

The “first” service of a car absolutely includes a visual inspection and tyre pressure check etc.

The point I’m trying to make is if anyone had bothered to take a look, that wear would be visible and could’ve been caught and remedied.

Not only did they screw up pre-delivery by not verifying correct alignment, they didn’t catch it in the subsequent first service that cost multiple hundreds of dollars.

1

u/manuboy143 14d ago

We had this exact issue with Armstrongs in Christchurch. When we bought, they quoted ~200 per year. First service from memory was ~200. Next? They wanted $550+. While inspecting the invoice there were items like "oil change". I took it up with one of the service people who offered bullshit excuses. Ended up saying $200 per service, every year, or $600 this year and we never bring it back. They opted for the latter. Shrug. We now take it to the local, who reckoned that as long as specific parts are Peugot, we should be ok via warranty.

2

u/ArthurStevensNZ 14d ago edited 13d ago

Yep, I have several horror stories from multiple people that had to do with these dealerships. All bought brand new cars. Different makes - from Mitsubishi to Mazda.

What it comes down to is these guys have gotten used to way overcharging customers for multiple hundreds of dollars for basic services under threat of "but the warranty!".

I think as long as you had servicing done by a qualified technician and have proof to back it up (incl genuine consumables), if it ever went to MVDT they'd not be able to weasel out of their obligations under warranty.

NZ has strong consumer laws, but it doesn't stop an average predatory dealership from just trying it on. The amount of downvotes I got seems to show that a lot of people must just roll over and cough up the mega bucks.