Owning a car is an expensive proposition anywhere, but it’s especially so in Singapore. In addition to the high upfront cost of purchasing your car, you also have to pay for a COE and insure your car before you can drive.
But even once you’ve hit the road, a recurring cost you’ll need to pay if you want to ensure a long lifespan for your car is regular car servicing.
How much should you be expecting to pay for car servicing in Singapore? We took a look at some of the most popular workshops in Singapore to find out.
Average cost of car servicing in Singapore
After analysing quotes for car servicing from three major workshops in Singapore, we found that the total cost of getting your car regularly serviced over a period of five years (translating to approximately 100,000km) would cost $2640 on average*.
Generally, cars will require both cheaper regular servicing and occasional, more expensive major servicing to help keep your car ship-shape as it ages and accumulates mileage.
On average, a regular servicing is often recommended in intervals of every 10,000km you put on your car or every six months (whichever comes sooner), and costs about $188. Major car servicing that involves the replacement of more expensive parts could cost an average of $425.
Should you go to an authorised dealer or to an independent workshop for car servicing?
Car owners in Singapore have a variety of options for where to get their car serviced.
Many authorised distributors that are officially affiliated with a car manufacturer, such as Borneo Motors (Toyota) and Kah Motor (Honda), have repair centres where you can count on reliable and thorough car service.
On the other hand, you can also opt to do car servicing at an independent workshop, which may be a small business or, like AutoSaver, part of a larger chain. The cost and convenience of getting your car periodically maintained will often depend on which of these options you choose.
To help illustrate the difference between using the workshop at your dealership for regular maintenance or third party workshops, we analysed the prices of car servicing packages for Honda and Toyota vehicles at their respective authorised distributor and at AutoSaver, a third party workshop chain that services these two brands.
The advantages and disadvantages of car servicing at a dealership workshop
Dealership workshops tend to offer reliably high-quality service. They are also very convenient as they offer servicing packages with maintenance schedules made specifically with your car model in mind, and you can be assured they will have the car parts you need.
This is important because it reduces the likelihood of getting unsatisfactory service that you may get at a third-party workshop. However, they also tend to be the most expensive.
For example, the total average cost of servicing a Honda over the course of 100,000km of use or five years at its authorised distributor, Kah Motor, is $3686 (prices will vary depending on the model). Servicing a Toyota over the same timespan/total mileage at its dealership, Borneo Motors, costs $3582 on average.
The advantage of servicing your car at a third-party workshop
You may find cheaper prices at third party workshops, which run the gamut from larger chains like AutoSaver to your local neighborhood garage. If you are prepared to do your research and scope out your options, it’s very possible to find high-quality service for cheaper rates.
For example, the average cost of servicing a Honda at AutoSaver over the course of 100,000km or five years is $2306 – over $1300 less than it is at the Kah Motor dealership.
The average cost of servicing a Toyota at AutoSaver is $2137, which is over $1400 less than it is at Borneo Motors. If you do your homework, you might be able to find a good mechanic who will service your car for even less.
The downsides to car servicing at independent workshops
However, it can be less convenient to use third-party workshops. Many of these workshops may not include quotes for servicing on their websites, requiring you to call or visit to find out.
Some workshops don’t even have a website. Furthermore, it may take longer for your car parts to be replaced at smaller workshops if they don’t have a part you need stocked and need to order it.
Finally, you do run the risk of being charged unfair prices or receiving lower-quality service, so you need to make sure the workshop and mechanic you choose have a reputation for doing quality work and being fair and honest.
Warranty risks still present if car owners visit third-party workshops: Motor Traders Association
Methodology
To conduct this study, we surveyed 107 individual service package prices from Kah Motor (affiliated with Honda), Borneo Motors (affiliated with Toyota) and AutoSaver (third party workshop).
Our averages reflect the mean of the quoted cost of regular maintenance for each model of vehicle serviced by the three workshops surveyed. Makes included in the study are Honda, Toyota, Nissan, Kia and Hyundai.
We chose to highlight Honda and Toyota vehicles due to to their popularity as the two highest-selling brands in Singapore. We selected AutoSaver to contrast with Borneo Motors and Kah Motor as it services both Honda and Toyota vehicles and is a well-known third party workshop chain with locations throughout Singapore.
These three workshops were also selected for their transparency as they are among the few workshops in Singapore that openly list the cost of their service packages on their webpages.
*As a rule, luxury cars cost considerably more to have serviced. They were excluded from this study so as not to distort average costs.
Here’s the original article on ValueChampion.
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