Holden caps service costs for three years

GM HOLDEN has joined rival manufacturers including Toyota, Ford and Mitsubishi in introducing capped-price servicing at authorised dealerships.

Terms and conditions vary across different manufacturers and generally exclude government and rental vehicles, with the ‘Holdenwise’ capped-price scheme covering up to four standard scheduled services for the first three years of private vehicle ownership or a maximum 60,000km, whichever comes first.

This is same period Toyota Australia offers with its ‘Service Advantage’ scheme, but behind Ford Australia’s ‘myFord’ program introduced last year, which is available for vehicles built from 2007 and covers servicing for up to six years or 105,000km.

Mitsubishi’s capped-price scheme, which comes under its ‘Diamond Advantage’ program, has the same 60,000km limit as Holden’s but runs for four years.

None come close to Ferrari, however, which under its ‘Genuine Maintenance’ program launched late last year offers free scheduled servicing across its model range for the first seven years.

Not-for-profit fleet customers are also excluded under the Holden scheme, which covers most of its range of vehicles sold from April 1 onwards.

These include the Series II Commodore sedan, Sportwagon and Ute, the Caprice, Cruze hatch and sedan, Captiva 5 and 7, Barina hatch and sedan (plus the previous-generation Classic still available) and Barina Spark.

The current Combo compact van and Colorado one-tonne utility are not eligible, although the new-generation diesel-powered ‘MY13 RG-series’ Colorado due for release in the second half of this year will come under the scheme, capped at $395 – the same amount as the Captiva diesel.

These are at the top end of the price caps, which also see the diesel-engine Cruze at $335 – well above the $185 mark for the petrol-powered equivalent.

Indeed, $185 is the capped price for scheduled services of most eligible petrol-engine models, including Barina Spark, Barina and the larger Australian-built models in Commodore sedan, Sportwagon, Ute and the long-wheelbase Caprice.

LPG variants of Commodore and derivatives (including Caprice) are set at $265, while the petrol-engine Captiva is capped at $245.

Holden director of customer service and retention Narelle Stack said the program would provide customers with “greater consistency, certainty and transparency of servicing costs” in the first three years of ownership.

“We’ve been listening to customer feedback and there’s a growing demand for upfront service pricing,” she said. “Customers tell us servicing costs are a key factor influencing their purchase decision.

“We’re introducing a very competitive capped-price servicing scheme, which offers Holden customers impressive value for money and peace of mind, across our key new models.”