Honda ranks No. 1 for lowest total cost of service, 2021 analysis says

The Honda brand posted the lowest U.S. service and warranty costs for non-premium brands in the first three months of operation, followed closely by Hyundai, Buick and Toyota, according to an analysis by We Predict.

“It’s basically everything that’s not the result of a collision,” said James Davies, CEO and founder of We Predict, based in Ann Arbor, Mich., in a phone interview in advance of publishing the study Tuesday. “These are actual service interactions, not someone’s perceptions.”

We Predict collects and analyzes real-world information on millions of vehicle repairs, maintenance, service campaigns and warranty actions, performed at U.S. franchised dealerships, independent service centers and other facilities.

Interestingly from the dealership point of view, the study also found that actual service costs for battery-powered electric vehicles for the first 90 days are more than twice as high as either gasoline or hybrid vehicles.

That’s despite a widespread concern among dealers that switching to EVs would represent a sharp drop in service work. We Predict said the average cost per vehicle for EVs was $123 in the first 90 days, vs. $53 for gasoline, or $46 for hybrids.

While maintenance costs were lower for EVs, costs for parts and labor, for repairs, and for service campaigns were higher, the study said. Five of the Top 10 serviced parts on EVs in the first 90 days are related to the battery and charging, We Predict said.

For premium brands, Acura and Lexus were tied for the lowest cost, at $30 for the first three months, followed by Infiniti at $47, and Volvo at $69. For the four top non-premium brands, service and warranty costs for the first 90 days ranged from $21 for Honda, to $22 for Hyundai, to $24 each for Buick and Toyota.

Those numbers don’t sound like much, but there was a lot of variation among brands for the first 90 days — Chevrolet, for instance, was $83, and GMC was $132. In addition, Davies said costs for the first 90 days are a pretty good predictor of what costs would be over the lifetime of a vehicle.

Tesla was not rated among brands because of a lack of available data. The report said the Tesla Model 3 ranks among the top three models by segment, for lowest service cost per vehicle for premium EVs, behind the Audi e-tron, and the Audi e-tron Sportback.

On average, We Predict said that based on its analysis of older vehicles, the cost per vehicle after 36 months in service is 15 times the three-month cost; after 60 months, it’s 20 times the three-month cost.

“It’s likely that in 60 months, the Top 3 after 90 days will still be in the Top 3,” Davies said. “Cars that launch well, that go on the road initially well, tend to do well later on.”

We Predict said the 2021 Deepview True Cost report covers 2021 model year vehicles, except for EVs, which included 2020 and 2021 model years.

We Predict was scheduled to present its new report to the Automotive Press Association later Tuesday.