Holden revamps CPS program, but is it good enough?

Holden has unveiled a new Capped Price Servicing program, called Professional Care, although the move is positive, it does not come close in terms of what other competitors currently offer.

Although it is close to impossible to quantify which CPS deal is better, as it depends entirely on how much you drive your car, it is quite clear that some of the CPS programs launched this year offer better options than Holden’s CPS.

Holden’s ‘professional care‘ will cover the first three years or 60,000km – whichever comes first. Holden has had to update their CPS and warranty program in order to keep up with other CPS offers in the market from other major such as Mazda, Citroen, Subaru and Ford.

First offered on Mazda3 in February, Mazda ‘service select’ allows customers to service their car every 10000km or not longer than 12 months, whichever comes first rather than the previous schedule of every six months or 10000km.

Meanwhile Citroen became the first brand to extend its warranty to six years. Initially launched on the DS and Grand C4 Picasso models only, Citroen Australia has extended the warranty to all models in the Citroen range, except the Berlingo van. The warranty also now features unlimited kilometres.

The six-year unlimited kilometre warranty and six-year CPS plan is available across the entire passenger range.

Subaru also introduced a CPS program across its entire new car range on July 1. The program will apply to vehicles throughout their lifetime, not just the three-year warranty period.

The lifetime commitment means customers will now be able to identify the maximum amount that they will pay for their next scheduled service. The program will also be retrospective, covering Subaru vehicles back to model year 2006.

Ford has also expanded its myFord CPS program this year. The company’s myFord CPS program has now been extended up to seven years and 135,000 km, whichever occurs first. This is up from six years and 105,000 km. The program includes the recently launched Ford EcoSport and Transit Custom van, as well as the range of Ford vehicles.

Holden’s CPS covers all items specified under the standard service schedules for normal operating conditions for each vehicle type, including parts, labour, fluids and any applicable workshop charges.

Customers who regularly service their vehicles at a Holden dealership will benefit from having all services carried out to Holden’s exacting specifications, guaranteed use of only Holden-approved parts and fluids and buyer confidence at re-sale time.

All warranty work performed under a ‘voluntary warranty’ (including parts and labour) will be carried out free-of-charge. However, this work should not be confused with the servicing specified in the ‘maintenance schedule’.

Holden chairman and managing director, Gerry Dorizas, said ‘professional care’ was a crucial step towards Holden’s future goals. “We want customers to walk into a dealership knowing exactly what

they’re paying for and to have total trust that their Holden is being looked after by the absolute best and using only genuine parts.”

New Holden owners also receive one year of ‘standard roadside assistance’ support for a full year, from the first date of registration.

Currently, the West Australian’s WestWHEELS gives out Rhodium awards, which were inaugurated last month for Australia’s best-car warranty. Now, Journalist Stephen Williams at the West Australian has done the same but looking at Australia’s best CPS program.

To arrive at his findings, Williams compared a Toyota Corolla, which in his view has the best CPS in Australia, from each of the nation’s top 12 selling brands.

Williams says: “The Corolla owner is entitled to six scheduled services at an incredibly cheap $130 each for the first three years or 60,000km, whichever occurs first. That’s a total bill of $780, which is by far the lowest for a company operating on six-month service intervals.”

“Keep in mind many brands with one-year intervals also limit total coverage to 45,000km rather than Toyota’s 60,000km. Also in the Toyota’s favour is that six-monthly programs provide your car with the twice the amount of expert attention, which is a good thing if you’re the neglectful type.”

Here are Williams’ finding and comments:

RHODIUM RATING

Ford Focus, with 12-monthly service intervals at just $240 each, seven years of entitlement and eligibility for even an old 2007 model to join the scheme. It starts at $20,290, plus on-roads.

PLATINUM RATING

The $20390 Mitsubishi Lancer provides a similar offering to the Focus, at $250 per annual service, but it cuts out at four years. Williams thinks the $780 total price for six services at six-monthly spans on the $19,990 Toyota Corolla is deserving of a Platinum rating.

DIAMOND RATING

The $20,990 Hyundai i30 offers three annual services for a total price of less than $700. Volkswagen’s $20490 Golf makes this grade for its annual capped servicing over six years. Servicing visits average out at just under $400. Meanwhile, “the $19,490 Holden Cruze’s nine-month/15000km interval means a driver could get in four services over three years while travelling 60,000km for a total of just $740,” according to Williams.

GOLD RATING

The Mazda3 was chosen by WIlliams for the budgeting certainty of its lifetime capped pricing as well as the 12-month intervals. “The shortcoming is the 10,000km interval for high-kilometre drivers; at the current average servicing price of about $300, six services over three years would cost $1800,” he notes. “Bumping the interval to 15000km would lift its rating.”

SILVER RATING

Williams had wrongly reported the Kia provided a capped annual service on its $19,990 Cerato that cut out at three years or 45,000km, for a total of about $1000. However, Kia have updated their warranty, which is now an unlimited kilometre 5-year warranty – the same goes for its roadside assist program.

On September 1, 2012 Kia extended its 5-year unlimited kilometre warranty to fleet and government vehicles unless the vehicle has been or is intended for use as rental vehicles, hire cars, taxis, courier vehicles, driving school vehicles, security vehicles, bus and tour vehicle in which case these vehicles are still backed by Kia’s 5 Year/130,000km Warranty (whichever comes first). Should any vehicle be sold prior to the end of five years, any remaining warranty is fully transferable to a new owner.

All vehicles in the current Kia range have a scheduled maintenance service interval of 15,000km or 12 months, whichever occurs first.

BRONZE RATING

Williams gave Bronze to brands which capped programs have just six-month intervals combined with higher-than- average prices. Subaru’s $23990 Impreza gets this assessment, despite its capped servicing covering the car’s lifetime and models from 2006 onwards. “The problem is the brand’s capped prices are high. Even a low-kilometre driver would be up for more than $2200 over three years, way above the other cars canvassed here,” Williams adds. “On the plus side, the limit over three years is a generous 75,000km, so some busy drivers might wear such pricing.”

“The $19,490 Honda Civic and $22,990 Suzuki S-Cross have five- year capped programs but each incurs more than $1500 in servicing charges over three years,” says Williams.

Finally Williams notes, “ticking all the wrong boxes is the scheme for the $19,990 Nissan Pulsar — six-month intervals, a limit of three years and a total bill of more than $1700. But the brand’s latest model, the Qashqai, is on a much better plan, so we could see a flow-on soon.”

Disclaimer: Autotalk advises readers to check on each specific brands’ website for Warranty and Capped Price Servicing updates as changes are made on a regular basis.