[PrideRed]

Was discussing with few folks, I was surprised to hear servicing cost of 2 Wheeler at authorized service center. Most of 2 Wheeler need service every 3-5K KM and service cost of say a bike costing 2L+ is easily is around 3K. That translates to 6-8K for every 10K KM's. Even for a commuter bike I hear service cost every 3K is 1-2K. In comparison, a 6-8L rupee car, a major service cost is around 8-10K with inflated bills from service center. And despite paying high amount, the reviews for 2 wheeler service is pathetic irrespective of brand. Not that 4 wheeler service center are great, but I find relatively better reviews and customer have better manufacturer support.

Relatively higher cost can be attributed to labour, rental costs but then a two wheeler need much lesser parts than 4Wheeler .While 2 wheeler is convenient , economical to run, I find the maintenance cost, arrogant service centers too much of a hassle.

Below is a comparison for Wagon R and Bullet 350 in Bengaluru. While Wagon R is budget/commuter car, Classic 350 may be slightly premium offering. The service cost of Wagon R seems off in website, as every 10K would easily be 6-8K. Bullet on other hand i assume would be about 5K. That said for a commuter like Honda Unicorn, I hear service cost is easily around 2-3K for every 3K KMs at authorized service center.

Bullet service cost calculator



WagonR service cost calculator

[SmartCat]

It is just the infamous "inflation" doing its damage. 7% pa inflation means costs double every 10 years.

If you are paying Rs. 3,000 for servicing a bike now, you were probably paying Rs. 1,500 ten years ago and Rs. 750 twenty years ago. Very likely, you will be paying Rs. 6,000 to service your bike in the year 2034.

These days, most car manufacturers have increased the recommended service interval from 5,000 kms to 10,000 kms. And that does help in lowering service costs.

[ashis89]

Originally Posted by SmartCat

It is just inflation. 7% pa inflation means costs double every 10 years.

If you are paying Rs. 3,000 for servicing a bike now, you were probably paying Rs. 1,500 ten years ago and Rs. 750 twenty years ago. Very likely, you will be paying Rs. 6,000 to service your bike in the year 2034.

These days, most car manufacturers have increased the recommended service interval from 5,000 kms to 10,000 kms. And that does help in lowering service costs.

Servicing our Honda Activa at the FNG used to cost 300-400 bucks at max, less than 10 years ago. Even servicing my Pulsar 180 at the Bajaj service center cost 700 bucks.

Last month, I paid 1500 bucks for a general paid service of my Suzuki Avenis, including 450 for service charges.

Definitely surprising for me and very expensive for a humble scooter.

Edit: found the bill. Wonder what they do with 4 units of grease and 4 pieces of emery paper on a barely run fairly new scooter

[Cresterk]

One of them is an aspiring luxury brand , so 80% of the costs is going towards “brand” image. Similar to why a basic Benz A class with a 1.3L renault engine costs way more than a Tucson or complicated Toyota hybrid to service.

[dass]

Had the same feeling and hence I shifted the servicing to every alternate year. My usage of Access 125 and TB350 is around 3k kms per vehicle each year. So, one year I just get the engine oil changed at the nearest shell petrol pump and the second year a full service at the ASS. Seems to be working so far for the past 6+ years. Not sure if this will cause any long term impact.

When I do get the servicing done at ASS, the scooter service costs me about Rs.17xx and the bike is around Rs.32xx.

[ashis89]

Originally Posted by dass

Had the same feeling and hence I shifted the servicing to every alternate year. My usage of Access 125 and TB350 is around 3k kms per vehicle each year. So, one year I just get the engine oil changed at the nearest shell petrol pump and the second year a full service at the ASS. Seems to be working so far for the past 6+ years. Not sure if this will cause any long term impact.

When I do get the servicing done at ASS, the scooter service costs me about Rs.17xx and the bike is around Rs.32xx.

That would be the most ideal method. In fact, I would avoid going to ASS and stick to a competent FNG as I did in the past with all my 2-wheelers. However, my extended warranty of 5 years would go for a toss if I did that. Now I wonder if the EW was worth it and if I am paying way more for service just to keep my warranty.

[BLACNWYTE]

Definitely Yes!

My almost 8 year old Activa 125 (Blu) needs service every 4 months or 3-4k kms as per the maintenance schedule. Each service with only basic servicing such as engine and gear oil change with brake overhauling and labour itself was costing around Rs 2k. That is around Rs 6k per year. However every second or third service the air filter needs to be replaced and there will be some other minor things to take care of which will cost another Rs 2-3k, if not more. So conservatively speaking it costs about Rs 8-9k for maintaining a scooter per year. This is for a scooter which costed me around Rs 80k in total at the time of purchase.

In the same breath, Our Creta (Panda) which is almost 7 year old, and costed around Rs 14 lakhs, need only the same amount if not less per year for routine servicing. On point to point comparison, Blu service costs almost as much as Panda per year. Leave inflation out of this as it affects both. Both my vehicles are of similar age and have similar mileage (around 64k kms).

I had observed this about a couple of years ago and switched to bi-annual service (at the Honda ASS only) for Blu and it still costs around Rs 4-5k per year. Now I'm thinking of finding a good independent garage and do yearly service and do the oil change at Petrol pumps where labour is free but oil is overpriced.

Just for the sake of it, I just compared the yearly spend on Blu and Panda on the Fuelio App and I noticed that I had spend about Rs 9k on Blu last year compared to the Rs 13k on Panda just for service. Both vehicles had parts replaced.

Since I started typing this post, I'm seriously considering DIY servicing of Blu.

[dass]

Originally Posted by ashis89

In fact, I would avoid going to ASS and stick to a competent FNG as I did in the past with all my 2-wheelers. .

Tried that with couple of FNG's, for both the 2 wheelers and servicing did not inspire confidence and the cost was pretty close to what ASS were charging, so I just stick to them now. However, I agree that if a good and competent FNG can do the job, I would always prefer them. Unfortunately, in the Kundalahalli area that I reside in, not many of the FNG are trustworthy.

[am1m]

I guess it depends. If you're looking at a commuter bike and you are ok with getting it serviced at a FNG, I think the costs are still reasonable. Any bike that costs upward of 2L is certainly not in that category and I guess the bike brands make the same assumptions about the customer profile and charge accordingly.

ASCs always seem to charge a lot more than a FNG. My wife used to own an Alto and there was one memorable occasion when the car and my Pulsar went for servicing at the same time. Her bill for the car from an authorized Maruti service center was LOWER than my Pulsar's!

I used to have a bigger bike (a Bullet) that I used for long journeys and somehow I was not comfortable getting that serviced outside of the authorized service centers. And given the sad quality of RE service, I was certainly getting ripped off. But when I do buy a more expensive bike again, I'm sure I'll still stick to the ASC, despite that experience.

I'm pretty shocked to hear the costs of Activa servicing that a couple of posts have described. Honda is milking the Activa brand for sure.

[iamahunter]

Somewhere I feel it has a lot to do with the sales at the service center. Service advisors unnecessarily pushing for things such as cable changes, brake pad changes, etc even if its not required. Also, its become a common practice to call up customers every 2-3 months and say that service is due and if not done, warranty may void. Keep an eye on the services done on the bike vs the list mentioned in the service manual. Also the warranty will not be void, if the vehicle is serviced according to the manual.

The worst I had seen was an amount of some 7k for 1st service of an Honda Activa. Customer was a young girl who was not much aware nor did she bother of what the sales guy was servicing/changing. I heard him suggesting her to change the brake cable, brake pads, oil, oil filter, air filter, sold her some teflon coating, and I am sure a there were a couple of more things. Heck, the vehicle was just a month old! SCAM!

From my experience in motorcycling, over the years I have come to a conclusion, that there are a few things that need to be taken care of:

• Ride the vehicle atleast once a week, 5-10 kms at the minimum (more the merrier).
• Change the oil, oil filter and air filter every year/10k kms. Clean the air filter in 5-6 k kms.
• Lube the chain, never let it run dry.
• Keep a check on the brake pads, usually its a good practice to change it once in 2 years or 7 - 10k kms. Use the front brake more than the rear one.
• There is no need to wash the vehicle everyday, once a week or once a month is enough.

Well, these are some common practices that I follow and have not faced any major issues till date.

[srini1785]

Its not surprising. Motorcycle companies recover most of their margins in Spare sales and service. A 100cc bike may cost around 45000.0 to build. That's the sum total of labor + materials + overheads. Due to market conditions the company is forced to sell it at say 52000.0 they don't make much margins at that price. This may be due to competition, buying power of their target audience and a lot of other factors.

Once a sale is concluded, then the cost dynamics quickly change since the bike cannot be serviced at any other outlet other than the ASC. So Spares, Services are all jacked up. Its a time tested strategy not only in Automotive but in most industries. Sure, it is not fool proof but most of the buyers end up servicing their bikes religiously at the ASC. Discounting the first three "Free Service" eyewashes (basically they are just washes) , each bike undergoes at least 4 "Paid" service in its life time. That's where the additional margins are recovered. I am aware of some cases where the ASC pays up to 25% of their service charge to their principals as some sort of commission.

[antz.bin]

Most ICE scooters cost more in just service costs than an EV costs in running costs. Petrol costs on the ICE are not included in the above.

My nephew recently got himself an Ather 450 Apex (absolutely brilliant scoot that) and turns out there is no time based service interval on the Ather. It's just to be done every 5k km, whenever those happen to complete.

Given the usage pattern of scooters in my family, it will probably take 2-3 years before they complete the 5k km (the previous scooter has run about 11k km since 2016). In those 5k km, we would have used about ₹2000 in electricity in Warp+ mode.

The same on an Activa would require at least 9-10 services to make sure the warranty remains intact. At ₹1500/service, the Activa would have cost 13k more in just service. The petrol would be another 13-14k. Total amount of savings is ₹26000 or about ₹5.2/km for a low usage EV.

The only reason to have a petrol commute vehicle nowadays is if you do not have access to charging at home OR your commute is longer than 80-90km/day.

[DIY410]

Originally Posted by antz.bin

The same on an Activa would require at least 9-10 services to make sure the warranty remains intact. At ₹1500/service, the Activa would have cost 13k more in just service. The petrol would be another 13-14k. Total amount of savings is ₹26000 or about ₹5.2/km for a low usage EV.

.

Extended warranty is absolute waste for Activa, I have a copy of the service manual and I have not serviced mine since 9 years or after the first free services. Just change the oil, Air filter and secondary filter based on the service manual interval and you are good, touch wood. For changing the oil, if anyone is lazy to do a DIY oil change, then just go to a shell pump and get a oil change done for free as long as you buy the oil from them. I also changed the belt and weights as per the service manual also.

The only other servicing the A.S.S does is grease the brake lever and few complementary free scratches every time you give to service.

[gharika]

I use a simple guide to get to the service cost, for me it has worked out for all my cars and bikes Just take 1% of the cost of the new vehicle as your annual maintenance cost. That being the benchmark, any brand asking for more (Triumph , Kawasaki etc.) is probably ballooning the bills. And there are others like Mahindra that have proven to be cheaper.
But if I keep aside the spared expenses for a certain year, I am sure that will cover any major services or part failures expected from age.

[cefiljoseph]

Thought this was just me. We have a 2013 Royal Enfield Classic 500 and it costs about 10k to keep it running every year. More than what it costs to service the fortuner we have of the same year!