Emira i4 servicing costs??

[JimH]

Lotus have published the UK 3-year service plan price for the i4 here :

Enhance | Our Lotus Service Plan & Warranty | Lotus Cars United Kingdom

Lotus Service Plan is the simplest, most cost-effective way to take care of your car’s routine service and maintenance needs during the first three years of your ownership.

www.lotuscars.com

Lotus Emira V6 Service Plan £1,599 including VAT
Lotus Emira 4 Cylinder Service Plan £2,699 including VAT - THIS IS £1,100 MORE THAN THE V6 for the first three services!!

The equivalent Mercedes "ServiceCare" pack for an A45S for 3 services and one MOT is £1,584 inc VAT

There is something called a "CompleteCare" pack at £2,700 inc VAT for 3 years but this includes "fair wear and tear items arising from normal road use" (such as brakes and tyres)

I'm seriously wondering if someone has based the Emira i4 "up front" service pack pricing on the latter by mistake.....

I queried this with Lotus Financial Services (who are the contact for the Emira service pack product) who called me back and said "the i4 has more to do at each service than the V6, and most individual services are therefore twice the price of the V6 " but they have no details available to back this up.

If not an error this really doesn't bode well for the "entry level" car if a first-year oil and filters change really is around £960 😲

Up until now my service agent was under the impression that the i4 and V6 Auto fixed price services were the same price.

I'm waiting for confirmation from couple of sources as to what extra tasks and/or consumables make up this large potential cost difference and will update this thread if/when I hear back.

Unless anyone else knows??.....

 

[DJManc]

🤬 This better be an error for the i4 service plan!!!
I have requested detailed maintenance schedule from Lotus for the i4 to understand how they are justifying this ridiculous figure. What's the odds that they won't reply I wonder! If they do, I will post this on here for us all to gasp at!
Every bit of information or news we get from Lotus seems to push me closer & closer to that cancelation email!

 

[Andy H]

So even if we pay per service they are seriously going to charge approaching double for every visit? I get the feeling they haven't trained the service engineers yet and this is to accommodate them learning on the job at the customers' expense. There's one thing swallowing a one-off RRP price rise but this would be a year on year hit. Yet another big dip in the I4 waiting list rollercoaster ride.

 

[GregD]

Yep, I posted the i4 servicing costs a few months back when going through checkout and had a few disbelieving comments at the time!

 

[JimH]

Yep, I posted the i4 servicing costs a few months back when going through checkout and had a few disbelieving comments at the time!

I don’t believe that any of us UK i4 FE depositors have seen a checkout email yet (despite September build still being quoted for the first cars) - presumably this was “exposed” first on a V6 checkout?

 

[Andy H]

I don’t believe that any of us UK i4 FE depositors have seen a checkout email yet (despite September build still being quoted for the first cars) - presumably this was “exposed” first on a V6 checkout?

It's here....

Enhance | Our Lotus Service Plan & Warranty | Lotus Cars United Kingdom

Lotus Service Plan is the simplest, most cost-effective way to take care of your car’s routine service and maintenance needs during the first three years of your ownership.

www.lotuscars.com

PRICING​

Lotus Emira V6 Service Plan £1,599 including VAT
Lotus Emira 4 Cylinder Service Plan £2,699 including VAT

Not sure if anything is going to be different when the checkout emails start coming through?

 

[JimH]

It's here....

Enhance | Our Lotus Service Plan & Warranty | Lotus Cars United Kingdom

Lotus Service Plan is the simplest, most cost-effective way to take care of your car’s routine service and maintenance needs during the first three years of your ownership.

www.lotuscars.com

Not sure if anything is going to be different when the checkout emails start coming through?

Yes - that’s where got it from as linked in the first post…..

 

[Andy H]

Yes - that’s where got it from as linked in the first post…..

Ah, so you did. Well I guess that's all we have right now 😕

 

[JimH]

Ah, so you did. Well I guess that's all we have right now 😕

I'm still hoping that it's an error - and certainly won't be buying at checkout at that price..... I'll update if/when I hear back from my other sources regarding the Lotus-quoted fixed service prices for PAYG servicing.....

 

[Fil]

Lotus have published the UK 3-year service plan price for the i4 here :

Enhance | Our Lotus Service Plan & Warranty | Lotus Cars United Kingdom

Lotus Service Plan is the simplest, most cost-effective way to take care of your car’s routine service and maintenance needs during the first three years of your ownership.

www.lotuscars.com

Lotus Emira V6 Service Plan £1,599 including VAT
Lotus Emira 4 Cylinder Service Plan £2,699 including VAT - THIS IS £1,100 MORE THAN THE V6 for the first three services!!

The equivalent Mercedes "ServiceCare" pack for an A45S for 3 services and one MOT is £1,584 inc VAT

There is something called a "CompleteCare" pack at £2,700 inc VAT for 3 years but this includes "fair wear and tear items arising from normal road use" (such as brakes and tyres)

I'm seriously wondering if someone has based the Emira i4 "up front" service pack pricing on the latter by mistake.....

I queried this with Lotus Financial Services (who are the contact for the Emira service pack product) who called me back and said "the i4 has more to do at each service than the V6, and most individual services are therefore twice the price of the V6 " but they have no details available to back this up.

If not an error this really doesn't bode well for the "entry level" car if a first-year oil and filters change really is around £960 😲

Up until now my service agent was under the impression that the i4 and V6 Auto fixed price services were the same price.

I'm waiting for confirmation from couple of sources as to what extra tasks and/or consumables make up this large potential cost difference and will update this thread if/when I hear back.

Unless anyone else knows??.....

Does appear to be quite expensive. I’ll also be asking for a breakdown of what the service entails that is different to the V6.
Also If you purchase all the ‘extra’ warranties they are offering (body, paint, interior carpet&seats, wheels, tyres and 3 year servicing and extended service (24 month to start after the first 3 years service) you can add another £7k + to the price.

 

[JohnS]

Agree, it does look expensive. A quick search on the Mercedes-Benz web site revealed the following service work to be done to the M139 engine.

At every service

Engine: Change oil and oil filter

Every 2 years

Brake system: Replace brake fluid

Every 31,000 miles/3 years

Replace air filter element

Replace spark plugs

Dual-clutch transmission: Change oil and oil filter

Reference ; Mercedes-Benz UK | Electronic Service Sheet (servicemercedes.co.uk)
A-Class 177, Engine M139 A45S, select a year and milage

Assuming less than 10,000 miles per year, the first and second years service are, by comparison, small; engine oil+filter change then engine oil+filter and brake fluid change.
But the third year service will be big one for; engine oil+filter , air filter, spark plugs, DCT oil and filter, along with an MOT.
For the M139 engine, the oil drain and filter are located on the underside of the engine, so a relatively easy job. I would expect Lotus to be reasonable in their charges for engine oil and brake fluid change.
For me the third year service is an unknown, what would be the degree of difficulty? How much of the top pipes/cables part of the engine needs to be removed to access the spark plugs? Is there easy access to the DCT drain and filler plugs along with the filter?
My current thoughts are for Lotus to provide the service for the first and second year with the updates to the various software packages. And from the third year onwards, as the car will be out of warranty, and hopefully if all goes well, I'll take over and service the car myself. By doing this I may save ~£1,700 excluding parts and have the knowledge the work has been done by me.

Anyone, thoughts on the degree of difficulty for the third year servicing?

 

[DJManc]

Maybe we should be taking the I4 to Mercedes for servicing if they are almost half the price!

 

[JohnS]

Maybe we should be taking the I4 to Mercedes for servicing if they are almost half the price!

Well there's a thought. Imagine making a engine/gearbox warranty claim with Lotus. And being in dispute with Lotus, with them saying Mercedes were unqualified to service the car. Can't help but smile ☺

 

[DJManc]

Most Manufacturer warranties do not insist that the car is serviced at main dealers anyway. Just that it is serviced within the Manufacturer guidelines. Obvs I have not checked any T&C's on Lotus warranty, I am simply going of my experience of working for a couple of other Manufacturer Main dealers (one being Mercedes). It is however worth checking the maintenance schedule requirements for your specific car yourself to makes sure all requirements are met, as generic services do not always meet all of the requirements.

 

[Fil]

🤬 This better be an error for the i4 service plan!!!
I have requested detailed maintenance schedule from Lotus for the i4 to understand how they are justifying this ridiculous figure. What's the odds that they won't reply I wonder! If they do, I will post this on here for us all to gasp at!
Every bit of information or news we get from Lotus seems to push me closer & closer to that cancelation email!

I’ve asked for the same info. What ‘extra’ work could justify a £1100 difference.

 

[EspritGuy]

I’ve asked for the same info. What ‘extra’ work could justify a £1100 difference.

For the bragging rights.

 

[Fil]

??

 

[JimH]

So far - I've asked Lotus Financial Services (who own the service pack product), a factory contact (who has asked other factory contacts) and my local service agent (who should have standard i4 fixed service rates by now) and the consensus is that :

 

[DJManc]

Lotus Customer service have advised me that you can take your Emira to any reputable service centre for a service, without affecting the Lotus warranty, providing the car is serviced in accordance with Lotus stipulations i.e time/mileage, parts, oils etc. As to be expected, any warranty repairs must be carried out by Lotus man dealers only. They also advised that the main difference between the V6 and i4 servicing cost is the 3rd year service, as the i4 takes 6 hours and includes Engine oil, DCT gearbox oil and filters and spark plugs. The V6 does not apparently require gearbox oil or spark plugs in this time. Even so, this still does not justify an extra £1100 in my opinion. I would definitely be asking Mercedes if they could do this for me. They know the engine and transmission better than Lotus anyway and are nearly half the price. Why would you not!!! If not for years one and two, definitely for year three (warranty expires by end year 3 anyway).
I have repeatedly asked CS if the i4 3 yr plan price is correct (Lets face it, we know Merc dealers are not cheap but they are almost half the price Lotus are asking!) and they have not confirmed for some reason. We need to make a stand and not accept these Bullsh*t service plan prices Lotus are quoting for i4.

 

[PsymonR]

Mercedes may well know the engine & transmission, but they will not be familiar with the installation in the Emira, as such it'd likely be a longer job than for the A45S (assuming they'd be willing to do the work).

Additionally, if the Emira installation is outright less straightforward to work on (which wouldn't surprise me given the change in configuration from Merc to Emira) then it will again take longer, adding hours on.

Would this be enough to account for the difference in price between Merc & Lotus service plans, I don't know, but I do think comparing the prices isn't as straightforward as it might at first seem.