Capped price servicing for every Holden – ever!

HOLDEN is attempting to reconnect with millions of owners of its cars Australia-wide by offering capped price servicing extending to every vehicle it has ever sold.

In a simplified system, Holdens older than 2000 and dating back to the original 48-215 can expect to pay $299 for a service. However, if it wears a Commodore badge and pre-dates 2000, the service will cost only $199.

Holden said cars made from 2000 on were a lot more complex, and owners would have to feed their vehicle’s details into the Holden website to receive a quote for how much it should cost.

Overall, Holden said its capped price servicing program would cover 2.5 million of the roughly 13 million vehicles currently driving on Australia’s roads – that's about one in every five.

The Holden capped price servicing program rivals that of Japanese carmaker Subaru, which last year introduced a lifetime scheme, though only covering vehicles built since 2006.

Last week, the Australian Competition and Consumer Commission took Korean carmaker Kia to task after it bumped up prices for its capped price servicing scheme without disclosing it adequately to customers.

Under the terms of Kia’s settlement with the consumer watchdog, the carmaker will refund customers the difference between the servicing cost they were quoted when buying the vehicle and the actual price charged.