A common grumble among auto-dealers is that EVs will kill their business model as their reduced maintenance costs result in less service revenue. Well, lets look at my receipts from my local Nissan Dealer since 2019 when we went electric. Our local Nissan Dealer has seems there is a fair bit of money to be made servicing my Leaf. Given my skiing habit, winter tires are a must for me, which means my car might go into the service department twice a year, which love and behold opens the door for all sorts of other maintenance, keeping my Nissan LEAF in tip top shape, for a reasonable fee of course. In total, I spent similar amounts at my local Nissan Dealership as Edmunds estimates the Nissan Versa would cost, nullifying the argument that EVs will “kill the dealership”.
Lets look back at the invoices from my local Nissan Dealer. I have also used other service centres, there was a lovely third party service centre, close to where I live, that did wonders for my LEAF at a very reasonably price. I also often do the winter/summer tire swap myself, its good exercise but there is some nuance to it, in particular you need a good torque wrench to ensure your lug nuts are tight but not too tight.
| Date | Description | Amount |
| Aug 2019 | Recall, battery bonding plate where excessive road salt might be used | 0 |
| Nov 2019 | Winter tires | $1700 |
| Jan 2020 | Fix an “ups” moment | $1000 |
| Nov 2020 | Winter tire TPMS re-program | $50 |
| Nov 2021 | Winter tire installation | $400 |
| Sept 2023 | New brakes, plus some recalls, fluid flushes | $1600 |
| April 2024 | Summer tire installation, plus suspension adjustment | $900 |
| Total, Over 5 years | $5650 |
Thats quite a bit more than the Edmunds estimate of $2730, for estimated maintenance costs (source), granted Edmunds reports in $USD, while the above figures are $CAD, and Im guessing winter tires are not included in the Edmunds figures, taking that into account, we are perhaps within earshot of the Edmunds figures. The Edmunds figures for the Nissan Versa for comparison, provide $3684 USD (~ $5k CAD) for maintenance, quite close to what I spent (source).
As with all things procurement in life, you generally can pick two out of the three: Fast, good, cheap. Dealerships generally fall into Fast and Good, while my corner garage was good-acceptable and cheap. What that means in practice is that I will get top notch work at my local Nissan Dealership, using approved parts, strict high quality procedures and it will be ready this afternoon. But I’ll pay a fair bit for that.
On the other hand, my local service centre delivered slightly lower quality (use after market parts, and say they did not insist I change the coolant with approved Nissan product after the scheduled 60k km, nor balanced my tires to the same no ripple in my tea cup standard as Nissan did). But if that level is acceptable to you, large amounts of money can be saved.
All told, we can clearly see that my spend at my local Nissan Dealership is in-line with what a Nissan Versa driver might spend, at least according to Edmunds. There will still be a need for a service centre as EVs do require service, just less of it. I must admit its awfully convenient to get my service at my local Nissan Dealer. The complimentary latte is quite good, and I can combine a service visit with a dog walk.
Electric car adventures 