The cost of servicing either a petrol or diesel engined vehicle is determined by 3 main factors:
major
1. spark plugs (petrol engines only).
The more cylinders, the more spark plugs you need. Some engines use 2 plugs per cylinder, so costs goes up. Spark plugs are not expensive. Diesel engines do not need spark plugs, so you save here. Spark plugs do not need to be changed every service and can last a long long time. Your savings here depends on how hungry the workshop is.
2. engine oil specification and volume.
The cost of diesel and petrol EO is almost the same. Big petrol or diesel engines need more EO, so costs goes up.
3. labor.
This is the most expensive component. Agent workshops will charge more than outside workshops naturally.
minor
4. transmission oil specification and volume.
Automatic transmission oil is changed more frequently than manual transmission oil. Transmission oils are changed less frequently than engine oils. The cost per litre is about the same range as engine oils.
5. engine oil filter and transmission oil filter
These items cost almost the same regardless of japanese, korean or continental. Very cheap as well
In summary, the actual cost of servicing a diesel vehicle can be cheaper than a petrol vehicle, depending on its EO and ATF oil capacity.
However almost all diesel cars are continental eg bmw, mercedes, vw, etc. And almost all diesel cars have higher engine displacement, which means more EO is needed. So end up our perception is that a diesel car costs more to service than a petrol car.
In actual fact, the cost of the manpower, spark plugs, filters, EO and ATF oil to the workshop are almost the same, whether diesel, petrol, audi, bentley or chery qq. The workshop can sell spark plugs to petrol car customers. But diesel cars dont have spark plugs right? No problem, diesel cars need more EO, so end up the cost to the workshop is about the same.
