Dozens of Australian order holders for the BYD Atto 3 have taken to social media in outrage over what some are calling “extremely high” servicing costs.
The comments follow the announcement over the weekend of the service schedule. While the first 5000km service is free, service checks every year or 20,000km range from $190 to $661.
Many attempted to compare the car to the Tesla Model 3, which has no scheduled servicing, questioning why so much work was required on an electric vehicle, and that the MG ZS EV was every second year at a cost of $268 with the exception of an $800 service at 80,000km.
Observers have also picked apart the warranty confirmed by distributor EVDirect/BYD Australia, set at six years and 150,000km for the vehicle and eight years and 160,000km for the battery. This contrasts with the seven years and unlimited mileage for the car and seven years 160,000km originally promised.
They also noted restrictions like suspension, the infotainment screen and the charge port being only covered under warranty for three years.
“This is very disappointing considering their website up to not that long ago was advertising 7 year unlimited km warranty on the vehicle as well,” Craig ‘Dug-less’ commented. “This was a compelling reason to put down our money.”
Others noted the battery comes with a 1,000,000km warranty in China and a ‘lifetime’ warranty in Hong Kong.
Some social media commenters, alongside prominent Youtube channel ‘The Electric Viking’ have suggested the announcements may see order cancellations, noting a series of changes to terms and costs since the car was launched in Australia.
EVDirect’s managing director and chief executive Luke Todd says the vehicle’s servicing costs are competitive. He also says Australia and China BYD warranties can’t be compared as the markets and models are different.
He says EVs still need servicing, although not as much as internal combustion engine (ICE) vehicles, and that costs reflect the highly skilled staff at BYD’s 50 service centres and growing.
BYD has listened to customers and gone from seven years to “eight plus six” so that BYD Australia aligns with other countries in the Asia-Pacific region, he adds.
Todd says no cancellations had been received by August 23. He is aware of the social media posts but reckons some have “beat it up” and that he doubts servicing a BYD product will cost more than an average A$350 annually.
In Australia “we want the best people working on these vehicles”, says Todd, with skilled workers expected to cost about $140 hourly.
“We won’t make a cent out of servicing.”
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