Everyone compares the price. Almost nobody compares the bill after.

Two cars sit in a showroom at the same price. You pick one, drive it for five years, and hand over thousands of rupees more than your friend who picked the other. Nothing went wrong. No accident, no breakdown. You just chose the car that costs more to keep.

Service cost is the quiet part of car ownership. It never appears in the brochure, the salesman never brings it up, and by the time you feel it, you already own the car. So let's put real numbers on the table.

The real 5-year service bills

Independent ownership-cost studies have tracked scheduled servicing across brands. Here is roughly what five years of routine service costs, model by model:

• Maruti Alto K10 (petrol): around ₹16,000 — the cheapest baseline in the market
• Maruti Brezza (1.5 mild-hybrid): around ₹17,000 — the lowest in its SUV segment
• Hyundai Exter (petrol): around ₹18,900
• Kia Seltos (petrol NA): around ₹19,500
• Maruti Swift (petrol): around ₹21,500
• Hyundai Creta (petrol NA): around ₹22,600
• Mahindra Bolero (1.5 diesel): around ₹32,500
• Tata Punch (petrol): around ₹40,500

Look at the two ends of that list. The Punch costs roughly two and a half times what a Brezza costs to service over the same period. That is not a rounding error — that is a real amount of money leaving your pocket for the same basic job of keeping a car running.

An honest warning about these numbers: service costs vary by city, by variant, by workshop labour rates and by how you drive. Treat these as a guide to the gap between brands, not as a quotation. Always ask your local dealer for the service schedule and prices before you buy.

What a single service actually costs

For a typical small petrol car, the schedule looks roughly like this:

• 10,000 km: ₹2,000 – ₹4,000
• 20,000 km: ₹3,000 – ₹6,000
• 30,000 km: ₹5,000 – ₹7,500
• 40,000 km (major service): ₹6,000 – ₹9,000
• 50,000 km: ₹4,000 – ₹6,000

Two things push this up fast. Diesel and SUV models run roughly 30–40% higher than their petrol equivalents. And big milestone services can land as one painful bill — a diesel major service can cross ₹22,000 in a single visit.

The hidden factor: how far away is the workshop?

Service cost is not only about the invoice. It is about whether you can get the car fixed at all, easily, wherever you are. The service networks are nowhere near equal:

• Maruti Suzuki: over 5,400 service touchpoints across India
• Hyundai: around 1,600
• Kia: around 655

This is why Maruti keeps winning on running cost. More workshops means more competition on labour, cheaper and more available spare parts, and a mechanic in almost every town. On a long drive or in a small city, that difference stops being a statistic and becomes your afternoon.

So which brand is cheapest to own?

• Maruti Suzuki — the safest answer if low running cost is your first priority. Cheapest parts, cheapest labour, workshops everywhere.
• Hyundai and Kia — a small step up. Competitive service pricing and stretched intervals, but a much thinner network, especially outside big cities.
• Tata and Mahindra — often the better value on the showroom floor, but the servicing bill catches up. Tighter parts logistics and higher labour rates over the years.

This does not mean "only buy a Maruti." A Tata may give you the safety rating, the design or the drive you actually want — and that is worth paying for. It just means you should know what you are signing up for before you sign, not five years later.

What you can actually control

You cannot change your brand's labour rate. But a surprising part of your service bill is not scheduled maintenance at all — it is repairing damage that never had to happen:

• Never skip a service. A skipped oil change is the most expensive money anyone ever saves.
• Keep tyre pressure correct. Wrong pressure quietly destroys tyres and burns extra fuel. A tyre inflator at home pays for itself.
• Protect the interior. Floor mats and seat covers take the damage that would otherwise mean replacing carpet or upholstery.
• Protect the paint. A body cover is far cheaper than a re-spray after years of sun and dust.
• Keep it clean. Dirt, mud and monsoon grime cause rust and wear. A regular wash is genuinely maintenance, not vanity.
• Keep every service record. It protects your warranty — and later, your resale price.

The takeaway

The cheapest car to buy is very often not the cheapest car to own. Before you finalise anything, ask the dealer for the full service schedule and the price of each service. It takes five minutes and can save you tens of thousands of rupees.

And whichever car you already have, the cheapest repair is the one you never needed.

Look after your car, and it will cost you less. Explore floor mats, seat covers, body covers, tyre inflators and car care kits on Creckk — with free doorstep installation across Ahmedabad, Gandhinagar, Surat and Vadodara.