The Complete Cost Of Maintaining A Chevy

When you’re in the market for a new or used Chevy, you’ll eventually wonder what a Chevy generally costs in maintenance. In this blog, we’ve done our absolute best to give you a complete rundown of the costs and what you can expect for different models and model years. Let’s start with a quick answer:

Chevy have an average annual maintenance cost of $649 per year. This is about the same as the average $646 for all car brands. However, compared to brands such as Ford ($775) and GMC ($744), Chevy is the most affordable American brand that sells larger vehicles.

However, that certainly doesn’t tell the whole story. Below, we’ll start by looking at the annual maintenance cost of the most popular models and their corresponding model years. Furthermore, We’ll look at the eight most common service points and discuss what a Chevy costs you in this regard. We’ll also compare the annual maintenance costs of a Chevy to 23 other car brands and discuss why a Chevy is considered cheap or expensive in maintenance. Read on!

How Expensive Are Chevy Models To Maintain?

First of all, we feel it’s essential to understand how much each model, and different model years, cost per year in terms of maintenance. For this, we’ve taken data from Repairpal. We’ve compiled this data in the two tables below.

We gathered information for ten of the most sold Chevy models sold in the United States. The first table mainly has the larger Chevy models (SUVs and trucks). The second table focuses on the annual maintenance cost of the smaller Chevy models (compact SUVs and sedans).

We see here that the annual maintenance cost of the larger Chevy models is all in the range of what we would expect it to be. Typically, smaller SUVs have maintenance costs within the $500 – $600 range, whereas larger models end up in the $700 – $800 category. This is also the case for the Chevy models.

Year	Equinox	Silverado 1500	Tahoe	Traverse	Suburban
2019	$ 605	x	x	$562	x
2018	$ 613	$598	$ 574	$526	$   690
2017	$ 443	$799	$ 607	$495	$   664
2016	$ 423	$761	$ 720	$485	$   848
2015	$ 461	$751	$ 914	$554	$1,044
2014	$ 475	$740	$ 746	$549	x
2013	$ 498	$711	$ 705	$681	x
2012	$ 563	$683	$ 737	$719	x
2011	$ 630	$681	$ 675	x	x
2010	$ 667	$657	$ 620	x	x
2009	$ 511	$658	$ 700	x	x
2008	$ 478	$589	$ 633	x	x
2007	$ 416	$520	$ 527	x	x

The only concerning thing we see here is the development of the maintenance costs of the Suburban over the years. This model has only been on the market since 2015, so it’s challenging to draw hard conclusions, but the annual maintenance costs seem to ramp up quickly with the older models, which could indicate a quality problem.

In the second table, we largely see the same pattern. However, we want to state that some of the maintenance costs of these cars are higher than what we would like to see. For example, both the Volt and the Impala have model years on which you need to spend $600 per year, which is too high for a sedan type of vehicle.

Especially compared to many Asian brands. This is because Asian sedans typically cost between $300 – $450 in maintenance costs, meaning Chevy sedans seem to be on the higher end of the spectrum.

Year	Impala	Malibu	Volt	Cruze	Trax
2019	x	x	x	$425	x
2018	$ 448	$578	x	$403	$   389
2017	$ 495	$613	$ 556	$524	$   501
2016	$ 503	$565	$ 545	$441	$   502
2015	$ 537	$460	$ 635	$468	$   472
2014	$ 579	$507	$ 488	$523	x
2013	$ 603	$558	$ 502	$532	x
2012	$ 586	$543	$ 588	$575	x
2011	$ 587	$549	x	x	x
2010	$ 534	$509	x	x	x
2009	$ 505	$511	x	x	x
2008	$ 459	$470	x	x	x
2007	$ 410	$344	x	x	x

Are Parts And Services Expensive For A Chevy?

Furthermore, it’s essential to discuss the average cost of general maintenance tasks. This way, you know what to expect from your Chevy, and you’ll be able to see if specific maintenance is more expensive than others.

For this comparison, we compared the cost of the tasks mentioned below for the ten models we discussed earlier. This way, we get a complete understanding of the full range.

Oil Change

An oil change on a Chevy will generally cost you $97 – $153. On average, an oil change costs $40 – $60 for conventional oil and $60 – 120 for full synthetic oil for a car. Therefore, Chevy are pretty average especially given the size of the vehicle.

Brake Pads

Replacing the brake pads on a Chevy costs between $212 – 375 per axle. On average, brake pad replacement costs between $150 – $300 per axle. Therefore, most Chevy have a slightly higher than average price for this maintenance task. But again, that’s mainly due to the size of the vehicles which means they need larger brake pads.

Filters

Replacing filters is also a task you’ll encounter from time to time. The fuel filter is generally the most expensive filter to replace. Replacing a fuel filter in a Chevy will cost between $55 – 133. Replacing a cabin air filter is $58 – 96 and replacing an air filter is $67 – 86.

Typically, replacing a fuel filter costs between $80 – $150. This means replacing the fuel filter on a Chevy has average costs. Replacing a cabin air filter costs typically between $60 – $80, meaning Chevy is again quite average. Replacing the air filter costs usually $50 – $70, which means Chevy is once again quite average.

Battery

The average price to replace a Chevy battery is between $100 – $250. On average, replacing a car battery costs between $120 – $240. This means that Chevy has average costs in terms of replacing the battery. As can be expected, the Silverado and the larger SUVs such as the Suburban carry larger batteries that will set you back around the $250 mark, whereas the Cruze and Malibu end up in the $100 – $150 range.

Timing Belt/Chain

Another replacement that you’ll come across when owning a car is a timing belt replacement. Timing belts need to be replaced around the 100,000 miles mark. However, replacing the timing chain on a Chevy will cost $366 – 1,000. For most Chevy, the cost will be below $800.

How much this truly costs depends on the vehicle you have. For example, the Cruze uses a timing belt that can typically be replaced for $366 – $450. However, many other Chevys, such as the Silverado, Suburban, and Malibu, use a timing chain that will typically set you back more in the range of the $800 mark.

Tire Rotation And Replacement

Replacing a set of tires on a Chevy will cost $120 – 650. Most Chevy sedans will have tires available for as little as $120 – $250 per set. However, the larger SUVs and the Silverado typically cost no less than $400 per set and can go up to $680 per set.

Spark Plugs

Replacing a set of spark plugs costs between $122 – 328 per set for a Chevy. On average, it costs $75 – $250 to replace a set of spark plugs. This means that replacing spark plugs on a Chevy has an average cost, although larger vehicles are more costly than the average.

Headlight Bulbs

On average, it costs between $49 – 163 to replace a set of headlight bulbs on a Chevy. On average, replacing headlight bulbs costs between $100 – $150 for a set. Chevy, therefore, are below or average in terms of costs for this replacement. This will typically have to do with your vehicle and what kind of headlight bulbs are used. For example, halogen lamps are much more expensive than conventional ones.

Are Chevy More Or Less Expensive Compared To Other Brands?

Knowing everything we know now, it’s essential to have a final look at Chevy as a brand. For this, we’ve compiled data from 23 other carmakers. The average annual maintenance costs of each carmaker are in the table below. By comparing all brands to each other, we understand how expensive a brand truly is in maintenance.

While doing this research, we learned that Chevy ended up in the 16th spot on the list of most affordable car brands. This is not immediately a spot to be excited about; however, we need to dig deeper to draw conclusions.

One of the things we learned in our research is that, on average, carmakers have annual maintenance costs of $646. Because Chevy, as a brand, ends up with $649 a year, this seems to imply Chevy is quite an average brand in terms of maintenance costs. However, there’s more to this story which we’ll discuss in the next subheading.

Brand	Average Annual Maintenance Costs
Honda	$428
Toyota	$441
Mazda	$462
Hyundai	$468
Kia	$474
Nissan	$500
Acura	$501
Mitsubishi	$535
Lexus	$551
Buick	$608
Chrysler	$608
Subaru	$617
Dodge	$634
Jeep	$634
Infiniti	$638
Chevrolet	$649
Volkswagen	$676
GMC	$744
Volvo	$769
Ford	$775
Cadillac	$783
RAM	$858
Lincoln	$879
Mercedes	$908
BMW	$968

Why Does Chevy Carry Average Maintenance Cost?

We have to answer the final question: why does Chevy end up in the middle region of the chart? Looking at the data and making some logical assumptions, we can identify the important factors here.

First, it’s important to state that comparing Chevy to brands like Nissan and Hyundai is not fair. This is because Asian brands typically manufacture smaller sedans and or SUVs, whereas Chevy sells many enormous SUVs and a very well-known truck: the Silverado.

All of this means that Chevy makes cars for a segment of users different from that of many Asian brands. However, because the cars are larger and used more intensely (the Silverado), this automatically also means the maintenance costs are much higher.

To make a fair comparison, we’ll have to compare Chevy to largely similar brands in terms of the line-up they’re selling. These competing brands are, of course, Ford, GMC, and for good measure, we threw in RAM into the comparison as well.

We found here that Chevy outperforms the competitors that have a similar line-up. Chevy ends up with average annual maintenance costs of $646, whereas Ford ($775), GMC ($744), and RAM ($858) all end up in significantly higher regions.

This is understandable for a brand like RAM (which only sells trucks), but Ford and GMC are still much higher even though they have a broadly similar line-up. This implies that Chevy is actually one of the most affordable American brands annually.

Also read: The Largest Chevy Dealer Per State (All 50 Of Them)

Sources

• https://repairpal.com/chevrolet