Holden overhauls its CPS program

Holden has announced a completely reformed capped-price servicing (CPS) program, delivering a new plan that covers all Holden vehicles ever built for their entire lifetime.

Several car companies in Australia offer lifetime CPS, including Hyundai, Mazda and Subaru, but Holden is the first local manufacturer to offer it, and it covers more vehicles than any other brand – right back to the first vehicle it built in 1948, the 48-215 (pictured).

According to Holden, its industry-first CPS covers more than 2.5 million cars across Australia, meaning every Holden owner can now know how much they should expect to pay for any given service.

The massive step-change in Holden's CPS comes just days after the ACCC found Kia guilty of misleading customers over its CPS costs, which rose four times since 2012.

Kia has since changed the wording in its CPS fine print and refunded customers who were overcharged, but the well-publicised admonishment has put all vehicle brands on notice.

The websites of many major car brands contain terms and conditions that retain the clause to change pricing at any time and motoring.com.au understands the ACCC is actively investigating those car companies that offer a CPS to see if their marketing is misleading.

The ACCC stated that it "intends to review other capped-price service offers made to consumers by vehicle manufacturers to assess whether any similar issues arise".

It's likely some car companies will make announcements in the coming weeks as they move to head off any confusion – and avoid the negative publicity of an ACCC probe.

At the time of writing there were no costing details of Citroen's CPS on its website, while Volkswagen has removed any references to its CPS plan from its public website.

Holden's all-encompassing CPS begins on March 1 and provides total transparency, says Holden's Executive Director of Sales, Peter Keley.

"The support and clarity that this program offers customers, combined with our fantastic product range and great-value offers means there has never been a better time to buy a Holden.

"Holden has more cars in more segments than ever before and we're committed to Australia and our customers now and long into the future," he said.

The costing of the new CPS can be tabulated via a 'Lifetime CPS calculator' on the Holden website, which the company insists will "clearly display the maximum service price of any Holden vehicle, ensuring that customers will not pay more than expected when visiting their Holden Dealer for a scheduled service".

Holden is also sweetening the deal for new-vehicle buyers by subsidising the first seven services for eligible vehicles.