In association with MotorEasy
Best car servicing 2025: the best and worst brands at servicing your car
Is it best to have your car serviced by a manufacturer, or take your business elsewhere? We look at the nuts and bolts of the subject...
The cost of maintaining a car has risen by 33% in the past decade, from an average of £403 to £606 a year. And the rising cost of parts and the need to pass on increased business taxes, such as employer National Insurance, look likely to push it up even higher.
This means it’s more important than ever for car owners to know they’ll have a good experience when it comes to car servicing time. Three factors are crucial to this: getting good value for money, receiving good quality workmanship and a friendly and attentive attitude from those looking after you and your car.
Fortunately, What Car? can help. We’ve rated the car servicing experience of 9900 car owners, as part of the latest annual What Car? Reliability Survey, conducted in association with MotorEasy.
We asked drivers to give scores for attitude, quality and value, and collated their responses, enabling us to rate the performance of 30 different brands. The vast majority of new car buyers stick with franchised servicing for the first three to five years, so here we’ve only looked at the data for cars aged up to five years old that were taken to a main dealer for work.
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The top 10 car brands for servicing satisfaction: cars up to five years old
1. Lexus
Satisfaction rating 5 stars
Toyota’s luxury car brand has a rock-solid reputation for top-notch customer service as well as extremely well-built vehicles, so it’s no surprise to see it at the pinnacle of our satisfaction survey. It gained the highest score of all of the 29 car brands rated for the politeness of its staff and the quality of the work carried out, and it was the fourth best for value for money behind budget brand Dacia and mainstream Japanese makers Honda and Suzuki.
Lexus owners didn’t just rate its dealer service departments highly, they also sung their praises in the comments they left. One owner said: “The customer service I have received has been fantastic,” and others told us the dealership service had been “spot on” and “excellent”.
Staff attitude 5 stars
Quality of work 5 stars
Value for money 4 stars
Read our Lexus car reviews
2. Honda
Satisfaction rating 4 stars
With high ratings across all three of our service satisfaction criteria, Honda is only narrowly beaten into second place by Lexus. The mass-market Japanese brand has long been a familiar name at the top of customer service charts, and this is aided by its strong reputation for building robust models that often outlast those of rival brands.
While it can’t quite match Lexus for staff attitude and workmanship, it outdoes the more premium brand for value, with nearly half of those surveyed giving it the full five stars for this area, and only 1% rating it as very poor value for money.
No wonder, then, that “the overall pleasure of ownership” was cited by a number of drivers as the thing they appreciated most about their Hondas.
Staff attitude 5 stars
Quality of work 5 stars
Value for money 4 stars
Read our Honda car reviews
3. Tesla
Satisfaction rating 4 stars
Tesla is making big strides in terms of customer satisfaction in the UK: it has leapt from 19th place in 2023 to third in the latest survey.
Its mobile servicing format, which allows owners to book an appointment with a technician at a convenient time and location for them, is proving popular with drivers, and the long servicing intervals for many wear and tear items appears to be keeping costs down. Owners also cite over-the-air software updates that can be done at home as very useful.
Overall, nine out of 10 Tesla owners told us they were very happy with the way they were treated by the dealership and servicing staff, giving the American electric car brand high scores in both of these categories. They also told us Tesla dealerships were the best overall for value for money, and second only to Lexus for the attitude of its employees.
Staff attitude 5 stars
Quality of work 4 stars
Value for money 4 stars
Read our Tesla car reviews
4. Suzuki
Satisfaction rating 4 stars
This Japanese brand is a fairly small player in the UK car sales sector, but it consistently punches above its weight for both servicing satisfaction and the durability of its vehicles. It’s rated third best for workmanship and the customer care provided by its staff, and its overall score is only tarnished a little because some owners perceive it to be expensive and rated it lower for value for money. Owners praised the dealership network for their care and attention, and some cited the high standard of servicing as the reason why they have remained loyal to the brand for many years.
Suzuki also came third in the latest What Car? Reliability Survey, with many owners telling us their cars had been faultlessly reliable.
Staff attitude 5 stars
Quality of work 5 stars
Value for money 3 stars
Read our Suzuki car reviews
5. Toyota
Satisfaction rating 4 stars
Although it can’t quite live up to the standard of its luxury brand, Lexus, Toyota is a stalwart of customer service polls, remaining in fifth place overall, the same as in our previous survey. While car owners gave it very high marks for showroom staff and the standard of work carried out, some felt prices were on the high side and scored it lower for this category.
Many of the Toyota cars reported on were hybrid models and their owners were happier with all areas of servicing, awarding higher ratings than those with petrol or diesel models.
Toyota operates an extended warranty scheme that provides a years’ cover for cars up to 10 years old if they’re serviced by a main dealer, and some owners cited this as one of the things they appreciate most about their car.
Staff attitude 5 stars
Quality of work 5 stars
Value for money 3 stars
Read our Toyota car reviews
6. Dacia
Satisfaction rating 4 stars
Selling some of the UK’s cheapest cars is no barrier to providing good customer service, as Romanian brand Dacia demonstrates. Owners rated its dealerships the third highest overall for the quality of work and value for money; staff attitude was the only area where it scored a little lower than the best brands. Low ownership costs and affordable servicing are two areas highlighted by owners when asked what they like most about their cars.
Looking at satisfaction rates by fuel type, petrol Dacia owners were more impressed overall than those who owned diesel or bi-fuel models.
Dacia is a consistently high achiever for customer service, having been rated fourth overall in our previous survey.
Staff attitude 4 stars
Quality of work 3 stars
Value for money 4 stars
Read our Dacia car reviews
7. Hyundai
Satisfaction rating 4 stars
Hyundai narrowly beats its Korean sibling Kia for keeping aftermarket customers happy. Owners gave it almost the same as Kia for value, but scored it slightly higher for both quality of work and staff helpfulness. It has improved its overall score and rank since the last customer service survey, in which it was rated 13th.
Most owners rated the service experience as good and said their cars were affordable to own and dependable. However, a small percentage of those with faulty cars told us their vehicles were off the road for a number of weeks due to a delay in getting replacement parts.
Staff attitude 4 stars
Quality of work 3 stars
Value for money 4 stars
Read our Hyundai car reviews
8. MG
Satisfaction rating 3 stars
On the whole, MG owners are a happy bunch, rating the value for money of servicing as good, and the staff working at dealerships as very good. While some owners rated the quality of work very highly, a minority of them told us it was poor, bringing this score down.
Petrol MG owners were more satisfied than those with electric or hybrid models, giving the brand higher scores for both politeness and quality.
The brand’s fairly high standing for customer service is a stark contrast to its performance in the latest reliability survey where it came last out of 31 brands, with owners telling us its dealers were slow and sometimes expensive for fixing faults. It’s good to see that it’s not having the same problems when it comes to servicing.
Staff attitude 4 stars
Quality of work 3 stars
Value for money 3 stars
Read our MG car reviews
9. Kia
Satisfaction rating 3 stars
While Kia owners only consider the brand as average for staff attitude and quality of workmanship, they’re more impressed by the value for money it offers. Owners of electric and hybrid Kia models were more impressed with the level of service across the board, rating the brand higher for all three areas of satisfaction than owners of petrol and diesel models.
Like sister brand Hyundai, the service experience was marred for a small percentage of owners because their cars had faults and needed replacement parts that took a long time to arrive.
Kia owners rate the Korean brand slightly higher for servicing satisfaction than they do for its reliability; it’s 11th in the latest reliability survey just behind its sibling Hyundai.
Staff attitude 3 stars
Quality of work 3 stars
Value for money 4 stars
Read our Kia car reviews
10. Mini
Satisfaction rating 3 stars
Mini was ranked the most reliable car brand in our latest reliability survey with a low percentage of faults on its cars and a high proportion of cars fixed for free, so it’s a shame that owners don’t rate it as highly for servicing satisfaction.
While the brand gains strong ratings for the attitude of showroom staff and the level of work carried out during servicing, a low score for value for money pulls the overall score down. Most owners aren’t visiting dealerships that often because most of the brand’s models have a two-year service interval, but when they do some of them report that maintenance and repairs can be expensive.
Staff attitude 5 stars
Quality of work 5 stars
Value for money 2 stars
Read our Mini car reviews
The bottom 10 brands for servicing satisfaction: cars up to 5 years old
1. Fiat
Satisfaction rating 1 stars
Some owners aren’t happy with any aspect of the Fiat brand’s servicing experience. They rate the satisfaction scores for attitude and quality of work around 10% lower than those of the highest scoring brands, and value for money is rated 20% lower. In fact, the one star score for value for money is the lowest of all the brands included here.
Although we don’t have details of servicing costs, owners told us that Fiat only covered the cost of 68% of fault repairs, and left 18% of owners with bills ranging from £501 to £750.
The owner of a Fiat 500 Electric stated: “The dealers don’t appear to know how my car works and don’t seem to be properly trained to repair it.” Others complain of a “poor dealership service” and high cost of servicing.
Staff attitude 3 stars
Quality of work 2 stars
Value for money 1 stars
Read our Fiat car reviews
2. Mercedes
Satisfaction rating 2 stars
While Mercedes owners are pretty happy with the way staff treat them when they get their car serviced, they’re less impressed with the quality of the work carried out or the cost of servicing. A third of owners rated the politeness of the brand’s employees as very good, and most of the rest said they were good. Just over half of owners said the workmanship from service departments was top notch, and a further 30% said it was good.
However, just 18% gave the highest rating for value for money, and a third gave it the second highest rating and a further third rated it only as average. Some owners told us the thing they liked least about their cars were the main dealer service costs, especially for older cars and the sometimes unhelpful attitude of staff.
Staff attitude 4 stars
Quality of work 2 stars
Value for money 1 stars
Read our Mercedes car reviews
3. Vauxhall
Satisfaction rating 2 stars
The servicing satisfaction rating for Vauxhall has plummeted since our last survey when the brand was rated 19th out of 31 car makes. While the staff politeness score has only dipped a little, the ratings for quality and value have dropped more sharply. Just over half of respondents gave Vauxhall the top very good rating for the attitude of staff, and most of the rest rated it as good or average.
However, only 46% said the quality was very good, and others said it was good or simply adequate. Value was the lowest scoring segment with only 27% of those surveyed rating it as very good, a third stating it was good and a third average.
In comments, one owner told us the thing they liked least about their car was the high cost of servicing.
Staff attitude 3 stars
Quality of work 2 stars
Value for money 2 stars
Satisfaction rating 2 stars
Volkswagen is usually average when it comes to customer satisfaction: it came ninth out of 31 brands the last time we ran this survey. However, it’s now the fourth worst-performing brand, partly due to car owners giving it the lowest staff attitude rating of all 30 car brands in the latest survey. It’s also the third poorest scoring for workmanship and the seventh worst for value for money.
Some owners complained to us about unhelpful dealership staff and the fact that they struggled to fix some of the numerous electrical faults that have bugged some models in the recent past.
Staff attitude 3 stars
Quality of work 2 stars
Value for money 2 stars
Read our Volkswagen car reviews
5. Porsche
Satisfaction rating 2 stars
The premium German sports car brand has long been regarded as pricey for servicing and maintenance, and it was marked down in this area in our last survey when it was in 15th place. This time round, owners have given it the lowest rating of all 30 brands for value for money, relegating it to the bottom echelons of our table.
In contrast to the other brands at this end of the chart, owners give it fairly high ratings for both staff attitude and the quality of work carried out by its garages. Overall, owners of hybrid and electric Porsche models are happier than those with petrol models, with almost all of them rating all three satisfaction areas as good or very good.
Staff attitude 4 stars
Quality of work 4 stars
Value for money 1 stars
Read our Porsche car reviews
6. Land Rover
Satisfaction rating 2 stars
Although this British SUV brand is still in the lower part of our table, it’s improved its standing since last year when it was the second poorest performing brand overall. Its strongest area is staff attitude, with 70% of car owners giving it the highest possible score in this area. Owners are also mostly happy with the work done to their cars, with 56% rating this area as very good.
Value for money is the weakest area, with 45% of those surveyed saying it was poor or average, and only 35% rating it as good or very good.
A number of owners told us that the thing they like least about their car is the high cost of servicing.
Staff attitude 4 stars
Quality of work 3 stars
Value for money 1 stars
Read our Land Rover car reviews
7. Ford
Satisfaction rating 2 stars
With lower scores across the board in the latest survey, Ford has slipped downwards from 19th place. Its strongest area is the way staff treat car owners: 90% of those asked rated it as very good for politeness. Most owners were also happy with the standard of work carried out on their cars, with 83% giving Ford dealers a good or very good rating in this area.
Value for money was the category owners were least happy with: 35% of them said the brand was only average or poor for this aspect of servicing.
Owners of internal combustion engine (ICE) Ford models are happier with staff attitude and the quality of work than hybrid and electric car owners, but ICE owners give a lower rating for value for money.
Staff attitude 3 stars
Quality of work 2 stars
Value for money 2 stars
Read our Ford car reviews
8. BMW
Satisfaction rating 2 stars
As with many more premium brands, it’s the perceived high cost of servicing that adversely affects the score of BMW and its service departments. Two-thirds of BMW owners rated the attitude of staff as very good, and only 6% rated it as average or poor. Workmanship was regarded almost as well, with 62% of owners saying it was very good and only 9% not impressed with it.
In contrast, 50% of owners said value for money was average or poor and only 20% thought it was top notch. No wonder then that a number of owners told us the high cost of routine servicing maintenance was the aspect they liked least about their car.
Staff attitude 4 stars
Quality of work 3 stars
Value for money 1 stars
Read our BMW car reviews
9. Audi
Satisfaction rating 3 stars
Audi owners are happier with the cost of servicing than they were last time we surveyed them, and this has helped the brand rise from 29th place closer to the middle of the league table. That said, only 30% of owners stated it was very good value, while the majority (60%) simply rated it as good value. Just over half (56%) of owners regarded the quality of workmanship as very good, and 29% said it was good, and only a third of owners rated the brand as very good for staff attitude, while most said they were good.
Owners of hybrid and electric Audi models were happier with all three aspects of the servicing experience than petrol and diesel car owners.
Staff attitude 4 stars
Quality of work 3 stars
Value for money 2 stars
Read our Audi car reviews
10. Renault
Satisfaction rating 3 stars
Mediocre scores across all three servicing satisfaction criteria prevent Renault from scaling the heights of our chart. Its ratings for staff friendliness and quality of work are the seventh and eighth worst of all those here, and only its value for money rating is outside the bottom 10 (in 12th place). Unusually, petrol and diesel owners are more satisfied with all three service areas than those with hybrid or electric models.
As well as concerns about the standard of work carried out, some owners also told us they’d faced long waits for appointments for servicing and to get faults fixed, and others complained about parts taking too long to arrive when ordered.
Staff attitude 3 stars
Quality of work 3 stars
Value for money 2 stars
Read our Renault car reviews
Servicing satisfaction by brand for cars up to five years old
| Rank | Brand | Attidute | Quality | Value | Overall score |
| 1 | Lexus | 5 | 5 | 4 | 5 |
| 2 | Honda | 5 | 5 | 4 | 4 |
| 3 | Tesla | 5 | 4 | 4 | 4 |
| 4 | Suzuki | 5 | 5 | 3 | 4 |
| 5 | Toyota | 5 | 5 | 3 | 4 |
| 6 | Dacia | 4 | 3 | 4 | 4 |
| 7 | Hyundai | 4 | 3 | 4 | 4 |
| 8 | MG | 4 | 3 | 3 | 3 |
| 9 | Kia | 3 | 3 | 4 | 3 |
| 10 | Mini | 5 | 5 | 2 | 3 |
| 11 | Mazda | 4 | 3 | 2 | 3 |
| 12 | Volvo | 4 | 3 | 2 | 3 |
| 13 | Alfa Romeo | 3 | 3 | 3 | 3 |
| 14 | Cupra | 4 | 3 | 2 | 3 |
| 15 | Skoda | 4 | 3 | 2 | 3 |
| 16 | Jaguar | 4 | 3 | 2 | 3 |
| 17 | Peugeot | 4 | 3 | 2 | 3 |
| 18 | Nissan | 3 | 3 | 2 | 3 |
| 19 | Citroen | 3 | 3 | 2 | 3 |
| 20 | Seat | 3 | 3 | 2 | 3 |
| 21 | Renault | 3 | 3 | 2 | 3 |
| 22 | Audi | 4 | 3 | 2 | 2 |
| 23 | BMW | 4 | 3 | 1 | 2 |
| 24 | Ford | 3 | 2 | 2 | 2 |
| 25 | Land Rover | 4 | 3 | 1 | 2 |
| 26 | Porsche | 4 | 4 | 1 | 2 |
| 27 | Volkswagen | 3 | 2 | 2 | 2 |
| 28 | Vauxhall | 3 | 2 | 2 | 2 |
| 29 | Mercedes | 4 | 2 | 1 | 2 |
| 30 | Fiat | 3 | 2 | 1 | 1 |
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