When you want to drive a Cadillac, you should factor the cost of Cadillac maintenance into the amount you’ll pay for your vehicle.
This brand has a variety of models for you to select from, with sedans and SUVs that can provide the smooth, comfortable, modern, and amazing drive that you’ll experience on the road. While the glory of driving a luxury car is something you desire, if the cost to maintain your vehicle is outside of your budget, you will soon have more troubles than any vehicle is worth.
An Expected Cost that’s Lower than Other Brands
Before you get ahead of yourself and think that maintaining a Cadillac is going to be something that’s extremely expensive, think about the class this car keeps. The Cadillac brand is part of the luxury level of driving. That puts the vehicles from this brand up against those from Audi, BMW, Mercedes-Benz, Porsche, Lexus, Infiniti, and Genesis, to name a few. If you’re looking at the cost to maintain a vehicle for the long term, ten years or more, you’ll find that Cadillac is one of the most expensive brands of vehicles to maintain. It comes in third on the list, with only BMW and Mercedes-Benz more costly to maintain during that period of time.
Should that turn you away from this brand for your driving pleasure? Not at all what you need is to better understand what goes into the overall cost of Cadillac maintenance and what you can do to reduce that number during your time of ownership.
Understand the Annual Increase
When driving any vehicle for up to ten years, you’re going to have an increase in maintenance costs each year. Most parts are not expected to last for hundreds of thousands of miles, but some will. A properly maintained car could last you for many years and up to one million miles, but that is only if you’re willing to pay the cost to maintain the vehicle for that long, take meticulous care of it, and are lucky enough to never be in an accident.
On average, the first year of ownership of your Cadillac will come with maintenance costs that are about $500. This is your break-in period, and most of this cost will be to replace fluids and consumable parts that are used to get your car used to driving on the road.
The next three years give you a range of costs to maintain your vehicle between $550 and $900 per year. At this point, you’re not spending a lot to maintain your Cadillac and can enjoy the driving experience. Of course, these numbers are only based on an estimated number of miles driven each year.
Years five through seven are still relatively affordable years of ownership with Cadillac maintenance costs that range from just over $100 to $1,800 for the items that will need to be lubricated, replaced, maintained, and repaired.
Once you move past the seventh year of ownership, your Cadillac will cost you more than $2,000 per year to maintain.
The best advice for you would be to keep your Cadillac for the first seven years or fewer to keep your cost to maintain the vehicle more affordable. If you want to keep your Caddy longer, it’s going to cost a lot to keep it running right.
Repair Probability is Another Factor
The newer your car is, the less likely it’s going to need any major repairs. There are some cars that come from the factory and have somehow made it through the inspection process to be true duds on the road, but that doesn’t happen often. When you’re looking at the overall probability of major repairs for your Cadillac, the numbers are similar to the maintenance costs.
During the first three years of ownership, the likelihood of your car needing major repairs is less than six percent each year. This is also the time when you have the greatest level of protection from the factory warranty.
The next four years show an increase in the probability of needing a major repair to your vehicle. This probability still remains under 20 percent, which isn’t bad at all. You can confidently drive a Cadillac for seven years and only have this percentage of possibility of a major repair needing to take place.
Once you get to year eight, the probability of major repairs is over 23 percent, and it increases dramatically to be nearly 50 percent by the time you’ve had the vehicle for eleven years. This is where the luck factor takes over and if you don’t need any major repairs, you can count yourself very lucky.
Putting It All Together
When you’re in the market for a Cadillac, you want to consider the maintenance cost as part of the cost of buying the vehicle. Whether you’re looking at the average annual cost of maintenance for this brand or the probability of needing a major repair, the first seven years of ownership give you the most affordable way to enjoy your drive.
If you finance your luxury vehicle, the best advice is to secure a loan with a duration of five years or less to ensure you can have some years where you’re not making payments on the vehicle. With a lease, you’ll likely only have three to four years of driving, which keeps you in the most affordable range for this brand.
Can You Lower the Maintenance Costs Further?
Your new Cadillac might include a series of complimentary maintenance visits that can help to reduce the cost of servicing your vehicle. Many automakers are offering these services for new models to help you break in your vehicle properly and show you how to maintain your warranty. Often, there are also extended maintenance programs you can add to the price of your monthly payments. You’ll want to compare the cost of these plans with how much your maintenance is going to be during that time to determine if you should pay for these services as part of a program or not.
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