Which Luxury Brand Has Lower Maintenance Costs?

Purchasing a new car is hardly an easy task, even if you’re shopping in the more budget-friendly quarters of the market. But the process can no doubt be even more daunting for folks shopping in the luxury vehicle category, as there tends to be more money at stake up front. If you are eyeing a new ride in that corner of the market, there’s a likelihood that vehicles from BMW and Toyota’s luxury shingle, Lexus, are on your radar. 

Those vaunted auto brands have essentially become permanent fixtures on yearly lists, amassing the best-selling luxury brands. If you’ve been comparing those automotive brands yourself, you likely noticed that, at least at the point of purchase, BMW models will likely cost you a few more Benjamins than their Lexus counterparts. But in the luxury automobile sector, maintenance should also factor heavily in your decision-making process, as it can be expensive to keep those vehicles looking and running the way any owner would expect from a high-priced ride.

It can, however, be difficult to properly determine maintenance costs on your own. As such, consumer ratings factions like Consumer Reports (CR) can be invaluable in helping you crunch the numbers. And according to CR, in the long run, the estimated cost of maintaining a BMW may be considerably more than that of a Lexus. For the record, several other factions — including SoFi and CarEdge — also rank Lexus well ahead of BMW in this category, even as there may be more to the numbers to consider.

Given Lexus’s ties to the Toyota brand, it’s not entirely shocking that the brand is cheaper to maintain. Save for a few recent issues, Toyota is well-known in the automobile arena for reliable vehicles that don’t cost much to properly maintain. To that end, both SoFi and CarEdge rank Lexus as one of the best luxury options on the market in terms of maintenance costs.

Though numbers vary, Consumer Reports estimates tell the same story. But the numbers aren’t as cut and dry as you might think. In fact, per CR’s estimates, over the first five years of ownership, a Lexus might cost more to properly maintain at a potential cost of $1,800 to BMW’s $1,700. It’s in years six through 10 that things shift dramatically, however, with CR estimating it may cost $9,300 to maintain a BMW and $5,600 for a Lexus. Consumer Reports’ 10-year estimates break down to $11,000 for BMW and $7,400 for Lexus. While the other noted survey factions claim that cost could run closer to $16,000 or more for the German brand, the overall Lexus numbers are more in-line CR’s estimate.

There is one caveat to consider regarding these numbers, in that CR reportedly only accounts for costs that are paid directly by the vehicle’s owner, effectively ignoring services covered by the manufacturer in complimentary maintenance plans. That may account for variances in the cited estimates. And with new BMWs getting three years of complimentary service from the manufacturer in comparison to Lexus’s one-year plan, the overall numbers could see a notable shift.