Genesis maintenance: cost, plans and service schedule

Luxury vehicles can be expensive to buy and, sometimes, even more expensive to maintain, but how does Genesis compare with other automakers in its class? Keep reading to learn what you may spend to keep a Genesis on the road, how that compares with other makes and what you can do to mitigate these costs.

Key insights

• Genesis upkeep costs are relatively cheap compared with other luxury vehicles, in part because the brand offers free maintenance for up to three years and warranty coverage for up to 10 years on new vehicles.
• However, because Genesis is so new and most of its vehicles are still under warranty, there’s limited information available if you’re looking for specifics.
• Extended warranties and prepaid maintenance plans can help with the cost of scheduled upkeep and repairs should you need a hand.

Are Genesis vehicles expensive to maintain?

Genesis is the luxury division of Hyundai, which means Genesis vehicles are generally more expensive than the South Korean automaker’s popular Sonata and Santa Fe models. Genesis vehicles can be a little more expensive to own, too, but that doesn’t mean that they’re actually expensive in the grand scheme of things.

How Genesis compares with other automakers

According to RepairPal, the annual average cost of repairing and maintaining a Genesis is $524. That’s more than the $468 per year RepairPal estimates for Hyundai’s lineup, but other luxury brands’ vehicles average as much as $950 or more per year, making Genesis one of the most economical options in its class.

“Genesis is on the horizon of becoming one of the more affordable and impressive luxury cars,” said Amelia Nolan, a mechanic with years of experience working on different brands’ vehicles. “By 2030, they’ll likely offer an entire electric lineup, which’ll reduce operating costs. It remains to be seen, however, how much that’ll affect maintenance costs.”

RepairPal’s figures above merge together maintenance and repair costs for convenience, but in reality, these are different services that require you to budget differently. (Maintenance is scheduled preventive care, like oil changes and tire rotations, while repairs are generally larger ordeals needed to fix unexpected issues.) We’ll explore each in a bit more detail to help you understand how they may affect you.

Genesis maintenance schedule

All cars require maintenance in order to stay on the road long-term, and Genesis vehicles are no exception. Your exact maintenance schedule may vary, but Genesis has a general plan for all of its vehicles, which you can see below. (We recommend that you check your owners manual for advice that’s specific to your vehicle, though.)

Genesis maintenance costs

All new Genesis purchases receive complimentary scheduled maintenance for three years or up to 36,000 miles. This includes services such as oil changes, tire rotations, cabin filter replacements and more.

However, once this free program eventually ends, you need to set aside some of your budget for recommended maintenance. Maintenance is fairly simple to budget for, however — just find out what your local garage charges for the services listed in your owners manual and map those costs out over the recommended intervals.

Example: 2017 Genesis G80 maintenance costs

To show how much Genesis maintenance might cost you, we got estimates for various recommended services on a 2017 Genesis G80. Just bear in mind that your costs may differ based on your vehicle and location.

These estimates don’t factor in taxes and fees, but they should help you get a general idea of what you can expect to spend. While these numbers may be intimidating to some, people familiar with luxury cars appear generally satisfied with the cost of Genesis ownership, according to the mechanics we spoke with.

Genesis repair costs

It’s hard to come by reliable information on how much Genesis repairs cost because most Genesis vehicles are still under warranty. However, Edmunds, a website that provides resources for car shopping, projects that 2021 Genesis GV80 owners can each expect to pay around $1,682 for repairs that fall outside of their factory warranty coverage over the first five years of their vehicle’s life. (That’s a little more than we would expect based on RepairPal’s overall average for Genesis vehicles, but some variation between data sources is normal.)

The lack of data on Genesis repair costs is both good news and bad news for prospective Genesis owners. It’s rarely comforting to place a bet on the unknown, but the fact that this data is so sparse might show actually that Genesis’ strong warranty coverage is working.

» LEARN: What is a manufacturer’s warranty?

How can an extended warranty or maintenance plan help?

Extended warranties and prepaid maintenance plans are two ways to keep your Genesis ownership costs low, but they work in very different ways.

Extended warranties help protect you from paying for repair bills when your Genesis breaks down. It’s hard to say how useful these plans are when repair cost data is so hard to come by for Genesis vehicles (and the data that does exist shows these vehicles to be fairly reliable), but Genesis does offer its own warranty program for extended warranties, which it calls Genesis Protection Plan Vehicle Service Contracts.

Genesis also offers five prepaid maintenance plans that can help you save money on your regularly scheduled maintenance visits. While a lot of the value of these plans comes from the peace of mind you get knowing your maintenance is paid for, they can also save you money in some cases by protecting you from inflation or price increases. (Some dealers even offer discounts on maintenance services bought through prepaid plans because they guarantee future business.)

Both extended warranties and prepaid maintenance plans are optional (you may not even want them given how relatively affordable Genesis upkeep is and how long the warranties last), but if ownership costs are a potential problem for you, they’re worth considering.

» MORE: Car warranty vs. car insurance