Sparkling personality
Chevrolet officially left South Africa in 2017 when parent company GM wrapped up a number of global operations. This left many GM branded car owners wondering if they would still be able to service their cars.
Related: Is the Chevrolet Spark Lite good for new drivers? Here’s our verdict.
Isuzu Motors bought out the Struandale plant and offered to keep servicing all Chevrolet models under warranty and kept a significant amount of the needed parts in stock.
Maintenance cost
According to the 2015 Kinsey report the Chevrolet Spark faired the worst out of 10 compact cars in terms of the parts bin costs taking a whopping 64% of the purchase price of the car in replacement car parts. These are parts such as fenders, doors, and headlights, while service parts are on par with other makes. Customers can expect to pay around the following amounts for the following service items.
| Air filter | from R185 |
| Oil filter | from R123 |
| Spark plugs set | from R320 |
| Wiper blades | from R278 |
| Brake pads front | from R650 |
| Brake pads rear | from R850 |
* Prices were sourced from various suppliers and are averaged out and are subject to change without notice
Repair cost
Relatively speaking, day-to-day maintenance items are not that expensive but when it comes to replacement body panels, doors, headlights, and other critical parts you will be digging deep into your cheque book.
| BONNET | R | 7,312.31 |
| FRONT BUMPER SKIN | R | 2,122.46 |
| GRILLE | R | 3,188.95 |
| L/H FRONT FENDER | R | 2,158.38 |
| WHEEL RIM | R | 1,192.50 |
| L/H HEADLIGHT ASSEMBLY | R | 2,556.90 |
| FRONT WINDSCREEN | R | 3,075.55 |
| R/H FRONT DOOR | R | 9,388.54 |
| R/H REAR DOOR | R | 8,526.56 |
| R/H FRONT WINDOW GLASS | R | 2,069.11 |
| REAR BUMPER SKIN | R | 3,716.35 |
| L/H REAR FENDER | R | 8,288.30 |
| BOOT LID / TAILGATE | R | 6,511.20 |
| L/H TAIL LIGHT ASSEMBLY | R | 1,891.10 |
| REAR WINDSCREEN | R | 1,360.57 |
*Prices subject to difference as supply fluctuates
Verdict
The other more obvious problem now is that the vehicle is no longer sold in SA, most of the warranties have expired and parts will begin running out locally as Isuzu begins scaling down parts holding for the Spark. Servicing the vehicle shouldn't be to difficult as it shares many of its service parts with other vehicles but replacing large body items will be expensive.
