Car dealer speaks out after an electric car driver is sued for changing oil and filters – even though electric cars don’t need them
- EV driver charged $445 for engine oil change
- His Mercedes-Benz vehicle is fully electric
- Dealer said the charge was an “harmless mistake.”
A Mercedes-Benz dealer who sued an electric car driver for changing the oil has insisted the charge was an “harmless mistake.”
The owner of the electric car, Matty, took his two-year-old Mercedes-Benz EQA-250 to the 3 Point Motors dealership in Epping, Melbourne on April 11 for a full overhaul.
While he expected the service to be pricey, he didn’t expect to be charged $445 for an “engine oil and filter change.”
“I thought I should take a look at the bill and $445! $445 for what? To perform an engine oil and filter change,” he says in a video posted to social media.
The problem is that this car is fully electric. They commissioned me to change the oil and filter of an all-electric car. Non-Hybrid – Fully Electric.
‘I thought let me check this; I’ve been driving this car for two years now; let’s check it again today for the 14th time – it’s definitely electric.’
A spokesman for 3 Point Motors told Daily Mail Australia that the charge was an ‘harmless mistake’.
The driver took his Mercedes-Benz EQA-250 to a Melbourne dealership for servicing (pictured)
“A valued member of the 3 Point Motors team accidentally selected the wrong job code when printing the electric vehicle maintenance invoice,” they said.
“This was an innocent mistake discovered when the driver came to collect the vehicle and in no way affected the pricing or the work actually performed.
“We apologized and tried to re-issue the correct invoice on the spot, but the driver informed us that he would not have it corrected.
“We have now contacted the actual registered owner of the vehicle and provided them with the correct billing information.”
Matty said he hadn’t initially questioned the $700 bill, but upon closer inspection of the itemized bill, realized the mistake.
Fully electric vehicles do not need to change engine oil or filter because they do not have a combustion engine.
While he expected the service to be pricey, he didn’t expect to be charged $445 for an “engine oil and filter change” (pictured is itemized bill)
The 2021 Mercedes-Benz EQA 250 is the German automaker’s second and most affordable all-electric model in Australia with a pre-road price of $76,800.
The electric car is powered by a 66.5 kWh battery and has a range of 480 km when fully charged.
A Mercedes-Benz dealer who sued an electric car driver for changing the oil insisted the charge was an ‘harmless mistake’