COMPANY vehicle owners beware – business car data specialists Derwent Management Services are flagging up a hidden cost of diesel cars that isn’t always reflected in industry standard service, maintenance and repair (SMR) calculations.
The culprit, if that is the right word, is diesel exhaust fluid, better known by its commercial brand name, AdBlue. Adblue has so far mainly been seen in heavy commercial vehicles, but that’s changing as its use is increasingly spreading to vans and even mainstream car models, including, for example, Mercedes’ range of eco-friendly BlueTEC diesels.
Diesel exhaust fluid has a big benefit, of course, in terms of cleaning up diesel emissions – but that benefit comes at a cost. DMS reckons that cost is about £60 over the service life of a typical company car, with AdBlue top-ups costing an average of about £20 each time the car is serviced.
DMS research director Steve Chambers highlights the case of the Mercedes ML where a 50 per cent top up of fluid costs an estimated £23.80 including labour, a figure that rises to £47.65 if a full drain and refill of the system is required.
