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Learning, Sharing, and Teaching => Ask a Mustachian => Topic started by: drachma on April 28, 2016, 12:24:14 PM

Title: Lifetime Cost of your Car?
Post by: drachma on April 28, 2016, 12:24:14 PM
I'm interested in some data about mustachian's vehicles. Many here advocate for buying used to avoid depreciation, doing repairs yourself, and so on. I am curious about what vehicle

- Price Paid for the vehicle
- Price the vehicle sold for (if you sold it at death)
- Starting Mileage (odo when you got it)
- Mileage at "Death" (odo when you parted)
- Total maintenance costs
     - consumables and regular maintenance costs
     - major repair costs
     - indicate how much of the repair was DIY/parts only vs. professionally done
- type of vehicle (make & model)
- fuel mileage

I doubt anyone has all this data both accurate and handy, so we'll have to take any responses with a grain of salt. But a large dataset like this would give insight into the TOTAL cost of ownership of different kinds of vehicles and use conditions.

Who's doing the best?
* The "buy new and drive for 5 years and trade in" crowd?
* The "buy new and drive until it's totaled by its own repairs" crowd?
* Buy used and drive til dead?
* Buy very used, fix up, and sell (potentially for more?)
* etc etc
Title: Re: Lifetime Cost of your Car?
Post by: bobechs on April 28, 2016, 12:54:24 PM
OK, you want data and you stand prepared to salt it to fit your particular taste; here is data.

Car: 1977 ALFA Romeo Spider (Veloce, if that matters alot to you)

Car was given to me, with the stringent condition that I had to take it all and take it that day.
(See, 'if you stand around long enough, someone will give you a Berlina' for the meme)  I kept the car on a friend's informal storage lot for two years and asked what I wanted for it by another friend I offered it for free and didn't even set any conditions.  In the meanwhile I had scavenged a starter, driver's seat, mirrors and some brightwork trim.  So,

$0.00  - Price Paid for the vehicle
$0.00  - Price the vehicle sold for (if you sold it at death) [I'm still alive, so doing the best i can with this one]
77,039mi  - Starting Mileage (odo when you got it)
77,052mi  - Mileage at "Death" (odo when you parted)
$0.00  - Total maintenance costs
$0.00   - consumables and regular maintenance costs
$0.00  - major repair costs
     - indicate how much of the repair was DIY/parts only vs. professionally done  [Sorry, no can do]
- type of vehicle (make & model) [See above; year also included]
Infinite- fuel mileage [Rope-towed 13 miles total; if you split the mileage with the tow vehicle about 28mpg, if you impute the whole tow to the rear car, 14mpg]

This car is absolutely the least expensive  per a) life [mine- so far], b) month & year, c)mile [or km] of any I have owned.  How many can say they had zero cost of ownership, capital and/or recurring for such a fine Italian road rocket?

edit:  The moral of the story is that the cheapest cars to own are ones that do not run.  This is a clear victory for do not-DIY school of car repair.  The less you do, the less it costs.
Title: Re: Lifetime Cost of your Car?
Post by: Millennial-Mustache on April 28, 2016, 01:52:36 PM
I'll play - my car is from the buy-new-and-drive-into-the-ground group:

2006 Kia Spectra
Beginning mileage: 16
Current mileage: 67,000
Purchase price: $14,000 (cash)
Sales price: still drive
No major repairs
Professional oil changes: $750 (30 at $25 each)
Other maintenance: maybe $500 (1 serpentine belt, 2 batteries, several bulbs)
Additional maintence due: $800 timing belt service due based on mileage
Fuel:$6,000? (28mpg at $2.50 a gallon)
Insurance: Unknown, but currently $20/month for liability plus uninsured motorist
State registration and inspection: about $750
Bonus: $4,000 in insurance payouts for accidents I didn't cause!

If you take out the free insurance money, less than $20,000 for 10 years of transportation
Title: Re: Lifetime Cost of your Car?
Post by: mskyle on April 28, 2016, 02:21:37 PM
Fun game! My car is in the "buy it a few years old and drive it into the ground" family.

2007 Toyota Yaris bought in 2010
Beginning mileage: ~36,000
Current mileage: ~110,000
Purchase price: $8700 cash
Sales price: still driving it; BlueBook value is supposedly $4700
Service and repairs (includes everything from oil changes to brake repairs to new tires to car washes and inspections): $2931
    - I did basically nothing myself
    - There was also significant auto body work, to the tune of $4000, but I didn't pay for that because I got rear-ended
Insurance costs: $3148
Tax and registration fees: ~$700 (sales tax, $50 registration every two years, ~$30 of annual excise tax)
Gas: $7400
Gas mileage: probably around 36mpg

This is based on my Mint numbers, so there are a probably a few stray tanks of gas for rental cars and misclassified non-car expenses in there, but I probably also made some car purchases that weren't counted as well (wiper fluid, scrapers, etc.). And I probably will need new rear tires this year (front tires were replaced last year).

So I'll round it up to about $18,500 over the six years and 74,000 miles I've had the car.

That makes my total cost to drive a bit under $0.25 a mile, if I could actually get $4700 for it, which seems a bit on the generous side. I drive it a lot less nowadays (the first few years I owned it were ~20K miles a year, now it's more like 5K) so my cost-per-mile has probably gone up (or maybe the slightly lower gas prices make up the difference), but sometimes it's nice having a car.
Title: Re: Lifetime Cost of your Car?
Post by: csprof on April 28, 2016, 10:36:38 PM
I'm interested in some data about mustachian's vehicles. Many here advocate for buying used to avoid depreciation, doing repairs yourself, and so on. I am curious about what vehicle

- Price Paid for the vehicle
- Price the vehicle sold for (if you sold it at death)
- Starting Mileage (odo when you got it)
- Mileage at "Death" (odo when you parted)
- Total maintenance costs
     - consumables and regular maintenance costs
     - major repair costs
     - indicate how much of the repair was DIY/parts only vs. professionally done
- type of vehicle (make & model)
- fuel mileage

I doubt anyone has all this data both accurate and handy, so we'll have to take any responses with a grain of salt. But a large dataset like this would give insight into the TOTAL cost of ownership of different kinds of vehicles and use conditions.

In spreadsheet and blog form, even:

http://da-data.blogspot.com/2015/06/why-my-car-cost-more-than-taking-uber.html

I won't claim it was mustachian.  In fact, quite the opposite - the point of my post was to give myself a little bit of a face punch.

Spreadsheet (google docs) is linked and you can clone it to your heart's content to do your own "oh my god, I paid HOW much over the lifetime of this car?" analysis.  Warning:  May lead to face punches.  Please don't punch mine - it got enough of a beating already.

(What's not stated in the blog post:  While I'd been planning on getting rid of the car for a while, it's at least 20% MMM's fault I finally pulled the trigger on doing so.  Don't tell my wife, she already thinks I get too many bad ideas around here.)
Title: Re: Lifetime Cost of your Car?
Post by: sparkytheop on April 29, 2016, 03:32:20 AM
Car:  1992 Honda Accord

Bought used in 2002 for $2k
Sold in 2009(?) for $2k
Given back to me in 2014 for $0 (the car needed an alternator and blower motor, brother was going to scrap metal it, I told him to just give it back to me)
Still have car, but just died a few weeks ago, not sure if it will be worth repair cost
Time I've owned approx 9 years total

 (all estimates)
Bought= $2k
Sold = $2k
"Re-bought" = $0
Total car purchase net = $0

Timing belt 1x, = $90 (?)
Oil changes 2x/year, $25= $450
Distribution cap 1x and other work = $100
Alternator 1x, = $150 DIY
Blower motor 1x, =$100 DIY
Main relay 1x, = $50 DIY
Tires (snow tires + regular tires) 3x(?) = $700 (came with good tires, good snow tires, when replaced, replaced with used snow tires, new regular tires)


Son got in an accident, so needed a new "arm" on the back tire, new wheel, realignment, $150 total (now has a large dent in the fender)

Total maintenance/tires/repairs = $1790, but I'll round it up to $2000 because I'm sure something has been skipped.


Needs work now to get it to run, might be the fuel pump, might be more, so ???

I have no idea how many miles it had when I bought it, but it has almost 300k miles now.  Fuel is around 30 mpg?

Cost (outside fuel and insurance, which has always been liability + uninsured motorist only) = $2000/9 years = $222/year, or less than $20/month.

ETA: I'm going to guess at least half those miles are mine, since I used the car as my commuter for years.  $2000 for 150k miles = 1.3 cents/mile (plus gas and insurance)


I'm in the "buy it used and drive it until it dies" camp.  Even better if you can sell it part way in for the same price you bought it, then get it back when someone else thinks it's not worth repairing!

I really, really don't want to give up the car, but if the new repair costs end up too high, I'll have to.  It would have been worth it before it was in a wreck, but not so much now (it's not just cosmetic... it's safe to drive, but doesn't "feel" like it used to, so I only drive it in town now)
Title: Re: Lifetime Cost of your Car?
Post by: sparkytheop on April 29, 2016, 03:50:05 AM
My other car:

2002 Ford Escape, bought used in 2008 for $8k, with 78k miles (give or take)
Still have it, has 196k miles

Oil changes 2x/year = $560
Wheel bearing = $100
Brakes 2x = $160
I know I had to have had it in the shop for something, but don't remember... = $500(?)
Tires 4x = $1500 (bought some used ones for snow tires)
Air filter 2x = $40
Maintenance/repairs = $2860, round up to $3k for any misc

No major repairs.  Not pretty (horrible paint year for Ford).

Around 20 mpg (it was better, not so great now)

Total costs for 8 years = $11k, $1375/year, $115/month, 9.3 cents/mile (minus gas and insurance)

Still going strong (cross fingers) but starting to leak a little oil.  I now only have a 4 mile (each way) commute instead of a 45 mile commute, so hopefully I can keep it going for a few more years!


Title: Re: Lifetime Cost of your Car?
Post by: alsoknownasDean on April 29, 2016, 04:37:06 AM
OK, I'm happy to buy something ten or so years old and drive it until it's cactus.

Car: 2002 Holden Barina
Purchase Date: December 2014
Purchase Price: $3000
Original odometer reading: 111100km (it hit 111111 on the way home)
Current odometer reading: 125000km
Annual registration: ~$770pa (paid twice since purchase)
Annual insurance: ~$550pa (paid twice since purchase)
Servicing costs: $1290 (it was a major service including timing belt). Service was completed by a local mechanic.
Tyres: $250 for two new tyres.
Other costs: ~$50 (a couple of headlight globes and some floor mats)
Approximate fuel economy: About 7.5-8L/100km. Fuel's probably averaged about $1.10-1.20 a litre in that time. Without doing much in the way of maths, maybe about $1300 in fuel all up to date.

It's been quite a good car so far. I'm hoping for a good few more reliable years from it.
Title: Re: Lifetime Cost of your Car?
Post by: TheGadfly on April 29, 2016, 09:02:33 AM

- 2007 Honda Fit, Base
- Price paid: $4700
- Starting Mileage: 143,000
- Current Milage: 165,000
- Total maintenance costs: $2,200
     - consumables and regular maintenance costs: $700 (oil changes, air filters and tire replacements)
     - major repair costs: $1500 (O2 sensor, spark plugs, coils, valve adjustment, brakes)
     - professionally done
- fuel mileage: ~40 mpg

Lesson learned: if you purchase a vehicle with about 150k miles on it, expect some major repairs in the very near future. On the bright side, the car runs like new and will easily go another 50,000 without any major repairs (I hope).