SOA / Budget for car maintenance

barshamhillbilly

Hi

Just wondering what people use as a rule for their car maintenance / MOT / servicing etc figure in their budget. It's just a lot I have seen on here only allow £20-25 a month.

Now, I've just had a bill for £550 and expect a similar amount around MOT time and for a years motoring a would expect a total of about £1000 assuming doing around 12,000 - 15,000 miles for the year, and including replacing the car when it gets beyond economical repair / depreciation..... Now that equates to around £83 a month.

So my other question is how do you peeps manage to run a car for £20 a month? Am I missing something? Is there a cheaper way? (As it is I DIY where possible)

Cheers
BHB

Chrisblue1962

Hi, I don't think there is a "one size fits all" answer to this one.

The amount per month you need to put aside each month would ultimately depend on age and condition of car. You need to sit down and work out your mileage each year, plus costs for annual costs for MOT and car tax. The mileage figure will ultimately govern how frequently you service the car and how often you will replace tyres and suchlike.

I personally allow £37.00 per month to cover MOT, car tax and some modest maintenance but that's just me .

MrsTUS

It's worth mentioning people also allow a certain amount for an 'emergency fund' which is to be used for emergencies (obviously haha) and unexpected costs that may arise... so if this were us, as our car is essential, we'd also use this for car maintenance and then start saving it up again afterwards...

HappyMJ

barshamhillbilly wrote: »

Hi

Just wondering what people use as a rule for their car maintenance / MOT / servicing etc figure in their budget. It's just a lot I have seen on here only allow £20-25 a month.

Now, I've just had a bill for £550 and expect a similar amount around MOT time and for a years motoring a would expect a total of about £1000 assuming doing around 12,000 - 15,000 miles for the year, and including replacing the car when it gets beyond economical repair / depreciation..... Now that equates to around £83 a month.

So my other question is how do you peeps manage to run a car for £20 a month? Am I missing something? Is there a cheaper way? (As it is I DIY where possible)

Cheers
BHB

No you are not missing anything. According to the RAC cost of motoring a new car that does average miles (12,000 miles a year for 3 years) as you do would cost an average of £381 per year. Used cars that are 3-6 years old that also do 12,000 miles would average out at £818 per year. Of course that is dealer charges. If you go to an independant it will be cheaper. http://media.rac.co.uk/pdf/2010-rac-cost-of-motoring.pdf

You could average that out over the first 6 years of owning a car it will cost £50 a month. The car would have travelled 72,000 miles over that time costing 5p per mile in repairs and maintenance.

postingalwaysposting

I put asside £145 per month for my car to include repairs/mot/insurance. The only thing I don't use that for is my road tax as its such a small bill. So that equates to £1740 a year. After insurace that leaves £1000 approx for bills etc. Now its a working pot and I dip into it frequently cluch June, bumper July but it works for me. Thankfully the car flew through its MOT no problems last month and its an 11yr old :T

As Chris says its a very personal question as the newer the car generally the less that needs repairing/replacing. Also the amount of use the car get's needs to be taken into consideration as someone driving 70miles a day vs 9miles will obviously increase wear and tear etc.

barshamhillbilly

Yes - that sounds about right to me. Even CSSS suggest using a figure £10-22 a month. How is that possible - It costs more than that for an MOT and a couple of tyres, without anything going wrong or general servicing. I just don't see what they base that figure on. Anyway - thanks for your input peeps. Much appreciated.
BHB

Pollycat

I think it's a bit of a 'how long is a piece of string' question.

As well as the variables also mentioned that can affect how much people budget, it's who does the repairs/service that can impact on the cost.

There's a world of difference between taking a car to a major dealer or a local garage for repairs.

Or maybe the person doing the SOA has a friend who does the repairs for a small payment plus cost of spares or perhaps the person does it himself and the only cost of repairs is the cost of spare parts.

Glad you got some sort of answer about your question.