what is the real total cost of owning and using a car?

machinor

hello!

can you tell me please a list of all the costs involved in owning and using a car and a rough estimate per mile or something?

of example
200 pounds for tires every 20k miles
5 pounds for engine oil every 5k miles
1 pound for fuel every 10 miles
etc

I am refering to a used 10-15 years small 3 door car, running on petrol, running around 20k miles per year combination of urban/extraurban cycle.

thanks!

InsideInsurance

There is no real way of doing it, though the AA used to do a very basic figure for it based on a hell of a lot of averages

A 21 year old driving an Aston Martin is going to be paying much more on insurance than a 50 year old and so their cost per mile is more.

Insurance for 4,000 miles per year and 8,000 miles per year is almost identical but the cost per mile is half.

A £50,000 car will depreciate say £5,000 in year 1 if you do 1,000 miles (so £5 per mile) but only £7,500 if you did 15,000 miles (so £0.50 per mile)

BeenThroughItAll

The only way you're going to get anything useful will be to put a lot more information in. Otherwise it'll be 'garbage in, garbage out'.


So you need to know:
Car specification and real world fuel consumption figures
VED cost
Servicing - dealer, independent or self-serviced? OEM parts or eBay cheapest?
Miles per day, type of roads, traffic levels etc.
Tyres - premium, midrange, budget? New or part worn?
Driving style - Slow, medium or Stig
Purchase price of vehicle and estimated depreciation
Insurance cost


Then it's a case of get the spreadsheet out I'm afraid. No one here's going to be able to give you the simple answer you're looking for without a lot more information.

sinizterguy

3 year old BMW M3 over 6 months and 18,500 miles = 20,000 including depreciation and all running costs.

Hope that helps.

If it doesn't, your question needs to be a lot more specific.

Hintza

Jeep Cherokee (inc dep) about 89p/mile. Based on 8,000 miles.

Ebe_Scrooge

machinor wrote: »

can you tell me please a list of all the costs involved in owning and using a car .

Answer : A lot.

Some good advice has been offered above - i.e. no-one can tell you precisely. There are fixed costs you can account for :

MOT
Tax
Insurance

Fuel you can get a reasonable estimate for, once you know what MPG your car actually achieves for the sort of driving you do ( not what the manufacturer claims it can do ). www.whatcar.com has some information on "real-world" MPGs based on readers' submissions, this may give you a reasonable guide.

Tyres are a bit more tricky. Different tyres will have harder or softer compounds, meaning they last longer or wear out quicker. Plus your driving style will affect the wear rate. And in terms of cost, for my car I can buy tyres for £50 each or well over £100 each.

Depreciation needs to be accounted for, but is more of an issue if you plan on selling the car after 3 years than if you plan on keeping it for 10.

Servicing and repairs. For servicing you can ask a main dealer or your local independent what they would charge, and you can price up the parts if you want to DIY it. Repairs - anyone's guess, almost by definition they are unexpected. Though regular servicing and maintenance can go some way to offsetting any really nasty surprises.

Good luck in working all that lot out !

Andy_L

The AA's figures mentioned in post 2

http://www.theaa.com/motoring_advice/running_costs/index.html

sh0597

old small 3 door petrol, 20k annual mileage


assuming it costs £100 to service every 10k miles, costs £200 to fit new tyres every 40k miles, achieves 40mpg over that 20k at £1.28 per litre (£2900).


That would be £3200 + VED + Insurance + MOT&Repairs


extra miles cost you about 14.5p in fuel and 1.5p in servicing+tyres + some increase in repair costs.


You can forget depreciation at that age, it's pretty much worth up to £1K for as long as it works.


If VED Insurance and repairs came to £1300 as an example, you'd be paying 22.5p per mile over the year.

forgotmyname

A single tyre can cost from £40 to £400+

A yearly service can cost £100 - £1000+++

Depreciation. The more you pay the more you can lose.
Buy a new car for £20,000 and in 3 years it maybe worth £6000. £14,000 down the drain before you add the other costs.

A clutch replacement can be £120 or £1700.

PlymouthMaid

My Honda probably costs me about between £1000-1600 a year to run depending on what needs fixing (fuel and all expenses inc insurance)and also depreciates by about one thousand a year roughly. I try not to drive much though because of the cost of fuel.

27col

Just as a matter of interest.
Back in the 1960's I did actually work out how much it had cost me to own a Triumph Herald. It worked out at fourpence halfpenny(Pre decimal money) a mile. That was over 3 years, included depreciation, tyres, insurance, maintenance, and cost of fuel. Mileage, about 40,000 in total.
I don't suppose any of you are the slightest bit interested.
Oh, and I bought a 3 bed terraced house for £1720 at the same time.