How to work out costs of car?

Beyou

Hi I have seen a car I am interested in (I will pay finance each month). I am trying to work out how much it will cost to run. Is there a website that will calculate how much a specific car costs to run for fuel, service, MOT etc.? It is a Smart Fortwo Coupe Pure Mhd (2012).40,207 miles.
1.0L. Automatic. Petrol. Thanks.

Scrapit

How long is a piece of string?
Miles you drive will dictate how much fuel you will use. That will also affect the amount of times you need servicing and repairs although you may need repairs regardless of miles. You can get insurance quotes on line. Mot is only a small range of costs for the test but the cost of getting through the mot depends on what's required. You'll know the price of fuel at your chosen petrol station but that changes regularly. You'll be able to get a rough idea of mpg from the manufacturer or honest John etc but this again will be defined by you.

forgotmyname

My previous car averaged 29mpg over a full tank of fuel during one winter, yet another tank of fual averaged 58mpg.

So what did it cost to run??? It varies massively depending on the journey types.

29mpg LOTS of short winter journeys in the snow, 58 mpg trips out with plenty of clear runs. Usually 38 - 42mpg outskirts of a city.

Finance = probably more than paying cash and not MSE.

Service, how many miles will you do? 1 service a year or 3 services a year? MOT £55. Although you can get it cheaper.

1L petrol great for the City, My large 2L diesel estate will probably be better on the motorway.

Brilley

...depreciation will be the biggest single cost, followed by, (in no particular order):-

Cost of finance.

Fuel - calculate based on current fuel price and your expected mileage
Road tax - based on car, typically £140 yr
Insurance - based on your age and driving experience
Routine Servicing and MOT - Assume £300 / yr / 10,000 miles
Consumables - / Tyres / brake pads, discs - ?
AA / RAC membership - £100/yr? assuming you want it
Unexpected repairs?....what is the reliability of the car like?

Goudy

Costs to run and costs to own over a period of time are slightly different.

For running costs you need to consider, RFL, insurance, fuel, servicing and any repairs, parking permits and the likes of breakdown cover and yearly MOT.

Most of these should be easy to find or work out.

You can check the tax band on line with the reg number, for insurance use a comparison site or two.

Ring a local Smart specialist for an idea of a yearly service and MOT (they will probably be different prices for different year/mileages, just average them out).

You can roughly workout fuel costs if you know you likely yearly mileage, sites like Fuelly and Honest John run real life MPG figures for nearly all makes and models.

Repairs and other consumables like brakes and tyres are harder to work out, though I would factor in a fair chunk, an 8 year old one of these isn't going to be that reliable and city cars tend to suffer a hard life anyway.

To work out the cost of ownership, you now need to start adding in depreciation and cost of finance to the above.

There are a few other resources worth checking, there are a few Smart forums around the web. It might be worth signing up to one and asking around on there, as mentioned these weren't the most reliable cars from new and they can develop quite a few expensive problems, particularly gearbox ones, which you will usually need an expensive Smart specialist to sort out.

daveyjp

On an 8 year old car the unknown are repair costs. Clutch packs, turbos, drive shafts, suspension components etc

Check previous MOTs to see if anything has been noted in the past (suspension, corrosion, brakes in particular) and if repairs were undertaken.

Visit the smart owners website for info on running and repair costs.