[Closed] How much does your car cost to run?

given your main costs are fuel and depreciation I'd avoid anythign new as it'll up the latter or anythign old as it'll up the former.

My skoda octavia cost 27p a mile, bought at a franchised dealer at 3.5 years, sold at 6.5 years

At just over 31p per mile, I don't think that that is a very expensive car to run at all.

Very little thankfully- Ive a company car + Fuel card, that covers both work and private miles..

I was looking into getting a second car and came to pretty much the same figure. I'm sticking to commuting by bike.

I don't consider depreciation as a running cost.

I think I worked it out that I turn about 10p/mile profit with my car based on work paying me 45p/mile and most of my miles being for work.

1.6petrol C-max and me 25yrs old

Will definately sell it once work has stopped paying for it.

I don't consider depreciation as a running cost.

i don't think most people do! Perhaps i should rephrase the question as how much to own and run a car. Notice AA divide it into standing/running costs.

I'm just trying to work out the cost of running it at the moment. Costs gone up, income gone down. Looks like the car might have to go.

molgrips - Member

I don't consider depreciation as a running cost.

Its a art of the cost of your motoring no matter if you want to ignore it. A large component for many folk

It's an indirect cost. You buy a car, it costs £x - that's the outlay. anything you get for it when you sell it is an income. Separate pots, for me.

I think last time this came up, I worked out it was costing me about 18p/mile but then I do a lot of miles (~600/wk just commuting) so things like depreciation, tax & insurance get diluted down somewhat.

Something like:

tax - £120
Insurance (incl. breakdown) - £420
MOT - £30
Servicing x 2 - £220
Tyres x 4 - £240
Depreciation - £1000

+ fuel.

Lease car here through work on a private lease other than the payments I only pay for fuel. Bulbs, wiper blades, servicing, tyres you name it and it's covered.

So roughly without fuel it costs me 22p per mile and with fuel about 22.50p per mile but my equation for working fuel per mile maybe wrong.

DOH! I was miles off not sure what I did but it's 33p per mile with fuel.

It's an indirect cost. You buy a car, it costs £x - that's the outlay. anything you get for it when you sell it is an income. Separate pots, for me.

So you can drive down the cost of motoring by putting some of the costs out of your mind. At filling stations I'm going to put the price of diesel out of my mind and only apply the costs of a packet of crisps and a can of pop to my journey. I feel richer already.

My van will hit its 300,000th mile sometime next month, although most of those miles aren't mine I decided to work out how much diesel its consumed on that journey - that was eye opening!

Insurances/taxes obviously per year, servicing and parts averaged since 2008 when I bought it:

Based on 8K miles
Tax 125
Insurance 250
MOT 55
Depreciation (based on price I paid versus price of similar model now in paper) 125
Repairs (ave per year):
Tyres 100
Crank pulley 8
Servicing 30
Replacement bulbs 3
Brakes/pads 15
Fuel (at current prices) 1100

Cost per year:£1826 inc fuel.

Based on 4K miles
2nd car (Only been running for 7 months):
Insurance 550
Tax 215
Fuel 1180
MOT
Depreciation 0 (It's worth more as parts than I paid for it in 2004)
Repairs 0
Servicing 30
Tyres x2 160
Brakes 50

Total 2185

Total cost of 2 cars 4011 per year.

£220 insurance (group 2)
£30 a year tax
60-70 mpg
£160 annual service (no breakdowns yet)
Mot £50
Cost 5k to buy, and I'll keep it til it's dead

That's just silly molgrips unless you plan to eventually replace it with a cheaper model, you have to save what it's depreciating to buy a replacement. That's the true cost whether you like to admit or account for it or not.

Otherwise, I'll claim that my bikes cost me nothing because I don't pay for them 'out of that pot'.

21p a mile. 14,400 miles and around £3118 in costs including depreciation most of which is fuel.

The answer to depreciation is not to buy a car anywhere near new or to get one that will appreciate as it ages.

Tax £460
Service + MOT £350 (and that's at a specialist, not a dealer)
Insurance £650
Petrol (5000 miles at 22MPG, superunleaded) £1500

= 59p a mile! Excluding depreciation. Add that in (say £3K, it's 5 years old now) and it's 119p a mile.

Do I win?

VW Golf company car cost me £89 per month in tax and fuel costs on average £111 per month so a nice round £200 and nothing else to worry about.

I do about 14k private miles per year. About 17p per mile.

Just remeber these cost when comparing to public transport 🙂

I've always regarded cars as a 300-400 pm touch - whether its running yourself, purchase, repair or company car tax...

55p per mile not inc depreciation.

350z:

£450 insurance
£240 tax
£50 service (done myself)
£28 MOT local honda garage offer
£400 tyres
£300 exhaust
£500 depreciation
£? petrol @ 26mpg 6000 miles

lalala I'm not playing this game. Actually compared to some above its not too bad over a year.

Tax £245
Insurance c£400 (have changed cars twice this insurance year so exact figure not available)
Servicing c£200 (mainly consumable parts as I do most of the work myself)
MOT £125 including some minor remedial work
Fuel Approx £300 p/m, although my mileage claims at work normally net me about £250 p/m
Depreciation - nil, I bought my car well below bottom book knowing it's history and with an appreciation that it needed a few bits doing, these have been done by myself for very little cost, I could easily sell the car tomorrow for £1k more than it has cost me so far.

was - do you replace the exhaust and tyres every year?!

Depreciation - nil ..... I could easily sell the car tomorrow for £1k more than it has cost me so far.

So it has actually cost you money really.

Say you do well and buy a car for £1500 that you've seen elsewhere go for £2500.

It has effectively cost £2500 as you could have sold it on immediately for £2500.

I do this all this time and justify it to other people like you have... man logic!

Just remeber these cost when comparing to public transport

I'm still better off, both in cost and time, as we've discussed before. My daily costs inc all fixed costs are £3.45 for the car. The return bus fair alone for me to get to work is not far off that, then I need to add £2.40 for the return tube cost. Oh, and the bus/tube route takes over an hour, driving takes 20 mins.

Just remeber these cost when comparing to public transport

was - do you replace the exhaust and tyres every year?!

No... I suppose rear tyres might last 2 years doing 6k but exhaust should last 50k miles or so.

Tax £260
Ins £406
Fuel £1900 (9000m at £1.30)
Service £512 (first one for two years I've had it)
Breakdown cover £40
Depriciation, not a lot as it's worth bgger all to start with

Just over 30p/mile, not bad for a huge MPV with a 2L petrol engine.
.
Being a bit nerdy I made a spreadsheet for bike-carrying cars before I bought it.
Volvo V70 Estate, Renault Espace, Landy 110 V8 with LPG.
Oddly enough the Landy was cheapest.
Added my SO's brand new Aygo to the list. That was by far the most expensive.
It's all about depreciation, and Landy's don't do much of that.
Should have been brave and bought the Landy but opted for 'none of the above'

Just remeber these cost when comparing to public transport

I live 15 miles from my work. We have one bus per week which is community run. Public transport isn't an option for an awful lot of people.

chuffing loads.

insurance = £800/year
tax = £110
MOT = £200 (there's always something that needs attention)
service = £200 (as above)
fuel = £70/month (450miles/month or 5400miles/year = £840)

wassat? £2150?

£180/month?

actually, that's not bad - considering it 'buys' me the ability to go where i want when i want, and take loads of stuff/people with me.

Just remeber these cost when comparing to public transport

48p per mile

😉

This is a very useful link.

Gobsmacked to discover even my humdrum 1.6 Focus costs me 47p a mile.I`m actually considering going back into the company car scheme having run the figures,as it would be cheaper.

Just remeber these cost when comparing to public transport

Fare - £2.20 (59p per mile)

And I have a 25 minute walk to the station (again, no buses from my house)

Just remeber these cost when comparing to public transport

47p per mile

Again a 25 minute walk to the station (the bus station is next to the train station so the same walking time) as there are no buses (or I could add the £8 taxi fare on to that as above).

😉

535i - running cost 36ppm / overall cost (inc. dep) 48ppm
Bought old and cheap.

Freelander TDi - running cost 26ppm / overall cost (inc. dep) 46ppm
Bought new.

These are ongoing ppm's based upon 4 years for the Beemer and 5 years for the LR.

Based on that spreadsheet I'm at 32p/mile.

Not bad seeing as I bought the car for more than it was worth (low milage so it was priced based on being newer than it was, from a dealer) and it'll be average milage when I sell it so I'm effevtively loseing 40%/£2k of the cars value this year!

Offset against the 'income' of 45p/mile for works milage (inc. commuting milage) it's actualy only going to cost me £400 this year!

Dammit!

The midget costs exactly the same as the Focus to run! But only does 1/4 of the miles so actualy works out 'better' as the fixed costs are small so you pay per mile throughout the year in fuel and spares.

How about this one.

17,000 miles - avg 26mpg - Depreciation per mile £2

PAYE - Approx £290 per month, new car every 4 months, everything fully expensed can't go wrong!!! 😆

21p a mile for an old oil burning stove aka Focus estate

That's just silly molgrips unless you plan to eventually replace it with a cheaper model, you have to save what it's depreciating to buy a replacement. That's the true cost whether you like to admit or account for it or not

It is a cost of course, but it's not a RUNNING cost. The purchase cost and the running cost are separate in my view. I don't consider it a depreciating asset, I consider it something I own that I have bought, like my trousers or my computer.

Oh and to the chap up there who was doing 6k a year and replacing tyres every two years - you can get far more out of tyres. 28k out of the last set of Michelins on the Prius, and the energy savers are looking like beating 50k. Energy savers cost somewhat more when new but the same thing that makes them fuel efficient makes them last twice as long as normal tyres.

Will you be able to sell the Prius for what it cost you?

Of course not, but it's paid off and I'm not selling it any time soon. Look, for the third time, [b]I'm not saying depreceation doesn't cost money[/b] I'm saying it is not a [b]running [/b]cost.

did you use to work for Enron?

Insurance - 400
Tax - 400
Service/MOT - 500
Two tyres - 720
6000 miles @ 25mpg = 1560
Depreciation - 3000 (a guess)

Two tyres - 720

WTF do you drive?!

Oh and to the chap up there who was doing 6k a year and replacing tyres every two years - you can get far more out of tyres

Depends on the car and how you drive it. never seen more than 12K out of my celicas front tyres, it's a nose-heavy 4wd driven hard. I suspect, from his figures, he's got a RWD fast car IIRC

it's not a running cost.if.you never buy another car to replace it. otherwise it is. you're kidding yourself.

Just remember people next time you use pubic transport it costs extra to take someone with you.

I said you CAN get more out of tyres. He was asking how to reduce his running costs - driving smoothly and sensibly is a good way 🙂

I do not class it as a running cost. If I die in three years' time having not replaced it, then the depreciation was not a factor. Running costs are what it costs me to drive the car about and keep it on the road. How much it cost when new and how much I might make when selling it are NOT related to the monthly cost of fuel, insurance and whatnot. It makes no sense to me to include it in monthly running costs - if you are about to change the car then change your mind and keep it another two years, do you go back in time and give yourself another £20 each month you are driving it? Of course not. I am paid monthly, my budget works on a monthly cycle, my car purchases are every 5-10 years.

My Smart CDi has done just over 25k miles since I bought it in Sept 09, it's had two services (£300ish total) insurance around £175 a year (£350 total) Tax £0, I put half a litre of oil in it once, and fuel is currently working out at 10p per mile (it was 7p when I bought the car)and I've not had to buy a tyre yet. If I put the depreciation at £3000 a year I make it under 15p a mile to run all in. 😉

But I do have to drive around in a Smart and put up with all the p**s taking.

Mol

Is the fact you only look at running costs due to you knowing that taking the depreciation of your 'appliance' into account - you could actually afford to run a proper car?

Insurance - just gone up to £1600
Tax? - around £200
Tyres - one set a year £360 (mates rates)
Servicing x3 - £350
Fuel - approx £7000
MOT - £30
Cam-belt & brakes done at last service - £450

Total - £9990, or £832 pcm.

However, 90% is business use, so £83 pcm

Is the fact you only look at running costs due to you knowing that taking the depreciation of your 'appliance' into account - you could actually afford to run a proper car?

I don't drive a Prius because I can't afford anything else 🙂

I don't only look at running costs. I look at running costs independently of purchase price. I can't see why this is so complicated. It is a cost, just not a monthly running cost. When I finally do sell it I could go back and re-calculate what it actually cost me per month, but what's the point of that? Wouldn't retrospectively make any difference to my monthly spending power back then.

humm....

an old oil burning stove aka Focus estate

On that website my running cost is 5p per mile... Which is nice.

Purchase Costs Amount
1 Cost of car £1
2 I could sell my car for £2,000
3 I have owned my car for 12
Borrowing Costs
4 I borrowed * £0
5 Length of loan * 0
6 Monthly repayment * £0
7 Total loan cost including interest £0
8 Total interest paid £0
9 Interest paid each month £0
Finance Options
a. I bought my car without borrowing any money
10 Each month my car is worth less -£167
11 My annual purchase costs -£1,999
But I have also lost interest on the money I spent on the car
b. I am still making loan repayments
12 Each month my car is worth less £0
13 My monthly interest is £0
14 My annual purchase costs £0
c. I bought my car with a loan which is now repaid
15 Each month my car is worth less £0
16 My annual purchase costs £0
Annual Fixed Costs
I pay these every year no matter how little I drive:
17 Car tax: depends on fuel used & carbon emissions £500

18 Car insurance £500
19 Breakdown membership * £0
20 MOT test fee (excluding repairs needed to pass) * £21 (I pay 42 euro every 2 years)
21 Garage costs (e.g. rent/council tax) * £0
22 Parking permit costs (home and/or work) * £0
23 Total fixed costs £1,021
Running Costs
Every time I drive I spend more:
24 Miles per year the car is driven 10000
25 Miles per gallon of fuel on average 49
26 Miles per litre of fuel on average 10.8
27 Litres of fuel purchased per year 927.8
28 Price you pay for fuel 146
29 Total cost of fuel £1,355
30 Estimate of 12 month's parts, servicing costs, repairs and oil * £150 (i service myself on the drive)
31 Estimate of 12 month's parking, tolls and car washes * £0
32 Driving fines (parking, speeding etc) * £0
33 Total variable running costs (pa) £1,505
Total Annual Costs
34 Total purchase costs (pa) -£1,999
35 Total fixed costs (pa) £1,021
36 Total ownership costs (pa) -£978
37 Total running costs (pa) £1,505
38 Total annual cost of car £527
Other Totals
39 Total monthly cost of car £44 40 Total weekly cost of car £10
41 Total car costs per mile driven £0.05

It's thrown out a lot as I was given the car, but then I pay much higher tax and insurance here, allowing for buying the car it's about 21c per mile.

oh, and I'm with molgrips on depreciation - but then I've always gone for bangernomics.

it will if you can't afford to buy a new one because you didn't save for the depreciation ...

Zilch - don't need one for the most part. When I do I hire...

I understand depreciation, financing and saving.

However it is NOT a running cost!

Its a cost of ownership though, and it is linked to the milage.

Just drawn up a projection for my 330i. 37p per mile, so a big 6 year old petrol about 40% more expensive to run than a 3 year old diesel

But not in terms of monthly outlay, plus a 6 year old diesel would be cheaper still 🙂

Just done that spreadsheet and my 54 plate Mondeo is coming out at 26p per mile.

Molgrips - of course it is a cost - you buy the car for £10000, sell it 2 years later for £7000 it has cost you £125 a month to own. Even if you are paying cash tts £125 you did not have to spend on other things.

Depeciation is a part of the cost of owning a car.

Well my car cost £0 and I only pay for petrol.. With this in mind, I did the speadsheet and it came up with this..

Monthly cost £51
Weekly cost £12
Cost per mile £0.12

It's a piece of shit Ashtray 1.6, had it for 5/6 years and still hate it, but it's free!

"Depeciation is a part of the cost of owning a car. "

However it is NOT a running cost!

You don't what the depreciation is until someone offers you a price, so it's not a running cost is it.

Why do people still use mpg btw? Mpl surely!

I've no idea, but I do wish that the price of petrol and diesel would go up. Judging by the ever-increasing number of vehicles on the road and the fact that none of them seem to function correctly below the relevant speed limits, it probably needs to double in price.

RS6:

£750 insurance
£240 tax
£400 service
£50 MOT local honda garage offer
£400 tyres
£4400 petrol @ 14mpg 10000 miles

My Audi has depreciated 5k in 7 years, does 50mpg
200 tax
300 ins
Servicing is 100 or 200 on alternate years
Mot 40
Tyres 400 (but I probably get 18 months out a set)
16,000 miles pa
So 25p per mile?

on that spreadsheet mine worked out as 92p per mile including depreciation

Molgrips - of course it is a cost

Jesus.

[b]Yes it's a cost.

No it is not a running cost.[/b]

A running cost is actual cash that comes out of my monthly budget. Depreciation does not come out of my monthly budget. There is no direct debit on my bank statement that says 'car depreciation'. When doing a monthly budget I do not need to factor it in.

A running cost is a regular cash outlay.

Asset depreciation is a reduction in value of something you own.

molgrips is right ffs!

http://www.theaa.com/allaboutcars/advice/advice_rcosts_petrol_table.jsp

?????

Mine worked out at 40p a mile (excluding depreciation)

I only do 6,000 miles a year as I try to avoid using it as much as possible. Most of my journies are over 30-miles and include trips to the alps and Wales.

If I increase the mileage the cost per mile goes down. If I stick in 12,000 miles it's 28p a mile!

Not bad for a 12-year old VW Bora with the very very old 2.0l 8v lump in it.

molgrips is right ffs!

Agreed!

... it probably needs to double in price.

Disagreed! ... but whole other argument I'm not getting into.

well according to that spreadsheet my car costs me 34p all in, and the fact it is on a lease i am going to call the lease payment a running cost. I see it as me hiring the car.

Tax - £260
Insurance - £300
Service - £170
MOT - £60
Tires - £400 for a set of non ditchfinders!
15k @ 30 Mpg - not working it out cause i will cry as its all private miles!

Owned the same car for the last 5 years and its depreciated like a lead balloon, possibly 2k per year - but its a vauxhall so to be expected..!

Audi A3 Sportback 2.0TFSI Quattro. Owned from new, now 5 and 1/2 years old.

Insurance £480
Road Tax £225
BreakDown Cover £100
Servcing £250
MOT £50
Tyres £250
Fuel £1800

Total = £3155, for about 7500 miles = 42p per mile

Taking into account depreciation to date estimated @ £3300 per annum = Total £6455

Giving an overall cost per mile of [b]86p[/b]