Yesterday I shared how much it cost me to own my first used car and many of the comments showed how surprised people were that I spent $6000 in maintenance & repair. Your comments offered helpful suggestions on how to reduce these costs, namely by doing more work by myself or purchasing a more reliable car. But the overwhelming consensus from the PF crowd was that I overpaid on maintenance & repair. I received several anecdotal examples but no actual data. By in large, I was surprised that people thought $6k in maintenance and repair for a $7100 used car was a lot, so I decided to do some quick research about it. Here is what I found:
RESEARCH QUESTION:
Did I overpay on repair/maintenance of my used car?
RESULTS:
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Average cost to repair/maintain my used car with 175k miles: 9.3 cents/mile (Source)
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Average cost to repair/maintain a Toyota Corolla under 75K miles: 8.7 cents/mile (Source)
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Average cost to repair/maintain a Ford Mustang under 75K miles: 11.0 cents/mile (Source)
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Average cost to repair/maintain the "most reliable cars" under 150k miles: 6.6 cents/mile (Source)
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Average cost to repair/maintain the "least reliable cars" under 150k miles: 15.0 cents/mile (Source)
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Average cost to repair/maintain all vehicles OVER 150k miles: 17.7 cents/mile (Source)
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Average cost to own my used car: 32 cents/mile (Source)
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Average cost to own an average sedan: 58 cents/mile (Source)
CONCLUSION:
My car’s repair/maintenance costs were 47% lower than the average cost to repair/maintain a car with similar mileage, and 38% lower than what are considered to be the most unreliable NEW cars. However, likely because of the differences associated with age and 100k more miles of driving, my car cost 7% more to repair than a new Toyota Corolla and 40% higher than what are considered to be the most reliable NEW cars (including electrified vehicles). Nevertheless, my car’s total cost to own was 45% lower than the cost to own an average-sized sedan. Additionally, data sets were consistent with principles of reliability engineering, namely the bathtub curve. However, I only used 3 different data sets. Better data, and more of it, would probably change the results and possibly change the bulk conclusion. Anyone with additional data is encouraged to contribute.
METHODOLOGY:
Yourmechanic.com says the top 10 cheapest cars to maintain have an average maintenance cost of $9960 over the first 150k miles, or 6.6 cents/mile. Meanwhile, the top 10 most expensive cars to maintain have an average maintenance cost of $22,460 over the first 150k miles, or 15.0 cents/mile.
Since I bought my car used with 108k miles on it and drove it to 174k miles, I also used their information about cars with similar mileage and found that between 100-175k miles, total maintenance cost averages out to $13,300 or 17.7 cents/mile
Of course, there is always a flaw of averages associated with comparing diverse data sets, so I cross-checked these figures with the Edmunds database and compared them to the average repair/Maintenance cost on individual Makes and Models. I found that a Toyota Corolla (one of the top 10 cheapest models to maintain according to yourmechanic.com) costs $6,561 in maintenance and repairs over the first 75k miles for an average of 8.7 cents/mile. Likewise, I found that a Ford Mustang (one of the top 10 most expensive models to maintain according to yourmechanic.com) costs $8,346 in maintenance and repairs over the first 75k miles for an average of 11 cents/mile
Lastly, I compared these data to AAA’s archives. According to AAA, new cars in 2015 cost an average of 5.1 cents/mile in regular maintenance not including repairs. They also provide a convenient table that notes the total cost of owning an average sedan is 58 cents/mile.
FINAL THOUGHTS:
Since most people drive 10k-15k miles a year, they should save around $83-$125/mo for car repairs and maintenance. I personally save an even $100/mo. The reason why I'm sharing this is because I think it's useful to know about these costs upfront so you can budget for them. Check out my budgeting guide if you want to learn more about saving/budgeting/investing.
Cheers! - WhiskeySauer
EDIT: Fixed some broken hyperlinks
Submitted February 05, 2017 at 11:07AM by WhiskeySauer http://ift.tt/2kCmqty
