Car runing cost calculations

[robp]

Am i being thick or is the calcualtion of insurance costs on the "my cars cost" page correct?

Put my insurance premium in and it calcualtes insurance as being £5,100 per year

But the "per mile" calculation seems correct.

Is it because i've owned the car for two months so the insurance cost is multiplied by 6? i.e once i've had it a year it will be calculated correctly?

[Bob the Planner]

Thats the way it works on mine. Makes the p/mile look horrendeous just after insurance time.

Bob

[docevi1]

it works it out via monthly costs (must assume most people pay monthly rather than the full amount).

The other gripe i have with it, is that I haven't sold the car yet, nor do I plan to so never will get to "end miles". Could we not have an estimated weekly mileage instead of end total (via check box)?

[JonRB]

Has Ted fixed the bug whereby when you sell a car or listed it as "previously owned" it calculates everything based on you still owning it and doing zero mileage?

Edit: Seems not. My Celica (see here) seems to have calculations based on 97 months of ownership which makes for a monthly mileage of 114 miles / month. I used to do 2000 a month when I had the car!

>> Edited by JonRB on Thursday 30th October 11:31

[PetrolTed]

docevi1 said:

it works it out via monthly costs (must assume most people pay monthly rather than the full amount). The other gripe i have with it, is that I haven't sold the car yet, nor do I plan to so never will get to "end miles". Could we not have an estimated weekly mileage instead of end total (via check box)?

It's not based on the assumption that people pay monthly, it's simply adding up add the incurred costs and calculating a monthly equivalent. That's why it skews the insurance cost. I'll give some thought about how to address that.

The 'end' mileage is simply the current mileage. The idea being that you put in what you're at now and it works out what it's cost you so far.

[PetrolTed]

JonRB said:

Has Ted fixed the bug whereby when you sell a car or listed it as "previously owned" it calculates everything based on you still owning it and doing zero mileage?

Fixing it now...

[JonRB]

Another thing springs to mind whilst you're there.

I'm more than happy for people to see the running costs of my cars, including depreciation etc. However, as an IT contractor I'd rather not display exactly how much I paid for my TVR for all to see.

Sure, given the depreciation value and a quick look in the classifieds / AutoTrader / wherver would give someone a good idea of how much but most people wouldn't bother.

So given the above, would it be possible to add a checkbox to hide the Purchase Price and Value Now fields from public display whilst still keeping them privately for calculation purposes?

Edit: Just checked on the Celica. MUCH better - thanks Ted!

>> Edited by JonRB on Thursday 30th October 22:40

[PetrolTed]

I suggest you just click the 'private' box.

[JonRB]

I realise that - but I don't want to make the whole car entry private. That would be a bit drastic.

And I realise I could also remove the purchase cost, but that would invalidate all the running costs. However, perhaps that's what I should do for now.

[docevi1]

www.pistonheads.com/members/showcar.asp?carId=9341

Um, whats up with this then? I paid £600 for insurance for the entire year, yet this says I paid £7200...

[PetrolTed]

It's the same point as was originally made. I'll come up with a solution.

[docevi1]

d'oh sorry ted, I didn't read that line, just the bottom one.

My bad.

[robp]

Ted,

With regards to the insurance calculations,

I now see why its complicated! You cant just divide yearly insurance costs by the number of months ownership.....because it wont work when the car is over 12 months "old".

A tricky one....

[docevi1]

I don't really see the problem, why not just break it down into 12monthly payments i.e. take the £600 I pay for insurance, divide it by 12 and add that as a monthly total.
Make it last for one year, so have a new bit in your db which states the "running out" period, or when it expires.