How much does your car cost per month?

[Leicester Loyal]

Clio 182.

Monthly Payment - None.
Insurance - 70
Tax / VED - 23.75
Fuel - £80-£100 a month depending on my work shifts and what I'm doing.

All in all £200 a month. Worth it for the smile it puts on my face. However, this doesn't include the minor things as well, such as new parts etc.

[kambites]

kiethton said:

I did miss off the servicing/MOT which according to the history averaged about £300pa so another £25pm.

Do you really only spend £300 a year on servicing/repairs/consumables? I'm guessing you don't done anything major like a suspension refresh in the time you've owned it?

[S100HP]

Monthly Payment - Zero (paid 2k for it)
Insurance - £20
Tax / VED - £16
Fuel - £60 (Do about 500 miles a month at the very most, so this is probably an overestimate just to make you feel better)

Total: £96 per month

All of £1152 a year without servicing/repairs

Panda 100HP

Most of this is meaningless however as it depends on your circumstances, how many miles you do, where you live etc.

[Toaster Pilot]

TLandCruiser said:

I think paying £650+ a month to run a car is quite high

Definitely is - but then it is a £30k(?) hot hatch so I'm hardly surprised.

I own a 2017 Dacia Duster Access - bought for cash at £9495

Depreciation is about £100 a month, insurance £60 but only because my driving record is ste, servicing £25, RFL £12. Not sure about tyres but they can't be a fortune.

A carefully bought banger would cost about the same minus the depreciation.

[kambites]

Toaster Pilot said:

Depreciation is about £100 a month,

Surely a brand new Duster is going to depreciate by a fair bit more than £100 a month in the first year? I'd have thought three times that!

Not that it matters much if you don't intend to sell it.

[kiethton]

kambites said:

kiethton said:

I did miss off the servicing/MOT which according to the history averaged about £300pa so another £25pm.

Do you really only spend £300 a year on servicing/repairs/consumables? I'm guessing you don't done anything major like a suspension refresh in the time you've owned it?

Nope, only had it 4 months though, I've spent nothing.

The car has had only standard servicing at Back on Track, well beyond a front splitter respray after scraping a kerb in ~2012 and the AC joint at about the same time. It had only done about 3k miles over the 4 years before I bought it however. Current mileage is 30k so still fairly fresh suspension wise.

It's a Toyota Celica engine at the end of the day - even the tyres are tiny by modern standards and the car light so tyre costs/brake pads last a decent time and are cheap, even for the R888R's its currently running.

[Toaster Pilot]

kambites said:

Surely a brand new Duster is going to depreciate by a fair bit more than £100 a month in the first year? I'd have thought three times that!

Why on earth would I sell it in the first year? They're about six grand at 3 years old which is what that figure is based on but in reality I'll be keeping it for 10 and who cares if it's worth nothing then?

Tell you what though, find me an 8 month old one for £5895 and I'll buy as many as you can supply

[kambites]

kiethton said:

Nope, only had it 4 months though, I've spent nothing.

The car has had only standard servicing at Back on Track, well beyond a front splitter respray after scraping a kerb in ~2012 and the AC joint at about the same time. It had only done about 3k miles over the 4 years before I bought it however. Current mileage is 30k so still fairly fresh suspension wise.

It's a Toyota Celica engine at the end of the day - even the tyres are tiny by modern standards and the car light so tyre costs/brake pads last a decent time and are cheap, even for the R888R's its currently running.

Hmm, I spend more on consumables for my Elise than your entire estimated servicing cost for your Exige.

I think when you add up total cost of running it over a few years of ownership, you'll be surprised how much you spend. It's still a cheap car to run, but not that cheap if you look after it properly.

Edited by kambites on Thursday 9th November 11:20

[ashleyman]

S100HP said:

Most of this is meaningless however as it depends on your circumstances, how many miles you do, where you live etc.

We do about 600 miles per month unless I need to travel for work in which case it could be double, depends on the job location.

Live in S London. Insurance on something small like a Fiesta for me and the wife is still £800+. I have 3 points and she's a 'new' driver.

[kambites]

Toaster Pilot said:

kambites said:

Surely a brand new Duster is going to depreciate by a fair bit more than £100 a month in the first year? I'd have thought three times that!

Why on earth would I sell it in the first year? They're about six grand at 3 years old which is what that figure is based on but in reality I'll be keeping it for 10 and who cares if it's worth nothing then?

So the £100 pounds is a rather arbitrary figure, is it not?

[RHVW]

ashleyman said:

Monthly Payment: £342.43
Insurance: £100.87
Tax / VED: £15.41
Fuel - £195 (We use on average about 3 tanks a month @ £65 a tank)
Total: £653.70

All of £7800 a year.

GULP....That is a lot of money to shell out every month if you are trying to buy a house. In fact with that amount I can cover my mortgage which hopefully is an appreciating asset.

Mine looks something like this -

2007 passat TDI
Insurance 15
Tax - 15
Servicing / parts 15
Fuel - 90
FUN / SMILES - 0

TOTAL - 135

[Toaster Pilot]

kambites said:

Toaster Pilot said:

kambites said:

Surely a brand new Duster is going to depreciate by a fair bit more than £100 a month in the first year? I'd have thought three times that!

Why on earth would I sell it in the first year? They're about six grand at 3 years old which is what that figure is based on but in reality I'll be keeping it for 10 and who cares if it's worth nothing then?

So the £100 pounds is a rather arbitrary figure, is it not?

.... and a higher figure isn't?

If it depreciates at £300 a month it's worth £0 at month 32.....

I could just as easily have said that I paid cash for it so it costs me £0 + running costs per month, would that be better?

[RobM77]

My monthly car costs:

BMW 320d ED

Owned outright
Insurance: Not sure, as it's on a joint policy. My mileage is the killer; I think I pay about £50 a month.
VED: £1.67 a month.
Fuel: This varies wildly with the seasons, but at the moment I'm doing about 2,000 miles a month, which costs me about £170.
Running costs: Servicing works out at about £12 per month and tyres about £15.


Formula Renault

Owned outright
Insurance: £30 a month
VED: n/a
Fuel: This varies wildly, but I put about £350 a year in it.
Running costs: Tyres secondhand at £20 a set and I go through about 6 sets a year. Other bits vary hugely - this year will be expensive as I need a full engine rebuild!
Servicing: I do this myself, so just parts, which are standard cost for oil and filter. Other parts I either make myself or buy secondhand, so it varies wildly.

[Defcon5]

I don’t think you should be assuming a zero monthly cost for something bought outright - you had to have the cash in the first place, so to replenish that amount requires an ongoing deduction from your income.

Obviously only the depreciation is an actual loss, but given when you sell the car to get a percentage of your initial payment back you will need to purchase another car using that money anyway, so it’s not as if you suddenly get a lump of cash to spend as you wish

[kambites]

Toaster Pilot said:

.... and a higher figure isn't?

If you're averaging it over the entire period you intend to own it, yes. I suppose there's no "right" way to state it.

[Jefferson Steelflex]

My Golf R Lease:

Monthly Payment £235
Tax £0
Insurance £35
Fuel £120 (average 600 miles per month)

Total payment £390 per month

This was one of the cheap leases, and there was a £800 up-front payment. My issue is trying to find something remotely similar, ideally at a lower cost

[TartanPaint]

Subaru STi
Monthly: Nothing, holding its value
Fuel: Lots
Tax: £45
Insurance; £30

Golf TDi
Monthly: Nothing, depreciating slowly, but I'll run it into the ground.
Fuel: £100
Tax: £10
Insurance: £20

Lotus 2-11
Monthly payment: Nothing, hopefully gaining value
Fuel: Occasionally.
Tax: £15
Insurance: £40

Total for all 3

Monthly payments: £0
Monthly Fuel: £250
Monthly Tax: £70
Monthly Insurance: £90


Yearly payments:
Yearly fuel: £3000
Yearly tax: £840
Yearly insurance: £1080
Total: £4,920pa for 3 cars plus servicing, MOT, repairs, so call it £6k.

[brickwall]

keith333 said:

2012 BMW X5

Depreciation: £30
Interest costs (£20k @ 3%): £50
Servicing (inc breakdown cover): £43
Insurance: £37
Fuel (12,000 miles per annum): £150
Road Tax: £23
Tyres: £30

Total: £363 monthly, £4,350 per annum

I purchased mine outright, so I've added cost of interest so that my costs equate to a leased car. Three percent simply because that's what my mortgage costs me.

£360 a year depreciation on a car bought for £20k seems implausible? Own it 10 years and you reckon it'll be worth £16,500 at the end?

[jagnet]

ashleyman said:

doesn't seem like we can get anything but a banger which I don't want to risk therefore asking what other people are paying on their cars might help me get an idea of what's cheaper than a Golf but isn't a banger!

It sounds as though you need to reconsider what is, in your terms, a "banger" and realise that if you want to save for your deposit then you're really going to have to get used to the idea that you'll not be driving a new car for a while.

These days a 10 year car on >100k miles is a perfectly reasonable, reliable proposition unless you buy badly. This isn't the '70s anymore.

My Saab is now over 15 years old. In the last 4 years and 40k miles the only things that needed replacing due to failure have been the thermostat (£10), battery (£50) and radiator (£100).
Servicing is inexpensive, parts are cheap (even genuine Saab parts), premium tyres are under £100 each, depreciation is around £200 per year.
39mpg on a run is achievable, 28mpg on average - pretty reasonable for a big car with approx 300 hp and 310 lb-ft
Insurance is £180 for the year.

Mrs Jagnet still uses her 21 year old, 140k mile Audi every day for work, again averaging around 10k miles per year in it. Annual costs to run that car are minuscule, although I did have to replace a broken rear spring for the MOT this year (£20 - the extravagance!). Fuel expenses from her work cover the car's entire running costs for the year (excluding petrol for personal use).

[Gallons Per Mile]

Have a look at my £50 Puma thread for cheap running if you're trying to save money (my exact aim with that car). I've got a spreadsheet with all of the costs associated with running the car in the thread.

TLDR: about 1100 quid to run the car for the last ~23ish months. 230 a year to tax and 300ish a year on insurance. Therefore about £94 a month plus fuel.