How much does your car cost per month?

[watchnut]

looking through this thread....i know many keep detailed records of receipts but on the whole I feel many are underestimating how much fuel they burn.

Looking at my sheet for May this year on a learner car I used £229.12 of diesel on a Mini 1 covering 2014 miles (just about all of it around the streets of Southampton) I filed up 6 times (it only has a 40 litre tank...pain in the arse) This car is being driven stop/ start for around 142 hours teaching plus the hours i spent driving around between lessons.

I spent £364 on a big service
car mat drivers side last one had a hole in it £25.96 (tried a cheap one off flea bay but it was crap so ended out with a pucka one from BMW)

The cost me £13500 in 2013 October (7,500 on the clock) now has 152,300 nearly 6 years later

Just looked on webuyanyshed.com and they value it at £2000, so lost some 11,500 in 6 years (about £1900 a year depreciation) (about £160 a month)

So in May this year it cost me £778 approx plus insurance £33 ....£811

In April I only worked for 3 weeks (lazy) did

£210 on fuel
diesel cleaner £4
4 x tyres and wheel alignment £370
wiper blades £11.62
depreciation £160
insurance £33

approx £788

assuming I don't buy tyres and a service every month and spend about £200-£260 a month on fuel, depreciation £160, insurance £34 would be about
£450 a month

I think many underestimate how much they spend...it's bloody horrifying!!!

[Strudul]

350Z

Fuel* - £110
Insurance - £60
Tax - £45
Maintenance** - £35
Depreciation - £30

Total - £280

580 miles per month*
inc MOT, tyres, alignments, repairs, servicing (DIY)**

[The Cardinal]

Adding something a little different...

Vehicle: 2013 VW Transporter T5.1, with Danbury campervan conversion

Bought outright after an inheritance during 2016. The van itself was 3 years old at the time, but the conversion was new. Since that time, actual costs (other than an estimate for depreciation) are as follows.

Depreciation: £7,000
Servicing & MoTs: £944
Tax, insurance & recovery: £1,995
Tyres: £120
Repairs: £501
Optional parts (bike rack, mats, stereo, awning rail etc): £1,177
Fuel, £1.30 per litre for 13,000 miles @ 40mpg: £1,921

There are lots of ways of measuring "monthly" costs, but here are the most common:

- All costs, including fuel: £413pcm
- Excluding depreciation: £202pcm (i.e. actual cash costs, because we haven't sold the van)
- Including depreciation and other costs - but excluding fuel, tax and insurance: £295pcm (i.e. what PCP / lease deals generally compare to)

[MaxSo]

“Monthly payment” is basically akin to depreciation.

So unless a particular car is an appreciating asset, or a complete shed, there always going to be a “monthly payment”....

[Palmers]

MK 4 mondeo

Insurance -25
Tax - 18
Fuel - 30

£73 a month

[gizlaroc]

Our second car.

2011 C250 cdi Sport Estate.
5000 miles a year.
Fuel £58 month
Insurance £30 month
Tax £20 month
Tyres servicing etc. £40 month.
Depreciation £50 month (maybe less)

£220 a month roughly

[Pit Pony]

Yearly
Tax 250? Can't recall.
MOT 50
Insurance 350
Repairs and servicing and tyres 600
Call it 1300.A year or 108 quid a month or 3.57 a day.
There is no depreciation.
I do 20k miles a year at 30.mpg.

I reckon 20p a mile.

[Mr Tidy]

I'm applying ManMaths!

I really don't care all the time I can afford it.

Sometimes it's better not to know!

[Superchickenn]

MaxSo said:

“Monthly payment” is basically akin to depreciation.

So unless a particular car is an appreciating asset, or a complete shed, there always going to be a “monthly payment”....

My daily cost me £300 2 years ago,

Even if i scrapped the car i would get roughly £200 for it.

However i will always break the car which means i will usually break it for around £400-£500 so mine will cost zero in depreciation :-)

[MaxSo]

Superchickenn said:

MaxSo said:

“Monthly payment” is basically akin to depreciation.

So unless a particular car is an appreciating asset, or a complete shed, there always going to be a “monthly payment”....

My daily cost me £300 2 years ago,

Even if i scrapped the car i would get roughly £200 for it.

However i will always break the car which means i will usually break it for around £400-£500 so mine will cost zero in depreciation :-)

Yes - sounds like a good example of a complete shed (no offence!)

There was someone who posted about a Toyota Auris, I think, and said there were no monthly payments as it was owned outright.... since deleted it appears.

Edited by MaxSo on Tuesday 2nd July 08:57

[Superchickenn]

MaxSo said:

Superchickenn said:

MaxSo said:

“Monthly payment” is basically akin to depreciation.

So unless a particular car is an appreciating asset, or a complete shed, there always going to be a “monthly payment”....

My daily cost me £300 2 years ago,

Even if i scrapped the car i would get roughly £200 for it.

However i will always break the car which means i will usually break it for around £400-£500 so mine will cost zero in depreciation :-)

Yes - sounds like a good example of a complete shed (no offence!)

Thats exactly its job, drives through country lanes every day, takes a hammering costs pennies to run.

[MaxSo]

I've updated this now so it can be used to calculate and compare the total cost of running purchased cars, as well leased cars.

I've entered a 2006 Lexus IS250 and a 2006 Volvo S60 D5 as examples (all based on estimates as I haven't owned either)

For a purchased car, only columns with blue header text are relevant.

https://docs.google.com/spreadsheets/d/1ARUrS7YaFM...

[LesF]

Car: Aston Martin DB9 Volante.
Used as a weekend car and for trips to the south of France via the Swiss Alps at least once a year.

Ownership: £0.00 (Brought outright).
Car Tax: £47.5 (£570pa)
Insurance: £45 (£540pa)
Fuel: £120pm (roughly 4kpa @17mpg)
Maintenance: £62.5 (£750pa fixed price AM service)
Repairs: £0.00 has been 100% reliabile.
Other: £300 Diff oil changed (extra to service cost)
Depreciation: £0. The prices are on the floor of the DB9 right now and are expected to rise soon.

Total cost: £300 per month.

Edited by LesF on Tuesday 2nd July 12:12

[MaxSo]

MaxSo said:

bracken78 said:

2014 BMW 120d brought in January 2018

Brought for: £10,700 (at 37,650 miles)
Insurance: £32.58 per month
Tax: £2.50 per month
Service & Maintenance: £460.20 / 18 = £31.12 per month - this covers everything from new wipers to services.
Fuel over 21,357miles at 53.59 MPG = 2,444.68 / 18 = £135.81 per month

£200.90 per month without depreciation or 16.9ppm.

Including depreciation and assuming a value of £8,500 now (£2,200) = £122.22 per month

£323.12 per month without depreciation or ppm or 27.23ppm.

Edit to add, looking at my car history and running costs of my old 2005 120d, over almost 50,000 miles the ppm running cost was 26ppm so, almost the same. The old 120d had some big bills towards the end of its time with me.

Edited by bracken78 on Thursday 27th June 13:30

This seems to be pretty good going. Only thing I wonder is, I suppose if a car is being purchased outright another cost that maybe ought to be factored in is the 'cost' of that cash being tied up in the car rather than it being invested or used to make additional mortgage payments etc - just a thought.

I've added this one to this spreadsheet as I think it's a good example.... hope you don't mind !

https://docs.google.com/spreadsheets/d/1ARUrS7YaFM...

[kambites]

MaxSo said:

Yes - sounds like a good example of a complete shed (no offence!)

My Elise cost me £16k (so hardly shed money) and is still worth about that now, 11 years later. Not all cars depreciate.

But yes, for anything remotely mainstream which isn't at the bottom of its curve, not including depreciation is daft because it's often the biggest cost of ownership.

Edited by kambites on Tuesday 2nd July 12:13

[MaxSo]

kambites said:

My Elise cost me £16k (so hardly shed money) and is still worth about that now, 11 years later. Not all cars depreciate.

MaxSo said:

“Monthly payment” is basically akin to depreciation.

So unless a particular car is an appreciating asset, or a complete shed, there always going to be a “monthly payment”....

[kambites]

But my Elise isn't an appreciating asset or a complete shed.

I know what you were trying to say though, and I agree entirely. I think ignoring depreciation is a form of defense. Ignoring the single biggest cost of ownership makes it feel like the car is a considerably better value ownership proposition.

Edited by kambites on Tuesday 2nd July 12:16

[MaxSo]

kambites said:

But my Elise isn't an appreciating asset or a complete shed.

I know what you were trying to say though, and I agree entirely. I think ignoring depreciation is a form of defense. Ignoring the single biggest cost of ownership makes it feel like the car is a considerably better value ownership proposition.

Edited by kambites on Tuesday 2nd July 12:16

Unless you sell it for exactly what you paid for it, allowing for inflation etc, then it's either appreciating or depreciating...!

[MaxSo]

LesF said:

Car: Aston Martin DB9 Volante.
Used as a weekend car and for trips to the south of France via the Swiss Alps at least once a year.

Very nice! I guess the flip side is the low usage pushes the cost per mile up so each trip to France is in effect about £1,800 roughly. - but a great way to do the journey for sure.

[kambites]

MaxSo said:

Unless you sell it for exactly what you paid for it, allowing for inflation etc, then it's either appreciating or depreciating...!

It's worth close enough to what I paid for it (in absolute terms) that I genuinely don't know if I'd get more or less if I sold it. In real terms its depreciated a bit, but trying to include inflation into running costs really does make things complicated!