How much does your car cost per month?

[anonymous-user]

The Spruce Goose said:

Zippee said:

rather than the unknown of depreciation which I don't accrue, .

For the majority of cars depreciation is a known figure.

I think any car over 10k should include lost interest costs, as it give a fair assessment against pcp.

So how are you paying for the car? Isn’t there interest on the PCP / HP, or whatever?

[Gad-Westy]

People go on about buying a cheap old Astra or something but it seems to me that the lesson that we should all take from this is that if you're fortunate enough to have bought something that is doing some proper appreciating right now then it's almost certainly the most cost effective motoring you'll ever encounter or indeed a nice way of by-passing a requirement for a pension. If you're piss poor, go and buy yourself a crystal ball and a RS 911 or a rare Ferrari. Sound financial advice, I think you'll agree.

[AC43]

AC43 said:

At one end of the scale I have a 10 year old E500 that costs £500 pa for VED and a similar amount for insurance. Depreciation maybe £1.5kpa? Fuel for 4,000 miles a year £1,000 pa. Servicing/tyres average £500 pa so around £4k pa.

At the other end a 5 year old Fiat 500; £20 Ved, £220 ins, depreciation £1kpa, fuel for 2,000 miles pa £300. Servicing/tyres £300 so average £1740 pa.

Both owner outright so no finance.

It still costs a surprising amount when you add it all up - nearly £6kpa with depreciation, £3.5k without.

ETA monthlies;

Merc £333
Fiat £122

Thinking about what Gizalroc was saying in lease-land (or PCP/PCH) those numbers wouldn't get me into anything interesting new but maybe something half-decent s/h.

If I added 50% to the Fiat budget I could get into a new one - but that's not the point; I'm trying to minimse the mumflies.

The Merc budget would get me into a new mid-size crossover (hold me back.....). I'm getting bored looking at websites for s/h stuff. And, anyway, I like it.

[bracken78]

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: £1,105.64 / 33 = £30.78 per month - this covers everything from new wipers to services.
Fuel over 33,350miles at 52.70 MPG = £3,748.12 / 33 = £113.58 per month

£179.44 per month without depreciation or 17.8ppm.

Including depreciation and assuming a value of £7,500 now (£3,200 loss) = £96.97 per month

£276.41 per month with depreciation or 27.35ppm.

Would have been interesting to see what the costs would have been should COVID not have happened the total mileage would have been closer to 79,000.

[anonymous-user]

Lord.Vader said:

So how are you paying for the car? Isn’t there interest on the PCP / HP, or whatever?

I paid cash but total about 3k, which in an bank account for be what, 60 quid. Which is why i posted it is for higher purchases to give a fair comparison against pcop.

[Debaser]

Zippee said:

kambites said:

nickfrog said:

Debaser said:

A lot of people are in denial about how much their cars cost to run. Some of the monthly figures are nonsense.

I didn't notice anything untoward. Any examples?

There's been a few people who've bought cars outright and then ignored depreciation, which is often the single biggest cost.

It's only a true cost once the car is sold though. Actual running costs aren't the same IMHO. Depreciation is more cost of ownership than running cost.

It’s still a cost though. Most ignore it, or are very optimistic with their estimates, which makes their numbers meaningless.

Including purchase price and current WBAC offer (and time owned) would be more helpful.

[MaxFromage]

Tesla Model 3 Long Range run as a company car. Amortised total monthly cost of motoring- just slightly over £300 per month.

[Gad-Westy]

Debaser said:

Zippee said:

kambites said:

nickfrog said:

Debaser said:

A lot of people are in denial about how much their cars cost to run. Some of the monthly figures are nonsense.

I didn't notice anything untoward. Any examples?

There's been a few people who've bought cars outright and then ignored depreciation, which is often the single biggest cost.

It's only a true cost once the car is sold though. Actual running costs aren't the same IMHO. Depreciation is more cost of ownership than running cost.

It’s still a cost though. Most ignore it, or are very optimistic with their estimates, which makes their numbers meaningless.

Including purchase price and current WBAC offer (and time owned) would be more helpful.

Yep, one of the other things often overlooked is that if you have just bought said car for £10k from a dealer, and 1 year down the line, dealers are still selling similar cars for £10k, that does not mean your car is still worth £10k as you're either going to be selling private for maybe £8.5K or p'exing (or WBAC) for maybe £7.5k. I like to consider worst case for this stuff. It's better for the soul when you do come to sell up.

[cedrichn]

Gad-Westy said:

Yep, one of the other things often overlooked is that if you have just bought said car for £10k from a dealer, and 1 year down the line, dealers are still selling similar cars for £10k, that does not mean your car is still worth £10k as you're either going to be selling private for maybe £8.5K or p'exing (or WBAC) for maybe £7.5k. I like to consider worst case for this stuff. It's better for the soul when you do come to sell up.

Exactly this. Otherwise it is man-maths. You want to see the truth, or not. I stopped doing the math for my classic car :P

[cedrichn]

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: £1,105.64 / 33 = £30.78 per month - this covers everything from new wipers to services.
Fuel over 33,350miles at 52.70 MPG = £3,748.12 / 33 = £113.58 per month

£179.44 per month without depreciation or 17.8ppm.

Including depreciation and assuming a value of £7,500 now (£3,200 loss) = £96.97 per month

£276.41 per month with depreciation or 27.35ppm.

Would have been interesting to see what the costs would have been should COVID not have happened the total mileage would have been closer to 79,000.

Not bad !
Covid make your cost per mile increase, as you don't "amortised" your fixed costs, but at the end, you do spend less in fuel and maintenance, so it is still a good news as the "yearly total" is lower

[Magnum 475]

gizlaroc said:

[

Magnum 475 said:

I usually keep cars a long time rather than change every three years. For contrast, had I leased an equivalent E Class based on 'worst case' mileage, I'd have been paying between £650 and £750 per month. That makes the depreciation of the time I've had the car look pretty good to me.

That must have been for some mega mileage?

I bought my 2010 E350cdi estate from Mercedes in 2011, I really wanted the V6, but it was a difficult choice as I could have been in an E220cdi doing 20000 miles a year for under £300 a month, well, it was more like £320 a month including the initial payment. Mind you, probably a big difference between 2009 PCP/Lease prices when the car had just come out, vs 2011 when it was now two years old and coming out the back end of the recession where they were giving them away with packs of cereal.

My worst case can be up to 35k miles / year. Some years I only do 10-12k, but I can't predict what it will be. I also don't *need* to be a new / nearly new car all the time. What's more, I hate monthly payments on a car. I prefer to put money into various investments, and pull some out when I feel like buying something

[B'stard Child]

Gad-Westy said:

Debaser said:

Zippee said:

kambites said:

nickfrog said:

Debaser said:

A lot of people are in denial about how much their cars cost to run. Some of the monthly figures are nonsense.

I didn't notice anything untoward. Any examples?

There's been a few people who've bought cars outright and then ignored depreciation, which is often the single biggest cost.

It's only a true cost once the car is sold though. Actual running costs aren't the same IMHO. Depreciation is more cost of ownership than running cost.

It’s still a cost though. Most ignore it, or are very optimistic with their estimates, which makes their numbers meaningless.

Including purchase price and current WBAC offer (and time owned) would be more helpful.

Yep, one of the other things often overlooked is that if you have just bought said car for £10k from a dealer, and 1 year down the line, dealers are still selling similar cars for £10k, that does not mean your car is still worth £10k as you're either going to be selling private for maybe £8.5K or p'exing (or WBAC) for maybe £7.5k. I like to consider worst case for this stuff. It's better for the soul when you do come to sell up.

Same as me except I just use a rule of thumb - any car I own will depreciate by 20% of the purchase price every year

Year	Lotus Taxi	BMW 740i	SLK 230K	Skoda 1.2 TSI	BMW 125i
2001	£12,000
2002	£9,600
2003	£7,680
2004	£6,144
2005	£4,915
2006	£3,932	£5,200
2007	£3,146	£4,160
2008	£2,517	£3,328
2009	£2,013	£2,662
2010	£1,611	£2,130
2011	£1,288	£1,704
2012	£1,031	£1,363
2013	£825	£1,091	£4,160
2014	£660	£872	£3,328
2015	£528	£698	£2,662
2016	£422	£558	£2,130
2017	£338	£447	£1,704
2018	£270	£357	£1,363
2019	£216	£286	£1,091	£6,510
2020	£173	£229	£872	-	£7,000

Proved accurate in the case of the Skoda cos that didn't stay long

The SLK just has to break for £872 - should be achievable

The 740i would qualify for SOTW when it goes up for sale and I'd get about £800 for it

Proved accurate in the case of the Skoda cos that didn't stay long

The Big Green taxi is bucking the trend and if I sold the Hot wash coupe I'd probably take a bath but it's a keeper

[Zoon]

MaxFromage said:

Tesla Model 3 Long Range run as a company car. Amortised total monthly cost of motoring- just slightly over £300 per month.

Including purchase costs and deposit?

[kambites]

Zoon said:

MaxFromage said:

Tesla Model 3 Long Range run as a company car. Amortised total monthly cost of motoring- just slightly over £300 per month.

Including purchase costs and deposit?

I'd assume it's a lease if it's a company car.

[yajeed]

Tesla Model 3. About 20k miles/yr (in a normal year):

Company car (so equivalent of about 350 quid take home should I choose that option)
Charging - not sure, but cheap overnight rate. Maybe 20 quid a month.

370/month all in.

[Aiminghigh123]

yajeed said:

Tesla Model 3. About 20k miles/yr (in a normal year):

Company car (so equivalent of about 350 quid take home should I choose that option)
Charging - not sure, but cheap overnight rate. Maybe 20 quid a month.

370/month all in.

Really? I made enquires and was quoted £580 a month based on 25k a year with same up front cost. I could charge for free at work so made it workable just. £350 a month I would bite there hand off.

[MaxFromage]

kambites said:

I'd assume it's a lease if it's a company car.

That's correct.

[red_slr]

yajeed said:

Tesla Model 3. About 20k miles/yr (in a normal year):


Charging - not sure, but cheap overnight rate. Maybe 20 quid a month.

Serious question, how do you get it so cheap?

Our iPace costs about £8-10 to charge each time IIRC.

[MaxFromage]

Aiminghigh123 said:

Really? I made enquires and was quoted £580 a month based on 25k a year with same up front cost. I could charge for free at work so made it workable just. £350 a month I would bite there hand off.

He is adjusting for the tax saved as a company car. As an example, your standard director/shareholder taking dividends at the higher rate of tax normally gets 55% of the company pre tax profits if taken as a dividend. If this dividend is swapped for a company car, then simplistically, there is no real tax at the moment. Also if leased, a VAT registered business can claim back 50% of the VAT on the vehicle as well.

[MaxFromage]

red_slr said:

Serious question, how do you get it so cheap?

Our iPace costs about £8-10 to charge each time IIRC.

The Model 3 is more efficient, but I'd assume the main difference is some sort of 4p per kwh overnight tariff