Am I spending too much on maintenance?

[RacingGreen0001]

Is my car costing too much to run and maintain ? I'm not sure if there is a better option for me i.e. finance.

My car

• 2007 Volkswagen Polo currently at 70,000 miles purchased in 2015, 10,000 miles annually.
• Two drivers, late twenties, both relatively new to the motoring world
• This is our first car

Finances

Over the last two years I have spent the following :

• Repairs and Servicing

£70 on exhaust repairs
£240 on new tires incl. tracking
£250 on new rear brakes
£300 on bodywork (unfortunately this was avoidable, it was bumped in the drive)
£200 on servicing (last year was free)

• Insurance

£2100 (£700 p/a - just renewed for this year)

• Road Tax

£435 (£145 p/a - just renewed for this year )

• Breakdown Cover

£150 (£50 p/a - just renewed for this year)


Just rethinking all of this now - should I have maybe gone for a finance deal of some sort with a vehicle in a lower tax bracket, less maintenance burden etc. ?

Or should I just chalk it up to the fact that motoring costs money and it's pretty much part and parcel of being on the road.

Edited by RacingGreen0001 on Saturday 7th October 10:46

[anonymous-user]

Any car you buy will need brakes and tyres. the other costs seem fair.

[TimmyMallett]

A cheap lease deal wouldn't need new brakes but it's just the choice you make running a car that owes you nothing and sweating the asset over years Vs a lease. One is a known quantity in regards to maintenance, the other is pot luck.

Do you owe any finance on the Polo or is it paid off?

[RacingGreen0001]

TimmyMallett said:

A cheap lease deal wouldn't need new brakes but it's just the choice you make running a car that owes you nothing and sweating the asset over years Vs a lease.

Do you owe any finance on the Polo or is it paid off?

No finance, we purchased this outright.

[TimmyMallett]

In which case you probably need to stick with it. Keep it for as long as possible really to maximise your ROI. No point worrying about what might have been. I don't think that's too bad given the brakes and tyres will be good for a couple years more.

Drop the accident repair from your calculations. That would have been the same for a new or lease

[SebastienClement]

That looks very reasonable to me, bar the insurance costs.

[200Plus Club]

My daily snotter has cost me 36 quid for two tyres (fitted part worn) but both checked and are fine. 91 quid for new discs and pads (fitted by me).
Its still worth 400-500 quid which is what I gave two yrs ago. It's burning oil at the rate of s 20 quid gallon of oil every 5000m so I'll stick a filter on it annually.
Tax is same band as yours. It's smart enough to turn up anywhere in but also be dumped without worrying. Lots to be said for a cheap petrol auto corolla. :-)

My R8 is due a service however next week at £785 inc vat (assuming nothing untoward found) and I'm only doing 3k miles a year in it. 400 quid service after that one.

If you get a nice reliable shed it's quite a nice feeling not worrying about costs or damage tbh and depreciation stops to some extent.

[J4CKO]

£250 for rear brakes is expensive, the parts are £50 or less, dpeends if it needed a caliper or something but if you want to save, learn how to do brakes yourself, its the one thing that is easy and saves a lot.

[aka_kerrly]

RacingGreen0001 said:

Is my car costing too much to run and maintain ?

Over the last two years I have spent the following :

• Repairs and Servicing

£70 on exhaust repairs likely to be an original 10year old part so quite reasonable to replace
£240 on new tires incl. trackingwill need doing on almost every 2nd hand car
£250 on new rear brakes sounds fine if discs/pads, fluid change potentially a caliper to, however they will last >5 years
£300 on bodywork (unfortunately this was avoidable, it was bumped in the drive)
£200 on servicing (last year was free) [b] assuming oil/filter, air filter, pollen filter, fuel filter all fitted is acceptable[b]

To be fair of the essential fixes several hundred quid over 2 years or roughly £30 a month in a 10 year old car isn't at all overspending especially when the 2 most expensive jobs are ones which you should only incur every few years and need doing on all cars.

How good are you with tools? Armed with a Haynes manual and a starter tool kit (Halfords always seem to have offers on their 100/150/200piece kits)doing basic servicing of filters, spark plugs, ht leads and replacing brake pads will save a few hundred pounds in labour and give you more control over where you source your parts from as VW polo parts from the likes of Euro Car Parts, GSF, local parts suppliers are about as cheap as car parts come.

Just prey your electric power steering box holds up and there is little else that can go drastically wrong on Polos.

[RacingGreen0001]

TimmyMallett said:

In which case you probably need to stick with it. Keep it for as long as possible really to maximise your ROI. No point worrying about what might have been. I don't think that's too bad given the brakes and tyres will be good for a couple years more.

Drop the accident repair from your calculations. That would have been the same for a new or lease

Thanks TM, I do want to stick with the car for another a few years but life plans in the next 12 months may cause us to upgrade/change, if we can afford it.

SebastienClement said:

That looks very reasonable to me, bar the insurance costs.

Thanks, insurance I guess is quite high because we are quite new to driving.

200Plus Club said:

If you get a nice reliable shed it's quite a nice feeling not worrying about costs or damage tbh and depreciation stops to some extent.

Reliability is so important for me - especially given that my partner does long distances to visit her parents.

J4CKO said:

£250 for rear brakes is expensive, the parts are £50 or less, dpeends if it needed a caliper or something but if you want to save, learn how to do brakes yourself, its the one thing that is easy and saves a lot.

aka_kerrly said:

How good are you with tools? Armed with a Haynes manual and a starter tool kit (Halfords always seem to have offers on their 100/150/200piece kits)doing basic servicing of filters, spark plugs, ht leads and replacing brake pads will save a few hundred pounds in labour and give you more control over where you source your parts from as VW polo parts from the likes of Euro Car Parts, GSF, local parts suppliers are about as cheap as car parts come.

So this is very similar advice that I got in another thread (i.e. DIY route) - to be fair I'm not the greatest with tools and sometimes I find myself pressed for time - my biggest fear actually is causing some sort of irreparable damage to the car (which we use mostly daily). Although I'm going to look at purchasing a Haynes manual as a starter and take it from there.

Thanks to everyone for your replies - I do really appreciate it. I'm actually now quite confident that the costs here are broadly in line with what is normal...

[Scabutz]

£200 for an annual service seems a little high. Is that a main dealer? There is probably little point maintain a full dealer history on that car and that age. Find a good independent for servicing.

[shtu]

Based on 2 years of spending (rather than mixing in upfront costs for the year ahead), and removing the accident repair, that's just over £106pm for all your running costs.

Take the insurance costs out, and it's £48pm.

Insurance will get cheaper with time and not hitting things.


You really won't run a car for much less - any PCP deal at that sort of monthly amount will need £2-3000 down, and probably won't include your insurance and maintenance costs.

[Upatdawn]

My lad took a 2017 Infinity q30 (merc in a toyota body?) for £300/month over 48 months with £500 deposit contract deal