My interesting calculation on how much it costs to drive

[Lean L]

Here is a spreadsheet of all the items that I have bought for an accord and all associated maintenance costs. I went a bit overboard and added in every cost that I could think of barring major repairs or unexpected items but it's pretty interesting to think just how much driving at all costs. I have put close to no miles on the car recently since I live in a city.

Basically the sunk costs of the car are now greater than the current value of the car at 31 months after purchase for a used car. Not that there is anything necessarily wrong with that but for the mileage it adds up quickly.

https://docs.google.com/spreadsheets/d/1z5pPyLXTzbmPtFU3SeOx7920cfLLAD6aQl32kCWkkv8/edit?usp=sharing

 

[nakedfrog]

"Here" being where?

 

[Lean L]

I am bad a copy paste

 

[WilliamM2]

Most of that looks like the cost of things YOU want to add to the car, not the cost of driving. And I don't see fuel anywhere, or insurance

I bought my car 3.5 years ago. Total cost for all maintenence? $90 in oil changes. Repairs? $0.

 

[Lean L]

There's a tab #2 with the cost of everything.

Edit: the figures seem right to me. $1015 (not including depreciation) base per year just to own the car then $0.23 per mile driven on top of that.

 

[Rallispec]

Gas, insurance, yearly registration, maintenance, parking, etc.... yeah... it all adds up. For something that spends 23 hours of most days sitting not being used.

I agree, it's kind of crazy when you do the math. But that 1hr per day that I need it, it's worth all of it.

 

[Brian Stirling]

Long story short ... the average cost per mile when you figure in all the costs will range from a low of about $0.20/mile to $0.50/mile. There can be fliers above and below this but 95% of passenger vehicles are going to fit in the $0.20-$0.50 per mile range.

Buying a used compact car with lowish miles and good gas mileage and no maintenance issues will lower the depreciation and maintenance costs and operating costs and will also tend to have lower insurance costs. A Ferrari, OTH, is likely to push beyond the $0.50/mile range, but if you can afford the red car operating costs are not doing to be the deal breaker...

I expect my 2012 Ford Focus will work out to about $0.25-$0.30 per mile all in...


Brian

 

[Fenixgoon]

nm

 

[Lean L]

Long story short ... the average cost per mile when you figure in all the costs will range from a low of about $0.20/mile to $0.50/mile. There can be fliers above and below this but 95% of passenger vehicles are going to fit in the $0.20-$0.50 per mile range.

Buying a used compact car with lowish miles and good gas mileage and no maintenance issues will lower the depreciation and maintenance costs and operating costs and will also tend to have lower insurance costs. A Ferrari, OTH, is likely to push beyond the $0.50/mile range, but if you can afford the red car operating costs are not doing to be the deal breaker...

I expect my 2012 Ford Focus will work out to about $0.25-$0.30 per mile all in...


Brian

Are you calculating depreciation into the equation for mileage? I tried to do that but it seems that the formula to include mileage into depreciation is rather difficult. Most of it is based on age of the car instead of miles unless you go overboard with 45k a year or something.

 

[x26]

That's Nothing!!

Am I missing Anything??

How Much Value does the Privilege of Having a Car Worth?? = Priceless.

Surprise if you ever Purchase a Really Nice Sports Car...

ETA: You would Crap all over yourself if you saw what I paid for the Last 6 years in Purchase price, Depreciation and Maintenance--And it was worth every $$. 🙂

 

[x26]

There's a tab #2 with the cost of everything.

Edit: the figures seem right to me. $1015 (not including depreciation) base per year just to own the car then $0.23 per mile driven on top of that.

That is Nothing for the Convenience!!

 

[Lean L]

That is Nothing for the Convenience!!

Really depends on where you live and how much you enjoy driving.

Where I am, I am lucky that I don't have to pay for a parking spot yet there is a bar downstairs in my building.

The amount of benefit in that case is drastically different than if I lived in Montana or something.

 

[zCypher]

The cost of driving varies a lot by location due to differences in the price of fuel, price of insurance, purchase and resale price of vehicles, etc. It's usually a significant amount regardless, but whether or not that matters to an individual is affected by the ratio of car expense to income. If you make millions, a few thousand bucks per year probably isn't going to bother you for the convenience of having a car. If your income is only 20-30k/year, the cost of owning any car is going to have a much bigger impact on you.

I don't have a spreadsheet on hand, but from my experience living and driving in Quebec, the real total cost of owning and driving a car is easily over $500/month, even for a cheap car. After having similar discussions with a lot of people here, I get the distinct impression that most people do not take into consideration all of the expenses that come with car ownership.

 

[desy]

Yes cars are expensive no doubt.
Because I live in a bedroom community couldn't live without one, two cause the wife works too. We could commute together but its inconvienient and I believe in AGW and PO so you see how it hurts me daily to live a lie.. . .
Also have children so I'm squandering their future too. . . . Always the tradeoffs, my creature comforts now or conundrums in the future?

 

[Brian Stirling]

Are you calculating depreciation into the equation for mileage? I tried to do that but it seems that the formula to include mileage into depreciation is rather difficult. Most of it is based on age of the car instead of miles unless you go overboard with 45k a year or something.

Yes, depreciation was figured in.

I should add that some of the more expensive pickups and SUV's might be a bit more than $0.50/mile as some cost in $50K+ range and get terrible mileage.

The cheapest bet is to get a good used car of a reliable make with good gas mileage that had lowish miles. You can save a bunch in depreciation and with the right car you won't pay much more for maintenance. Such a car is not likely to be much less than $0.20/mile given the cost/mile for gas, insurance costs, registration and inspection, etc.

If you got a good new car for free (zero depreciation) you'd still be looking at a minimum of about $0.13/mile and likely more.


Brian

 

[Herr Kutz]

Using your calculator my current costs for 55 months of ownership has been roughly $31k, about half of which was fuel (30.8 mpg @ $2.93/gal). Dollars per mile in light red on tab 2 was $0.1019. I made a very conservative guess on the value of my car--it's probably worth another grand than what I entered.

Edit: Sunk Costs/Miles Driven = $0.2818 / mile

 

[HeXen]

Convenience, comfort and speed...it beats the lack of speed of walking, it beats the lack of comfort of sitting next to fatty on the bus and it beats the lack of convenience of riding a bike.
I don't care if it's 2/3'rds of my paycheck, I'm all in for driving my own car.

 

[KentState]

Convenience, comfort and speed...it beats the lack of speed of walking, it beats the lack of comfort of sitting next to fatty on the bus and it beats the lack of convenience of riding a bike.
I don't care if it's 2/3'rds of my paycheck, I'm all in for driving my own car.

There are plenty of other factors that you can put into the equation like being able to live in a nicer area and not be dependent on public transportation. Out of curiousity, I compared living in the burbs to the city and it was so much more expensive, even giving up a car. The 40-60 minutes of commuting in a car is still replaced by 30 minutes of waiting, walking and riding the train.