What percentage net income does your car expense eat up?

[zCypher]

If you've been driving for a while, you've probably thought to add up the entire real world cost of driving.

When you factor in the price of buying the car, tax, registration/license, insurance, maintenance, gas, etc etc - what percentage of your real world net income does it eat up?

When you first added up the costs of how much you actually have been spending, did this influence your decision of whether or not to drive; or which car to drive?

When I first started, I looked at cars that would "only" cost 200-300 per month, thinking that wasn't much. I stubbornly took a long time to clue in.

For me it has made me rethink my plans for cars, at least until I make quite a lot more money. If money isn't a concern for you, then you probably have a much different outlook on this.

So ... do you spend a large portion of your disposable income on automotive stuff? Do you ever regret doing so?

 

[desy]

56.6 cents per mile is the stat i just read today

 

[zCypher]

56.6 cents per mile is the stat i just read today

Based on what information though? That number will be different depending on your car, insurance, etc?

I'm more interested in finding out what actual number people are spending. For example, if you learned that 50% of your take home pay in actual fact went to your car, would you keep spending that, or would you decide to make a change?

 

[StageLeft]

56.6 cents per mile is the stat i just read today

Mine definitely do not even come close to that. Running numbers on my 2010 prius including gas, insurance, maintenance, all that it's about $.25/mile. My van is a bit less because it's paid off, but is older.

Anyway I just figured it out and we are spending about 10% of our monthly net on vehicles (any payments, maintenance, depreciation, insurance, gas). It was a bit higher when we had two newer vehicles but as they age their overall cost of ownership (more in repairs but less loss over time from depreciation) go down.

EDIT: Maybe more, like 12%.

 

[desy]

Here you go
I'm just the messenger
http://www.usatoday.com/money/autos/2010-04-07-cost-of-driving_N.htm

The auto club analyzes ownership costs, including insurance, license and registration fees, taxes, depreciation and finance charges, and operational costs, including fuel, maintenance and tires. It did not factor in the vehicle purchase price

 

[jlee]

Probably a lot more than most people (of cars of comparable initial cost, anyway), because I keep buying more shit.

 

[McWatt]

1.3% assuming I buy another car every 5 years and spend $200/year on parts.

 

[BlahBlahYouToo]

Mine definitely do not even come close to that. Running numbers on my 2010 prius including gas, insurance, maintenance, all that it's about $.25/mile. My van is a bit less because it's paid off, but is older.

Anyway I just figured it out and we are spending about 10% of our monthly net on vehicles (any payments, maintenance, depreciation, insurance, gas). It was a bit higher when we had two newer vehicles but as they age their overall cost of ownership (more in repairs but less loss over time from depreciation) go down.

EDIT: Maybe more, like 12%.

you gotta prius?
what'd you do with the max?

 

[radioouman]

I spent $21,000 on my car in 2002. I have had it for almost 8 years. Amortized it is $2625 per year.
I pay $500 per year to insure it.
I pay $60 per year for license/registration.
I average 25,000 miles per year and I average 28 mpg over a year.
The cost of gas has been anywhere between $1.40 and $4.00 per gallon since I've owned it. (Average of about $2.00 per gallon.)
My average yearly repairs have been about $500. (Early years much less, recent years somewhat more.)
5-6 oil changes per year, wipers, tires, filters, brake pads, fluids, regular maintenance is $200 per year.

Converting everything into a yearly cost:
- $2625 per year initial cost
- $500 per year insurance
- $60 per year for plates
- $1785.71 per year for gas
- $500 per year for repairs
- $200 per year for wear items
====
$5670.71 per year or $0.23 per mile. Considering that a lot of those miles are reimbursed by my employer, and I do all possible repairs/maintenance myself, this is a pretty good deal.

 

[zCypher]

I spent $21,000 on my car in 2002. I have had it for almost 8 years. Amortized it is $2625 per year.
I pay $500 per year to insure it.
I pay $60 per year for license/registration.
I average 25,000 miles per year and I average 28 mpg over a year.
The cost of gas has been anywhere between $1.40 and $4.00 per gallon since I've owned it. (Average of about $2.00 per gallon.)
My average yearly repairs have been about $500. (Early years much less, recent years somewhat more.)
5-6 oil changes per year, wipers, tires, filters, brake pads, fluids, regular maintenance is $200 per year.

Converting everything into a yearly cost:
- $2625 per year initial cost
- $500 per year insurance
- $60 per year for plates
- $1785.71 per year for gas
- $500 per year for repairs
- $200 per year for wear items
====
$5670.71 per year or $0.23 per mile. Considering that a lot of those miles are reimbursed by my employer, and I do all possible repairs/maintenance myself, this is a pretty good deal.

Awesome. This is exactly what I'm talking about. So when it's all said and done, it costs you just over $470/mo to drive.

Some good posts so far, keep em coming!

Skoorb, are you liking the Prius so far? And what of the Max??

 

[T2urtle]

so on this topic, which car would be ideal to own as of 2010.

there isn't a standard to measuring this but i know i spend more then the average on my g35x getting 16.65 MPG lifetime since i've owned it 2 years ago. My 98 maxima was decent being at 20.50 MPG the 3 years i've owned it. Both cars required nothing more then fluid changes, brakes and tires. My G is getting costly as i've been modding it slowly.

i'll do some real number crunching tonight.

 

[Kntx]

$10,000 purchase in 2004
$5,000 in repairs over life of car (include tires)
------------------------------
$2,500 p.a over 6 years
------------------------------
$1,500 insurance p.a.
$1,000 in gas p.a.
$200 in oil changes p.a.
$200 misc p.a. (carwash, air fresheners, etc)
------------------------------
$5,400 per year total (CAD)

I drive about 10,000 KM a year so that's $0.54 per KM.

 

[zCypher]

That's pretty bad mileage on the G, turtle. lol, I'm sure the fun factor makes it worth while though, it's a damn nice car.

 

[StageLeft]

I also did a breakdown like radioouman, which is how I came up with my figures.

you gotta prius?
what'd you do with the max?

I put it in my prius thread, but sold it last week for $4k. I was (really) sad to see it drive down the road, but life moves on.

Skoorb, are you liking the Prius so far? And what of the Max??

I do. The tech really is awesome. Everything else on the road just kind of feels so 20th century to look at it.

I won't answer any more prius questions in this thread not because I don't like them but because I am a huge attention whore and don't want to take it off line too much

so on this topic, which car would be ideal to own as of 2010.

This will be my last pimp my prius post (in this thread) but my $.25/mile was based on the 2010 Prius with a lease. I don't think I included the down payment, so add a few cents/mile into that, but it did include all over factors. Toyota extended their incentives through this week, I think; you can still get one hella cheap for a lease.

That's pretty bad mileage on the G, turtle. lol, I'm sure the fun factor makes it worth while though, it's a damn nice car.

Seems a tiny bit worse than rated but yeah they get some bad mileage. I got about his mileage on my 2000 Maxima, maybe 1 mpg better, mostly city, some highway, generally quite spirited driving.

 

[vi edit]

I paid $15,200 for my '06 Malibu w/ 2,000 miles on it.

My monthly payment is $192

Registration is about $6.50 a month

Insurance is $40 a month

I average 25 MPG and drive about 500 miles a month so that's $58 with current gas prices.

I need two oil changes & a rotation a year so another $6 a month

So around $302.50 a month which is a comfortably low single digit % of take home pay.

 

[PricklyPete]

Based on the idea that my wife and I keep our cars for 10 years, our insurance stays constant, and our gas consumption stays constant, it comes out to about 6% of our gross income. A little more than I'd like, but if my wife worked full time, that number would shrink considerably (She only works part time for half the year).

 

[MixMasterTang]

I probably spend around 2% - 3% of my income on my car for insurance, gas and maintenance, but it's paid off so I don't have any car payments.

Edit: When I was making payments on it, it was probably 8-9% for the car payment and items mentioned above.

 

[T2urtle]

That's pretty bad mileage on the G, turtle. lol, I'm sure the fun factor makes it worth while though, it's a damn nice car.

edmund.com rates my car at a average of 19mpg combined.

sticker on the orginally stated 18 and 22 or 24.

If i baby it i can get 18-19. But 16.6 is my lifetime with the car, so that included the first weeks when i bought the car and went balls to the wall with it.

I dont know the exact formula you guys are on. Here are my numbers.

i do about 1000-1200 miles a month @ 16.65 MPG with 93 octane which right now is about $3.30

$350/6 months for insurance so $60/month

Chicago yearly i have a city sticker of $75 and my plate sticker of $76

I do my own work on my 99.9% of the time. Nothing abnormal is needed on my car. oil change, front diff, rear diff, t-case, wiper, air filter, pollen filter. I think i did that all with for a cost of sub $200. rear brakes for the car ran me $115 total in parts. I gotta do front brakes this year $165 in parts. Lifetime alignment $180 and new summer tires $650. All this came up to be $1310 in the course last year and this coming summer, SO $1310/24 months is roughly $60/month on maintenance I got all the big $ items now so next year should just be gas and oil changes.

cost of car after TTL when i bought it 2 years ago was $17,200 w/ 36k paid in full

if someone can double check my math on this but this should be roughly $380/month not including deprecation. but this is a decent amount of my money. I do realize i could of saved $70 a month in gas alone if i had gotten a 22mpg car that doesn't require prem. At the age of 24 and single i think its a fair trade off $70 for enjoyment. Down the road say 28-29 when it comes time for family.... Yea i'll be picking up a 4 banger accord or something that pulls 24-26 MPG or a honda fit of 30-34mpg.

 

[JulesMaximus]

Beats me. I'm unemployed at the moment so I'm probably putting less than 5,000 miles a year on my car. My car is paid for so really all I'm paying for is gas and insurance.

 

[vshah]

375 a month for parking and roughly 100 a month for gas. 800 a year for insurance.

so about 16%

 

[ElFenix]

cash flow-wise per month
$300 for payment
$100 for insurance
$140 gas @ $2.80/gal
$15 maintenance (though that will go up when i start getting to big maintenance items)

 

[ponyo]

It's so small I don't even think about it. Gas, insurance, and annual registration expense.

I calculated I spent and paid over $200k just on vehicle purchases in the last 13 years. Probably set me back 5 years on early retirement.

 

[zCypher]

375 a month for parking and roughly 100 a month for gas. 800 a year for insurance.

so about 16%

holy crap.


My Aveo has a 11 gallon tank (41 liters), which means, at $1.07/liter ($3.90/gallon) it costs around $43 to fill it up from empty.

At the moment I pay $120/week to pay off the car faster. Insurance is $107/mo. At this rate I'll be finished paying it off in a bit more than a year, but I'm not sure I want to keep it much longer.

Most of you seem to have your car expenses in check, single digit percentage of take home pay is really good.

 

[angry hampster]

Oh god wrong thread

 

[KIAman]

Mine is $160 in car payments, all maintenance free, just purchased my first set of tires for $1500/3years = $500 per year = $41 per month. Gas is around $120 a month, insurance is $35 a month.

160 + 41 + 120 + 35 = $356.

Wife's car is paid for with around $60 in gas, maintenance cost $20 a month, $400 tires/4 years = $8.4 and $22 a month in insurance

60 + 20 + 8.4 + 22 = $110.4 a month.

356 + 110 = $466 combined both cars = single digit take home of my monthly income.

In 1 more year, car 1 will be done with payments, so subtract out 160 but free maintenance will run out so add in maintenance cost so it might be a wash.

Now add in mortgage... that goes well into the 1/3 of household income. The misses and I could both be driving His and Her Ferraris if not for our mortgage.

Add in kids... omg, I am now so very broke.