True cost of driving ..

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rayonline

1648 posts

Uber Geek

# 143380 12-Apr-2014 21:12

I was just looking at my spreadsheet. It's an eye opener for modest priced vehicles.

Per year:
Insurance 600
Regro 300
2x WOF 100
Oil and filter 100 (DIY) 2x per yr
Per year tyre 120 (like Supercats assuming a set last 4yrs)
Others 50

Subtotal 1270

The things we told we should do.
Drive belt 100 (300 per 3yr fitted)
Timing belt and assoc. 160 (800 per 8yr fitted) I know should be 5yr but ...
Air filter 30 DIY
Cabin filter 40 (80 per 2yr) DIY
Fuel filter 35 (70 per 2yr) DIY or kind mechanic
Sparks 17 (100 per 6yr platinums - DIY)
Trans 42 (250 per 6yr)
Brake/coolant 75 (150 per 2yr)

Subtotal 500

Total $1770 approx. per year.

For a 8yr car lifetime ownership can add up.

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6615 posts

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Inactive user

# 1024198 12-Apr-2014 22:16

My insurance is $1200 for car and $450 for bike.

1eStar

1534 posts

Uber Geek

# 1024201 12-Apr-2014 22:22

Since you've done all the sums, why don't you add all your fuel costs, then divide by your annual mileage, then tell us per km how much it really costs to drive.

rayonline

1648 posts

Uber Geek

# 1024209 12-Apr-2014 22:33

1eStar: Since you've done all the sums, why don't you add all your fuel costs, then divide by your annual mileage, then tell us per km how much it really costs to drive.

LOL. I have those already.
$2.000 PA for petrol say driving out to work everyday. 19L per week. Say a economical car.
$4,000 PA for city carpark for those that use them.

Before 1800

Total $7800.

19L fuel per week. 1L for 17km. 19L per week times 52 weeks = 988L per year. Thus again 16,796km per year.

$0.46 per km.

scuwp

3239 posts

Uber Geek

# 1024210 12-Apr-2014 22:42

If you are a member of the AA they do these sums every year and post them on the website for different classes of vehicle. You are about the same as the small car class if I recall correctly last time I looked. Yes running a car isn't cheap. Actually petrol is one on the smaller costs!

Always be yourself, unless you can be Batman, then always be the Batman

freitasm

BDFL - Memuneh
65308 posts

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Geekzone

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# 1024268 13-Apr-2014 08:40

One person supports this post

Well, it came to a point where we had to either get our car overheating fixed or buy a new car.

A workshop told us it would cost around $5,000 because the car needed a new engine. Chrysler did the job for $1,500 (new radiator, flush system, new thermostat).

After this at WOF time we found out the car had some oil leaks, probably because we thought it would save money using a third party workshop than Chrysler. The oil leaks were fixed at around $3,000 cost.

Still cheaper than buying a new car, and added a few more years to this one. Also the stress of buying a new car.

It all depends.

Jase2985

9090 posts

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# 1024275 13-Apr-2014 08:53

I use a website called Fuelly to track my fuel usage vs distance travelled vs price. Has an app for your phone and give a variety of stats.

I might do a spreadsheet on the other costs as well

rayonline

1648 posts

Uber Geek

# 1024329 13-Apr-2014 12:37

Some people I know (and as with most thing) when they get a big repair / even maintenance bill they rather ditch and get another. Why service that trans or renew that timing belt, 2 other belts and waterpump and assoc. stuff. $300 service a PC or a smartphone they rather get something new. Their reason is that it's already old there may be other things that can go wrong.

alasta

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# 1024358 13-Apr-2014 13:12

This is why I replace my car every five years. If you have an older car then you're saving a bit of money on depreciation, but those savings are offset by the additional operating costs so it's swings and roundabouts.

I'm fortunate in that I do less than 8000km per year, so I can usually get through that five year period with only routine servicing and maybe one new set of tyres.

ScuL

455 posts

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# 1024362 13-Apr-2014 13:22

You have no idea how cheap that is.

In the UK for a four door sedan

Insurance NZ$ 1600 per year

Road tax NZ$ 350 per year

Fuel around NZ$ 2.60 per litre

PS I haven't owned a vehicle older than three years bar my very first car. No WOF here until the car is at least three years old then I pass it on in trade for an ex showroom model that they have had on stock for 6+ months.

Have had very good deals this way

Gigabit

rayonline

1648 posts

Uber Geek

# 1024374 13-Apr-2014 14:23

Yep but new cars obviously cost more in total than used cars.

I'm not a fan of cars. We have a car that has been put on hold for 4yrs now. Cancelled all the bills. They don't wanna sell it. If one lived in the CBD, cars can be optional and like Japan that would be $1,800 for something else. Or 2x that if one household has 2 cars. If one stays away from large chain hotels that be a international grabaseat return fare and spending money living like a local for 10 days.

RE: the ones here that have cars. $5-10k 10yr old use it for 10yrs, that's more value :D Apart from the oil oil and tyres and brakes they did nothing on it.

Athlonite

1828 posts

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# 1024383 13-Apr-2014 14:47

Oil and filter 100 (DIY) 2x per yr

Really if your spending that much your not smart shopping... Get the Oil and filter when places like Super Cheap or Repco has oil+filter deals going

I'd be lucky to pay more than half of what you are by doing what I suggested

Fred99

9012 posts

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# 1024391 13-Apr-2014 15:07

Athlonite: Oil and filter 100 (DIY) 2x per yr

Really if your spending that much your not smart shopping... Get the Oil and filter when places like Super Cheap or Repco has oil+filter deals going

I'd be lucky to pay more than half of what you are by doing what I suggested

I read that as $50 per oil/filter change x 2 = $100.
That's probably quite average, depending on filter cost and oil type needed.
Some oils specified for new cars can be very expensive.

alasta

4505 posts

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# 1024397 13-Apr-2014 15:16

rayonline: Yep but new cars obviously cost more in total than used cars.

The price of the vehicle is irrelevant because it's a capital purchase. It's the depreciation that you need to worry about.

Many people argue against buying cars new because they depreciate heavily in the first year, but if you average the depreciation over five years then it's really not that bad. I would suggest that the total depreciation over the first five years is probably not much greater than the subsequent five years.

rayonline

1648 posts

Uber Geek

# 1024404 13-Apr-2014 15:35

Yep - $30-35 oil, semi synthetic with a filter $15. $50 all up every 6 months.

For the cost. A used $8k car then throw to the wreckers get back $500 back or better yet sell for 2k (?). Surely a new car loses more than that. I assume one sells the new car after 5yrs than use it for 20yrs and to the wreckers. My dad picked up a 5k 10yr car, used it for now 6yrs, prob a couple years left in it or until he gets sick of it. Prob the low price b/c of the foot hand brake. 2.2L so not a little wee car you see at the rentals that have the foot handbrake.

But you do get a nicer modern car ....

Fred99

9012 posts

Uber Geek

# 1024412 13-Apr-2014 15:47

alasta:
rayonline: Yep but new cars obviously cost more in total than used cars.

The price of the vehicle is irrelevant because it's a capital purchase. It's the depreciation that you need to worry about.

Many people argue against buying cars new because they depreciate heavily in the first year, but if you average the depreciation over five years then it's really not that bad. I would suggest that the total depreciation over the first five years is probably not much greater than the subsequent five years.

Most of that first year depreciation also happens in the first 5 minutes - as soon as you've signed the purchase agreement.

I agree with what you're saying to a point. I don't think it holds up in the case of "luxury" vehicles - where they tend to depreciate at a very high rate for the first 5 years, then proceed to drop right over a cliff.

Example - a BMW 750i $235,000 new, 2009 model with 100,000km about $35,000 market value - about 85% depreciation.
Comparison - a 2,009 Suzuki Swift with 100,000km has probably only depreciated by 50% or so.

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