Cost of ownership thread

[therealdeal770]

Im starting a thread on the cost of ownership per mile on a vehicle stating with mine.

2000 Chevy S10
Purchased August2000
Current mileage 139042


Cost of truck- 21000 after total interest and principle
Cost of insurance-7150
Cost of fuel at 21mpg and average fuel cost of 1.80- 12000
4 sets of tires-1500
about 30 oil changes-400
2 sets of plugs and wires-100
1 alternator-120
exhaust manifold-300
changeing all fluids once at 120k-75
3 sets of brake pads-60
4 shocks-60
battery-80
total $42845 or about 31cents a mile.Is this good? curios to see what some others are.I plan to drive this truck until the wheels fall off.
Oh and something i didnt count is Ive went through about 5k worth of audio eqipment over the years before i got wise that money does not grow on trees.

 

[NJC]

1984 Accord:

Insurance/maintenance/depreciation (assuming resale of $500) = $8,900 over 8yrs and 70K miles. $.13/mile

 

[Pablo]

The method of calculation places too much emphasis on insurance for lightly driven cars held a long time.

Cheap gas. Expensive insurance.

 

[obbop]

To be technical, shouldn't one take all the expenses involved with purchasing/owning/maintaining a vehicle and represent the loss of what I believe the economist-type folks term "opportunity cost" or some such term... ie what one would have earned in interest income or whatever by shunning a vehicle and placing the funds in an appreciating asset?

 

[oilyriser]

Yes, or at least scale costs for inflation up to the present day.

 

[stroked93]

I agree with obbop. A dollar is not a dollar in this situation its more like $1.35 over that period of time. so take that figure x 1.35 and you will get a much more accurate picture.

 

[javacontour]

1994 Geo Prizm

Percentage breakdown of costs

Fuel 45.5% $5607.61
Maintenance 21.3% $2625.10
Purchase 20.3% -- $2500
Insurance 8.6% 1059.90
Tags and Taxes 4.1% $505.30
Avg MPG = 31.8MPG
Total Fuel Used = 2936 gallons
Avg Fuel Price = $1.909

Date of Purchase 4/12/2003
Total Cost $12,324.43
Miles Driven 93367
Cost/Mile $0.132/mile

 

[therealdeal770]

Looks like buying used is the way to go.2 people at nearly .20 less per mile cost than me. Id like to see a report from car purchased new around the same year and mileage as mine to get a better comparison.

 

[Al]

Fixed costs including a lot of the initial cost and depreciation and insurance are really not valid bc if you have a fixed cost of $10,000 and drive 10,000 miles its $1 per mile. But if you only drive only 1 mile then its $10,000 per mile. As soon as you drive the second mile theoretically it would cost you another $10,000 and that's obviously not right.

Cents per mile is a moving target and in many cases not valid.

 

[javacontour]

Those are very valid costs, unless they are giving away cars.

However, I do agree that you get more useful information looking at longer terms of use such as tens of thousands of miles or several years of usage.

My Scion tC has been in my hands for about 1 year and 13,8xx miles. It's cost / mile, has been about $0.48/mile. I'm counting the payments as I go, accounting for 60% of the cost of ownership.

I'm measuring cost of ownership, not operating costs.

This thread is about cost of ownership as well as cost/mile.

 

[Spitty]

I have a 90 Toyota PU that I bought after the lease was up, so 13 years and about 250,000 km, the truck has been used for business it's whole life so ALL expenses have been kept on file. I'm not that keen to dig all this out, but if people a really interested I will.

 

[Pablo]

FWIW - my company pays 48.5 cents per mile (U$D) for company use of personal vehicle.

 

[brianl703]

Quote:

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To be technical, shouldn't one take all the expenses involved with purchasing/owning/maintaining a vehicle and represent the loss of what I believe the economist-type folks term "opportunity cost" or some such term... ie what one would have earned in interest income or whatever by shunning a vehicle and placing the funds in an appreciating asset?

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What about the income you don't get because of the job you don't have because of the car you don't have to take you to it?

 

[doitmyself]

Quote:

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FWIW - my company pays 48.5 cents per mile (U$D) for company use of personal vehicle.

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Same for my work place - they recently adjusted it up to 48 cents per mile.

 

[obbop]

Quote:

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Quote:

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To be technical, shouldn't one take all the expenses involved with purchasing/owning/maintaining a vehicle and represent the loss of what I believe the economist-type folks term "opportunity cost" or some such term... ie what one would have earned in interest income or whatever by shunning a vehicle and placing the funds in an appreciating asset?

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What about the income you don't get because of the job you don't have because of the car you don't have to take you to it?

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Of course, that assumes that a personal vehicle is the only option for reaching one's place of employment.