Tesla vs competitors: cost of maintenance including replacement of the battery
Sometimes going further on a car can cost you less in the long The trick is to know when to invest.
It is relatively easy to see that cars are more expensive to buy initially, but it is difficult to know how much you'll soaked in depreciation, insurance, maintenance and repair, and even Consumer Reports Fuel owner estimated costs highlight all these hidden costs over 1, 3, 5 and 8 years of ownership.
They contain surprises for example, a family sedan Mazda6 four-cylinder may seem like a good deal at a price 1,900 less than a comparable Toyota Camry But the total cost of ownership of the Mazda five years is higher than the 2000 Camry Similarly, to save you more than 5000 long-term by buying a Toyota Highlander SUV, rather than a Dodge Journey, which costs 1,600 less up front.
Factors taken into account in our estimates of owner costs are depreciation, fuel, interest you can t find anywhere else on the financing, insurance, sales tax and maintenance costs and average repair Because depreciation is factored into our estimates, we assume that the vehicle will be exchanged at the end of the term after one, three, five or eight years No matter how long you own your new car, verify these estimates can save you thousands of dollars when you sell.
Here are some other notable discoveries we have made in our analysis.
During the first five years of ownership, the car costs more than 9,100 per year to own median on what it costs to own a midsize SUVs like the Nissan Murano or a premium sedan as the Lexus ES but it's easy to find nice cars that cost much less sports cars such as the mini Cooper basis can cost as little as 5,800 per year to own even a fast, refined and spacious small SUVs like Toyota motor RAV4 V6 costs also little as 7,800 per year to own.
Keep a car for eight years instead of five, can reduce the median cost of ownership significantly to just 7,800 a year on average This is partly due to lower depreciation costs, and partly because of keep the car for a few years after the loan was paid one of the cheapest cars to own in our estimation is the little Honda Fit, which costs a little more than 5,300 a year to own for five years, it combines a price relatively low purchase with low depreciation, great fuel economy, excellent reliability, and relatively low maintenance and repair costs.
Paying more for a hybrid can save you money as long as you choose the right hybrid Most traditional hybrid models that aren t luxury SUV or cost less to own over five years than their cheaper conventional counterparts Two exceptions are the Chevrolet Volt and Honda Insight It takes six or seven years, respectively, to compensate for the additional purchase price in fuel economy for cars.
Large SUVs and luxury have the highest cost of ownership far, an often amount to more than 13 000 per year pickups of all kinds aren t far behind.
While Hyundai and Kia models have low prices and long warranties, savings are often offset by poor resale value Hyundai Accent and Elantra don t prove not less than five years after Honda Fit and Civic more expensive.
Most Lexus models have relatively low maintenance and high repair costs mainly due to maintenance, despite their excellent reliability Lexus ES350 racks up an average of 2,300 in maintenance and repair in the first five years, about twice what you pay for on a Buick LaCrosse.
Our cost of ownership includes six evaluations of the main factors.
Depreciation is by far the largest average cost factor, accounting for about 48 percent of total ownership costs over five years Depreciation is the loss in value of a vehicle on a specific date for the calculation, we start with the price of a model with the equipment and factor in discounts on the retail price on some models suggested retail average model depreciates about 65 percent over five years some vehicles depreciate more faster than others because of oversupply, limited appeal or rebates on similar new models When we don t have depreciation data for a new model, we use estimates based on comparable vehicles.
Fuel costs can really, especially for SUVs, for example, you might pay more than 15,000 Jeep Liberty to fill a five-year, while a similar sized but more efficient RAV4 V6 could save you during 4000 the period for calculating the fuel costs, we assume that the vehicles are driven 12,000 miles a year, the average reported by respondents to our annual survey that we will apply the national average price of April 00 one gallon for regular gasoline for models that require premium or diesel fuel, we use these four costs 20 one gallon for premium and 4 30 for the average diesel fuel is the second largest cost of ownership of the vehicle to 24 percent on five years.
The interest is directly related to the vehicle price, and represents about 11 percent of ownership costs of five years, we calculate the basis of a five-year loan with a down payment of 15 percent, because that's how many people are buying cars, we use the average interest rate 6 0 percent.
Insurance costs vary depending on many factors, including your age, location and driving record, and can significantly increase ownership costs of models that would otherwise seem affordable For example, if you are looking for a fast car on a budget, avoid sports cars such as the Subaru Impreza WRX STi insurance can run three times the fun and agile but cheaper to own Mini Cooper S in all, insurance is about 10 percent of total ownership costs over five years costs are derived from data from the Highway Loss data Institute.
Maintenance and repair costs make up 4 percent of ownership costs over five years on average, according to data from Consumer Reports subscribers who responded to the online version of our investigation into the reliability of annual cars.
They gave us their estimated costs for the last 12 months, excluding tires and their responses provided data nearly 300 models on older vehicles we used estimates up to eight years from similar models when data were unavailable most costs are covered by the factory warranty during the first years, but for some vehicles, it can still add up to average, we found that the Porsche Cayenne SUV is the most expensive vehicle possession for maintenance and repairs, costing more than 4,000 during the first five years, but the Toyota Land Cruiser is also luxurious and very capable off-road costs a bit more than half.
Sales tax costs owners about as much as the maintenance and the repair we use the national average of 5 0 percent.
The costs can be divided into those transportation costs related to vehicle purchase and operating costs associated with current driving expenses Operating costs include fuel, insurance and maintenance and costs repair amortization, interest and taxes are the costs of ownership.
Transportation costs greatly diminish over time, while operating costs increased slightly, mainly due to increased maintenance and repair costs still, on average, operating costs are lower than the transportation costs until a vehicle is aged about five years.
Yet we found that some cars are expensive to drive, even if they're affordable to park in your garage Some small cars, for example, have low prices, but their high insurance costs make them operate relatively expensive The Toyota Prius is one of the cheapest cars to own in our estimate, and most of its costs are within the insurance, gas and maintenance But small cars are the exception.
On average, transport costs outweighed the operating costs by 20 percent over the first five years for the average model we reviewed, for example, the cost of ownership for the BMW 750 Li add to almost 17,000 per year, but it is relatively inexpensive to lead to just over 4500 year.
However, operating costs for certain vehicles can be surprisingly high Cadillac Escalade, for example, costs about 5 300 per year on average for fuel, insurance and maintenance and repair for the first 5 years.
Our property costs compare fees to keep a new car for one, three, five and eight years.
Most people keep their vehicles for five or eight years, but the high depreciation costs of the first year with why new cars are so expensive to own, so we break this off, and amortization represents nearly 60 percent of the cost of the first year, and it is still the biggest annual cost of ownership for vehicles up old sales tax of six adds to the cost of the car the first year.
The cars cost less to own each year after that, for example, the average in our study cost nearly twice as owning the first year as it does the second year sixth, seventh and eighth years combined about equal to cost of the first year.
Although the maintenance and repair costs rise even more than eight years they always been on average one sixth of the cost of depreciation.
Yet we found that some cars can be cheap to have first compared to the other, then become relatively expensive as they age.
For example, maintenance and repair costs are very low for BMW in the first five years of ownership, mainly because BMW offers free maintenance during the four-year warranty In fact, our survey reported subscribers the BMW X3 is one of the cheapest SUVs continue for the first five years, costing an average of only 279 a year, but BMW are some of the most expensive cars to maintain both long term the maintenance period expires, the average X3 more than 1100 per year in maintenance costs the BMW 3 Series sedan will also be near the lower costs of maintenance and repair of its ranking among the highest .
Ultimately, it is almost always cheaper to hang on to your current car than buying a new Even the most expensive repair bills for an old car can t offset the cost of depreciation on a new one.
Although our data can not exactly show what you pay for for a specific vehicle, it can help you get closer to new vehicles that may be the best long-term value.
Online subscribers can compare costs for one, three, five and eight years of ownership from the template pages Find the model you want to research from the drop-down search tools and go to the Costs tab prices.
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