Cost of owning a vehicle the last ten years/ per mile
 

With all the discussions I read on here regarding what it costs to drive a vehicle, I thought I’d add up the costs of me owning a car over the last ten years. It’ll be fun to see what other people’s experiences are. Please note, I’m using $3/gallon gas over that time frame, to be fair that is what everyone should use.
2002 Malibu: $12500
Interest on loan: $2200
Insurance: $4320
Tabs: $1000—roughly, not sure when they dropped to $40/year for me.
Fuel: $25178: based on 28mpg life time average I’ve had with my car.
Repairs: $3000 (estimated to the best of my knowledge)
Tires: $1500
Brakes: $700
Total: $50,398 dollars over the 120 months I’ve had this car. That is $419/month.

Car currently has 235,000 miles on it, divided out its $.21/mile to drive my car over the last 10 years. As a side note, before last year this car did everything for me, towed my sled, hauled a little fishing boat, (Mastercraft was stayed on a lift at my parents).
I figured it might be a fun activity to step back and take a look at the true cost to drive a car, I’m sure I’m missing a few $$ here or there but I think I got the major ones.

what is everyone else getting?

I dont even want to know...I'll sit here at my desk and be sad if I think about it too much

2009 C350: $44,500 (Paid Cash)
Insurance: $2982
Tabs: $1092
Fuel: $6134
Repairs: 0
Tires: $750
Brakes: Due now lol
$54,366 for 42 months. $1295 a month Looks like $1.32 a mile. OUCH

You need to subtract out the cars current value to get closer to what it is actually costing you per mile. Hopefully that will make you feel a little better.

Did it for giggles...btwn my ride and all the other stuff gas etc...i bought myself a G23 but dont have the benefit of lookin out my window at one:(

If no one ever warned you I will. Its very dangerous to do a financial analysis of your toys.

The smile on your face when you use it - PRICELESS!

Tim is spot on.....just takes the fun out of them. They cost us alot but we do it for the entertainment and the smiles it puts on the faces of our family and friends. My oldest 2 learned to wakeboard this summer and the smiles when they got up I will never be able to put a price on.

X2

Oh right....good point. That does make it better.

I do so much financial analysis on everything I own it would never make me feel bad. I can tell you the cost to operate nearly all of my toys - not so much about the ROI as much as it is about understanding what you can afford. 95% of the people I know can't manage their expenses for ****. I could tell you how many days away I am from my 55' cruiser in the Bahamas. lol

Go to Edmunds.com and look at the cost to own. They have a good breakdown but the devil is always in the details so don't just look at the aggregate number but the breakdown. I noticed that some more expensive vehicles sometimes cost less. Fuel is often a big trigger in cost.