Cost of ownership (used car)

[KevC]

Hey,

Can you guys give me the total breakdown of owning a car? I am considering a 02-03 RSX-S. There are obvious things like gas, insurance and car payments. But how about others?

If I don't hit vtec at every stoplight (drive <3-4k rpm) then I should be able to get decent gas mileage. If I drive ~60km/day, that's ~1800km/mo. @ 10L/100km, that means I'd need about 180/mo which amounts to ~$210/mo if it's $1.2/L (premium ).

Insurance is brutal, since it's a honda, 2dr, and I'm <25male (I think that puts me just under serial killer). It's about $500/mo. I'm probably going to reconsider my vehicle of choice but this is just a placeholder for now.

Car payments, @9% and 48mo, a $16k loan would be $400/mo.

Parking ~$100/mo.

Now I'm sure there are other stuff I'm missing. Licensing fees? Cost of getting a license plate? Driveclean? E-Test/Saftey? Any weird tax I have to pay?

Maintence? How often do I change belts/fluids? If I don't take it to the dealer, what's the average rate of an honest mechanic? $60/hr? Oil change costs how much?

Thanks in advance!

[VivienM]

Tires?

I'm guessing with THAT kind of a car, you won't be running el-cheapo supercrap 140K km tires from Wal-Mart...

[rayner55]

By your estimates, thats already 1200$ a month. If you are dumping all your money into ur car monthly, then you're better off without.

[notanexpert]

I have a friend that kept amazingly meticulous records of EVERY penny that he spent on his car, a 1989 Ford Probe GT Turbo he bought brand new. He included absolutely everything, down to every quater he put into the parking meter. It came out to just over $170,000 over the whole life of the car, he drove it just over 16 years, until 2005 when he scrapped it. He also overspent on maintenance, since he was a bit anal about everything being perfect, like buying several power antennas when they kept breaking, when the car was near the end of its life and the antennas were $500 a pop. I think he put on about 375k km over the car's life. So that's one person's exact experience, if it helps.

The 170k includes the initial cost of the car (about 23k i think) and its financing, BTW.

[KevC]

Thanks for the replies.

Still, I'd like a breakdown aside from the obvious (gas, insurance, loan payments).

[notanexpert]

Thanks for the replies.

Still, I'd like a breakdown aside from the obvious (gas, insurance, loan payments).

People in general spend on average about $1000 per year on maintenance, including tires. Of course it varies very widely, since you can spend 250 for a whole set of new tires for a Tercel or 2500 for your Boxster. Some people want their 15 year old junker in perfect order and spend 5k to get everything fixed, others get by just doing oil changes and brake jobs on their old corolla and don't care that the shocks have stopped working 100k km ago. But overall, the average is about $1000 per year.
Registration (your plate sticker) is $73 per year, plus emission test every two years for 40 bucks or so.
Parking can really add up if you're driving downtown. During the day, you can easily find yourself spending $20 for a couple of hours.
Speeding tickets can really add up too... especially if you include the extra insurance money you will have to fork out, or the $$$ you spend on paralegals if you try to get out of those tickets!
Those are really the big costs I think.

[spf1971]

People in general spend on average about $1000 per year on maintenance, including tires. Of course it varies very widely, since you can spend 250 for a whole set of new tires for a Tercel or 2500 for your Boxster. Some people want their 15 year old junker in perfect order and spend 5k to get everything fixed, others get by just doing oil changes and brake jobs on their old corolla and don't care that the shocks have stopped working 100k km ago. But overall, the average is about $1000 per year.
Registration (your plate sticker) is $73 per year, plus emission test every two years for 40 bucks or so.
Parking can really add up if you're driving downtown. During the day, you can easily find yourself spending $20 for a couple of hours.
Speeding tickets can really add up too... especially if you include the extra insurance money you will have to fork out, or the $$$ you spend on paralegals if you try to get out of those tickets!
Those are really the big costs I think.

You say that the average is $1000 per year. Where did you come up with this number?

[Justin C]

I think $1000 is about right. That has been my average for the past few years.

[almostfreeman]

By your estimates, thats already 1200$ a month. If you are dumping all your money into ur car monthly, then you're better off without.

+1 cars rarely make financial sense.

[weedb0y]

Thanks for the replies.

Still, I'd like a breakdown aside from the obvious (gas, insurance, loan payments).

RSX is pretty reliable even if you hit the VTEC alot. Your main cost is insurance. Have you looked at the Integras? Solid cars with bit lower insurance 'at times'.

Fun to drive. I am pretty open to brands (no bias) and I love my integra for its handling, pep and nicely aged looks. Still get compliments.

[notanexpert]

You say that the average is $1000 per year. Where did you come up with this number?

That's a number that's based on market research done for the AIA (Automotive Industries Association), I think its not something that's in the public domain, but available to AIA members, like the company that I work for.
The exact number varies from an average of $385 (for the first year of ownership) to $1354 (in the 14th year of ownership). Its a pretty steady climb over the years, and then it declines after 14 years since people tend to let things deteriorate on cars that old.

[woodstock827]

insurance $500/yr?? wow... May I ask how old are you and if you have any previous ticket or accident records? Because $6000/yr sounds like a lot even for a 21-yr-old driving a two door...

Regular oil change: ~$40 every 5000km
Tires: every 80000km? depends how you drive and what type of tires... You may also want winter tires which will need extra steel rims..
Brakes and rotors: not sure... every 18 months for pads and 4 years for rotors??
Air filter: ~$20/yr or $60 for washables
emission test + registration: $73 + $40/2 =~$100
Timing belt @ ~100,000km
rust protection if you want: ~$120/yr

In general, put in extra 10% in your budget for minor stuff and infrequent stuff like spark plugs, other fluid changes, break downs, etc.

[Spud72]

OK - take this with a grain of salt, but it's just my opinion as someone who has been there, done that.

Insurance is brutal, since it's a honda, 2dr, and I'm <25male (I think that puts me just under serial killer). It's about $500/mo.

Stop right there. If you're going to pay $6K/yr on insurance don't by the car. Financing it anything over 3 years probably means you shouldn't buy it either especially for such an old car.

Many young people (especially males and myself included) start a big road to debt in their life by purchasing a car they want, and not necessarily afford.

Save, buy a cheap, somewhat reliable car that is about as cheap to insure as you can find. Wait until you've got a few years under your belt and not in the "serial killer" insurance bracket until you start looking at the "sporty" cars.

You'll be miles ahead of most young guys and won't cringe driving your nice car in the winter after they salted the roads.

Edit: Just to add things that many people don't think about..

Tires
Car washes
Oil changes
various fluids

$1000 yr sounds "plausible" but for a used car, especially a 5 year old one you WILL start running into mechanical issues. If you're not a wrencher (or have a friend who is), you'll be paying shop rates to get work done.

[VivienM]

Save, buy a cheap, somewhat reliable car that is about as cheap to insure as you can find.

GM W bodies, anyone?

[tbone9999]

Anyone who pays more $5000/year in insurance should have their license taken away because they're clearly insane!

I know what I said it rude but man, $6000 a year for insurance, unless you're rolling in cash it's just stupid. Buy something else and save that money so you can atleast one day buy a house. I know a bunch of people who went out and bought expensive cars to look cool and then just regreted it after getting over their heads.