What is the cost of car maintenance?
When asked about the cost of maintaining a car, most drivers mention only fuel, insurance, and possible repairs. Meanwhile, the real cost of maintaining all-wheel drive is a more complex issue.
Due to rising fuel prices in recent years, the use of cars has become much more expensive than at the beginning of the XNUMXth century. However, not only expensive gasoline and diesel do not allow drivers to sleep at night. The actual cost of a car is made up of many other costs that are often overlooked by motorists.
In our review, we presented the main factors that affect the fees associated with owning and using a car over a 5 year period.
Our assumptions:
- The car was bought new in 2007 and resold after 5 years. So we accounted for the depreciation and then added it to the cost of living.
– the car works flawlessly throughout the entire service life, and we come to the service only for periodic inspections (once a year)
– in the car only the basic package OC
– the car is refueled at fixed prices: PLN 5,7 / liter for diesel fuel and PLN 5,8 / liter for Pb 95 petrol.
– average fuel consumption calculated based on manufacturers data
- Annual mileage 15 thousand. kilometers
– the car is washed once a month at a car wash, and we bear the cost of a set of winter tires only once every five years
For our ranking, we chose six cars representing different segments, from the Fiat Panda to the Mercedes E-Class, the result of the comparison was unexpected. Although it was the Mercedes that was the most expensive of all models (PLN 184), the costs associated with its use are “only” 92% of the original cost. In the case of Fiat Panda and Skoda Fabia, the result is 164 and 157% respectively! However, when converted to PLN, an Italian car is the cheapest to use. The monthly cost of its operation is PLN 832. This is more than 2 thousand less than the Mercedes 220 CDI.
Looking at the table below, we also see that it is a mistake to only monitor fuel consumption. Although the cost of buying a diesel engine for Toyota Avensis 2.0 D-4D is more than 8 thousand. PLN is lower than in the case of gasoline for the Volkswagen Golf, in general, drivers of a German car will have more money in their pockets.
In addition to fuel and deterioration, which are major factors behind high maintenance costs, drivers' wallets are also being emptied by car insurance. Although we only included the base OC package in the list, it still had a big impact on the final result.
So the question arises, wouldn't renting a car be the best solution? In such a situation, the driver has nothing to worry about, in particular, insurance, inspection and service costs. It turns out that such a solution is not at all cheaper. As our list shows, owning a Volkswagen Golf V with a 1.4 petrol engine costs around PLN 1350 per month. However, renting the same model is already an expense of 2,5 thousand. PLN / month In the case of other models, the differences are at the same level.
| Brand, model | Price (new/5-year) in thousand PLN | Liability insurance (PLN) | Reviews (thousand PLN) | Fuel (thousand PLN) | Winter tires / car wash (thousand PLN) | Monthly expenses (PLN) | All expenses in total (thousand PLN) |
| Fiat Panda 1.1 | 29,8 / 13 | 5690 | 2,325 | 24,795 | 1,060 | 832 | 49,870 |
| Skoda Fabia 1.2 | 39,9 / 15,5 | 4550 | 2,5 | 30,450 | 1,240 | 1045 | 62,740 |
| Volkswagen Golf V1.4 | 65,5 / 26 | 7510 | 3,5 | 30,015 | 1,4 | 1367 | 82,015 |
| Toyota Avensis 2.0 D-4D | 84,1 / 34,1 | 11095 | 4,5 | 21,802 | 1,8 | 1486 | 89,197 |
| Honda CR-V 2.2 CTDi | 123,4 / 47,8 | 11005 | 4,250 | 27,788 | 2,4 | 2017 | 121,043 |
| Mercedes E220 CDI | 184 / 63,3 | 11420 | 7,5 | 29,070 | 2,4 | 2851 | 171,090 |
