Most and Least Expensive Cars to Maintain
Luxury cars like BMWs are the most expensive, while Toyotas are the most economical. Driving style also affects the cost of car maintenance.
The most valuable thing most Americans have after home is their car. On average, Americans spend 5% of their income on buying a car. Another 5% goes towards ongoing maintenance and insurance costs.
But not every machine costs the same to keep it running. And different cars have different risks of sudden immobilization of drivers.
At AvtoTachki we have a huge dataset of the makes and models of vehicles we have serviced, as well as the types of service performed. We decided to use our data to understand which cars break down the most and have the highest maintenance costs. We also looked at what types of maintenance are most common for certain vehicles.
First, we looked at which big brands cost the most during the first 10 years of a car's life. We grouped all models of all model years by brand to calculate their median brand value. To estimate annual maintenance costs, we found the amount spent on every two oil changes (because an oil change is typically done every six months).
Which car brands cost the most to maintain? | ||
---|---|---|
Based on 10 year total vehicle maintenance estimates | ||
Rank | Brand machine | Price |
1 | BMW | $17,800 |
2 | Mercedes-Benz | $12,900 |
3 | Cadillac | $12,500 |
4 | Volvo | $12,500 |
5 | Audi | $12,400 |
6 | Saturn | $12,400 |
7 | mercury | $12,000 |
8 | Pontiac | $11,800 |
9 | Chrysler | $10,600 |
10 | Evasion | $10,600 |
11 | Acura | $9,800 |
12 | Infiniti | $9,300 |
13 | Ford | $9,100 |
14 | Kia | $8,800 |
15 | Land Rover | $8,800 |
16 | Chevrolet | $8,800 |
17 | Buick | $8,600 |
18 | Jeep | $8,300 |
19 | Subaru | $8,200 |
20 | Hyundai | $8,200 |
21 | GMC | $7,800 |
22 | Volkswagen | $7,800 |
23 | Nissan | $7,600 |
24 | Mazda | $7,500 |
25 | Mini | $7,500 |
26 | Mitsubishi | $7,400 |
27 | Honda | $7,200 |
28 | Lexus | $7,000 |
29 | Offspring | $6,400 |
30 | Toyota | $5,500 |
German luxury imports such as BMW and Mercedes-Benz, along with domestic luxury brand Cadillac, are the most expensive. Toyota costs about $10,000 less over 10 years, just in terms of maintenance.
Toyota is by far the most economical manufacturer. Scion and Lexus, the second and third cheapest brands, are subsidiaries of Toyota. Together, all three are 10% below the average cost.
Most domestic brands such as Ford and Dodge are in the middle.
While luxury cars require the most expensive maintenance, many budget cars rank relatively high. Kia, the entry-level brand, surprises with 1.3 times the average maintenance costs. In this case, sticker prices do not represent maintenance costs.
Knowing the relative maintenance costs of different brands can be informative, but it's also important to consider how a car's value changes with age. This chart shows the average annual maintenance costs across all brands.
Maintenance costs increase as a car ages. A stable, consistent increase in costs of $150 per year is observed from years 1 to 10. After that, there is a distinct jump between 11 and 12 years. After 13 years costs about $2,000 per year. This is probably due to the fact that people abandon their cars if the maintenance costs exceed their value.
Even within brands, not all cars are the same. How do specific models directly compare to each other? We delved deeper by dividing all cars by model to look at 10 year maintenance costs.
Which car models cost the most to maintain? | ||
---|---|---|
Based on total vehicle maintenance costs over 10 years | ||
Rank | Brand machine | Price |
1 | Chrysler Sebring | $17,100 |
2 | BMW 328i | $15,600 |
3 | Nissan Murano | $14,700 |
4 | Mercedes-Benz E350 | $14,700 |
5 | Chevrolet Cobalt | $14,500 |
6 | Dodge grand caravan | $14,500 |
7 | Dodge Ram 1500 | $13,300 |
8 | Audi Quattro A4 | $12,800 |
9 | Mazda 6 | $12,700 |
10 | Subaru Forester | $12,200 |
11 | Acura TL | $12,100 |
12 | Nissan Maxima | $12,000 |
13 | Chrysler 300 | $12,000 |
14 | Ford Mustang | $11,900 |
15 | Audi A4 | $11,800 |
16 | Volkswagen Passat | $11,600 |
17 | Ford Focus | $11,600 |
18 | Chevrolet Impala | $11,500 |
19 | Honda Pilot | $11,200 |
20 | Mini Cooper | $11,200 |
All of the top 20 most expensive car models in terms of maintenance cost require at least a staggering $11,000 in maintenance over 10 years. These estimates include expensive one-time costs, such as transmission repairs, which skew the average.
According to our data, the Chrysler Sebring is the most expensive car to maintain, which is likely one of the reasons Chrysler redesigned it in 2010. full-size models (such as the Audi A328 Quattro) are also quite expensive.
Now we know which cars are money pits. So which vehicles are the economical and reliable choice?
Which car models have the lowest maintenance cost? | ||
---|---|---|
Based on total vehicle maintenance costs over 10 years | ||
Rank | Brand machine | Price |
1 | Toyota Prius | $4,300 |
2 | Kia Soul | $4,700 |
3 | Toyota Camry | $5,200 |
4 | Honda Fit | $5,500 |
5 | Toyota Tacoma | $5,800 |
6 | Toyota Corolla | $5,800 |
7 | Nissan Versa | $5,900 |
8 | Toyota Yaris | $6,100 |
9 | Scion xB | $6,300 |
10 | Kia Optima | $6,400 |
11 | Lexus IS250 | $6,500 |
12 | Nissan Rogue | $6,500 |
13 | Toyota Highlander | $6,600 |
14 | Honda Civic | $6,600 |
15 | H | $6,600 |
16 | Volkswagen Jetta | $6,800 |
17 | Lexus RX350 | $6,900 |
18 | Ford Fusion | $7,000 |
19 | Nissan Sentra | $7,200 |
20 | Subaru Impreza | $7,500 |
Toyota and other Asian imports are the least expensive cars to maintain, and the Prius lives up to its renowned reputation for reliability. Along with many Toyota models, the Kia Soul and Honda Fit hold the Prius low cost lead. Toyota's Tacoma and Highlander are also on the low-end car list, though the list is dominated by compact and mid-sized sedans. Toyota completely avoids the list of the most expensive models.
So what exactly makes some brands more expensive than others? Some brands have a higher frequency of scheduled maintenance. But some cars tend to have the same problems over and over again.
We looked at which brands have maintenance requirements that occur unusually often for this particular brand. For each brand and issue, we compared the frequency to the average of all the vehicles we serviced.
Unusually common car problems | ||
---|---|---|
Based on issues found by AvtoTachki and comparison with an average car. | ||
Brand machine | Car release | Release frequency |
mercury | Replacing the fuel pump | 28x |
Chrysler | EGR/EGR valve replacement | 24x |
Infiniti | camshaft position sensor replacement | 21x |
Cadillac | intake manifold gasket replacement | 19x |
jaguar | Check Engine Light is under review | 19x |
Pontiac | intake manifold gasket replacement | 19x |
Evasion | EGR/EGR valve replacement | 19x |
Plymouth | Inspection does not start | 19x |
Honda | Valve clearance adjustment | 18x |
BMW | Replacing the window regulator | 18x |
Ford | PCV valve hose replacement | 18x |
BMW | Replacing the idler roller | 18x |
Chrysler | Superheat check | 17x |
Saturn | Replacing the wheel bearing | 17x |
Oldsmobile | Inspection does not start | 17x |
Mitsubishi | Timing Belt Replacement | 17x |
BMW | Replacing the drive belt tensioner | 16x |
Chrysler | camshaft position sensor replacement | 16x |
jaguar | Battery Service | 16x |
Cadillac | Leaking coolant | 16x |
Jeep | crankshaft position sensor replacement | 15x |
Chrysler | Replacing the engine mount | 15x |
Mercedes-Benz | Crankshaft position sensor | 15x |
Mercury is the brand that chronically suffers the most from lack of design. In this case, Mercury vehicles most often had fuel pump problems (Mercury was discontinued by parent company Ford in 2011).
We can see that some issues are moving from brand to brand within the same manufacturer. For example, Dodge and Chrysler, which are part of the Fiat Chrysler Automobiles (FCA) conglomerate, can't seem to get their exhaust gas recirculation (EGR) valves to work properly. Their EGR needs to be set at about 20 times the national average.
But there's one issue that worries customers more than any other: what cars just won't start? We answer this question in the table below, which limits the comparison to vehicles over 10 years old.
Car brands most likely won't start | ||
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According to the AvtoTachki service and compared with the average model | ||
Rank | Brand machine | Frequency The car will not start |
1 | buzzer | 9x |
2 | mercury | 6x |
3 | Chrysler | 6x |
4 | Saturn | 5x |
5 | Evasion | 5x |
6 | Mitsubishi | 4x |
7 | BMW | 4x |
8 | Suzuki | 4x |
9 | Pontiac | 4x |
10 | Buick | 4x |
11 | Land Rover | 3x |
12 | Mercedes-Benz | 3x |
13 | Chevrolet | 3x |
14 | Jeep | 3x |
15 | Ford | 3x |
16 | GMC | 3x |
17 | Acura | 3x |
18 | Cadillac | 2x |
19 | Offspring | 2x |
20 | Lincoln | 2x |
21 | Nissan | 2x |
22 | Mazda | 2x |
23 | Volvo | 2x |
24 | Infiniti | 2x |
25 | Kia | 2x |
While this may be a reflection of the diligence of some owners, and not just the build quality of the cars, the results of this list are quite convincing: three of the top five brands have been discontinued in the last few years.
In addition to the now defunct brands, this list includes the premium segment (such as Mercedes-Benz, Land Rover and BMW). The absence of many brands from the list of the least expensive is noteworthy: Toyota, Honda and Hyundai.
But the brand doesn't reveal everything about the car. We delved into specific models that do not launch with the highest frequency.
Car models most likely won't start | ||
---|---|---|
According to the AvtoTachki service and compared with the average model | ||
Rank | Car model | Frequency The car will not start |
1 | Hyundai Tiburon | 26x |
2 | Dodge Caravan | 26x |
3 | Ford F-250 Super Duty | 21x |
4 | Ford Taurus | 19x |
5 | Chrysler PT Cruiser | 18x |
6 | Cadillac DTS | 17x |
7 | Hummer H3 | 11x |
8 | Nissan Titan | 10x |
9 | Chrysler Sebring | 10x |
10 | Dodge Ram 1500 | 10x |
11 | BMW 325i | 9x |
12 | Mitsubishi Eclipse | 9x |
13 | Dodge Charger | 8x |
14 | Chevrolet Aveo | 8x |
15 | Chevrolet Cobalt | 7x |
16 | Mazda MH-5 Miata | 7x |
17 | Mercedes-Benz ML350 | 6x |
18 | Chevrolet HHR | 6x |
19 | Mitsubishi Galant | 6x |
20 | Volvo S40 | 6x |
21 | BMW X3 | 6x |
22 | Pontiac G6 | 6x |
23 | Dodge Caliber | 6x |
24 | Nissan Pathfinder | 6x |
25 | Saturn Ion | 6x |
The worst cars didn't start 26 times more often than the median, which may explain why some of those models got the axe: the Hyundai Tiburon, Hummer H3, and Chrysler Sebring (all in the top 10) were discontinued. Some premium models also make the list of infamy, including BMWs and several Mercedes-Benz models.
For as long as there have been cars, Americans have been arguing about car ownership as well as cost and reliability. The data shows which companies are living up to their reputation for reliability (Toyota), which brands are sacrificing reliability for prestige (BMW and Mercedes-Benz), and which models deserve to be discontinued (Hummer 3).
However, car maintenance is much more than the average cost. Factors such as how well a car is maintained, how often it is driven, where it is driven, and how it is driven affect maintenance costs. Your mileage may vary.