How much do you pay to maintain your car?

Hi,

I was wondering how much you must pay to maintain your car? Mostly, insurance and taxes, as mileage and maintenance/ repairs will vary.

So, how much is auto insurance, and how much must you pay in fees and taxes each year?

Thanks!

We have 1997 Volvo estate (station wagon) and we pay tax (180/ year), insurance (48/ month) and about 120 in petrol/ month.   MOT is around 40 yearly, and of course tires, oil changes, etc all figure in....we budget on 35 extra a month for those.

I have a 1994 Mercury Sable.
My car insurance is $47.83/month.
I go through 1 1/2 - 2 tanks of gas a week, so that adds up really fast (approx $200/month)
Just had to get my tags renewed, and that was $62.

As for maintenance, my car has 123,000 miles on it, so I know it's going to die soon. (poor thing...it only had 30,000 when i bought it two years ago.) So I just do the bare minimum to keep it running. I always get the oil changed on time, and every other time I get the more expensive one where they check everything on it.

If I can find a nice used car with low miles, I'm going to get it. I really want a new car, but I'm going to run the wheels off of it, so it's gotta be low milage.

One thing I found interesting when I moved to the UK was the interval between services.  Here it is every 10,000 miles on average whereas they say in the States to get your oil changed every 3,000 miles - something I've heard is a completely waste of time and a ripoff.  Having had a few cars here in the UK and having always waited 10,000 miles to do regular services this doesn't seem to be a problem.  Why do they insist on 3,000 mile services in the US?

One other question, for car insurance purposes how accurate must one be when giving the insurance company the estimated mileage per year?  While this is fairly easy to calculate if you go to one office day in and day out, I'm in a situation where I travel to offices near and far and sometimes don't know week in and week out where I'll be - could be 10 miles down the road or 80 miles away on a given day.  Is it ok just to say 10,000 miles per year or must this estimate be updated regularly?

2002 VW Golf - £30/month on 4 years no claims
tax is something like £125/year
petrol is paid for by company but is something like £35-40 for 50 litres

So, how much is auto insurance, and how much must you pay in fees and taxes each year?

Annual vehicle registration (the "tax disc" -- equivalent to license plates/tags) depends upon the age of the car and the engine.  For vehicles registered from March 2001 there's a sliding scale based upon estimated emissions and type of fuel.  The maximum rate is £190 per year.  For cars registered new since March of this year, there's a new top category which can push the tax up to £215 maximum.

For older cars (pre March 2001), there are just two simple classifications:  £110 for engines up to 1549c.c. (approx. 90 cu. in.) and £175 per year for anything over that, regardless of emissions.

Pre-1973 vehicles are tax exempt.

Click here for tax rates

There are no other annual property or ad valorem taxes on private cars, just the fee for the yearly inspection for anything over 3 years old.

Insurance is very much the proverbial "piece of string" question as it can vary tremendously with age, driving experience, vehicle, location, etc.   My '87 Ford Bronco II was £166 per year at the last renewal for third party liability, fire and theft cover (I'm 40, U.K. license since 1983, clean driving record, full no-claim discount, lowest risk area).   At the other extreme I recently ran a quote (just for the heck of it) for a newly licensed 17-year-old driver in North London driving a small Honda and it came back at over £4000 for the first year!    

Why do they insist on 3,000 mile services in the US?

There are a few things which play a part.   The average vehicle in the U.S. (with obvious exceptions for parts of California, Florida, etc.) encounters a much wider range of operating environments than in the U.K., which can mean that the oil deteriorates more rapidly.   In some regions such as the upper Mid-West, northern plains  etc. it's not unusual to use a lower viscosity oil in winter to help counteract the bitterly cold temperatures too, so more frequent oil changes can fit in with that for low or average mileage drivers. 

The quality of the oil plays a big part as well.  A good quality oil will retain its lubricating properties far better than some of the cheap bargain-basement types.   FOr the cheap oils, more frequent changes are probably a good idea. 

While 3000 miles might be a little too frequent for the U.K., I wouldn't let it go to 10,000.   I'd say that somewhere in between is probably about right for average usage.

One other question, for car insurance purposes how accurate must one be when giving the insurance company the estimated mileage per year? 

My current policy is based upon a low-ish estimated mileage, but nobody has ever asked for an odometer reading.