What is your car's monthly cost of ownership?

automowheels · 15th May 2023, 14:30

Thought it'd be interesting to learn from fellow BHPians about how their car's monthly cost of ownership looks like. Getting this number is far from straightforward- you will need to add up your car's on-road price, interest paid (if applicable), projected and actual service cost over the car's expected tenure with you, repairs, repainting, et al. If there are any insurance recoveries, please remember to deduct that from this figure. While we're at deductions, you will also need to deduct the expected resale value of the car. Eventually, you may divide this net cost by the number of months you are likely to keep the car with you since purchase. To keep it simple, let's not add fuel expenses to this since that may vary significantly based on usage.

Illustrating this with an example:

Total expected usage tenure= 8 years

Cost of car: Rs. 8,00,000
Cumulative loan interest: Rs. 1,50,000
Average service charge per year: Rs. 6,000
Repainting & touch-up: Rs. 15,000
Tire change= Rs. 12,000
Battery change= Rs. 6,000

Resale after 8 years= Rs. 4,00,000

Total cost of ownership (TCO)= 8,00,000+1,50,000+(6000*8)+15000+12000+6000= Rs. 10,31,000

Net cost of ownership (NCO)= TCO- Resale=10,31,000-4,00,000= Rs. 6,31,000

Monthly cost of ownership = NCO/(8*12)= 6,31,000/96=Rs. 6,573

Getting to this figure was very insightful for me. Hope it is for you as well.

MyLife_MyCar · 15th May 2023, 22:26

Quote:

Originally Posted by automowheels

Monthly cost of ownership = NCO/(8*12)= 6,31,000/96=Rs. 6,573

Shouldn't you consider the fuel cost and average of the car? It is one of the significant factors in total ownership cost.

greenhorn · 15th May 2023, 22:50

I did this to determine when would be the time I would sell my car off sometime in 2012 vs a new figo. I found that the benchmark then was around 40K annually , and put that as the upper cutoff for my indica. While it's dangerously close, its averaged slightly below for the past 10 years.
My etios is even less, probably 20K/year

both cars run only a few K Kms a year as I'm mostly WFH.

ashis89 · 15th May 2023, 22:58

Quote:

Originally Posted by automowheels

Total expected usage tenure= 8 years

Cost of car: Rs. 8,00,000
Cumulative loan interest: Rs. 1,50,000
Average service charge per year: Rs. 6,000
Repainting & touch-up: Rs. 15,000
Tire change= Rs. 12,000
Battery change= Rs. 6,000

Resale after 8 years= Rs. 4,00,000

Total cost of ownership (TCO)= 8,00,000+1,50,000+(6000*8)+15000+12000+6000= Rs. 10,31,000

Net cost of ownership (NCO)= TCO- Resale=10,31,000-4,00,000= Rs. 6,31,000

Monthly cost of ownership = NCO/(8*12)= 6,31,000/96=Rs. 6,573

Getting to this figure was very insightful for me. Hope it is for you as well.

Insurance, car cleaning, accessories, etc. all that will be extra. And mentioned above, fuel is another major component. Lastly, average service costs can go up when you replace brake pads, discs, clutch, filters etc.

8 years down the line, it's difficult to predict the car market and hence, the resale value.

GTO · 16th May 2023, 08:43

Don't forget depreciation, guys! That is the silent killer. But to keep things simple, let's focus on the obvious ones.

Thar Petrol AT

Fuel cost / month = 5,000. @ 6 kmpl, it is a guzzler
Insurance cost = 5,000 (averaged of 60k a year)
Maintenance = 500. Still in warranty and I expect the annual services to average at 6k over 5 years
Cleaning = 600
Detailing = 1500. I get all my cars detailed every 6 months, at approximately 9 - 10k per session

No EMI as the car was bought outright

Total = 12,600 each month

530d M-Sport

Fuel cost = 3000
Insurance cost = 5000. Still have zero-dep on a 10-year old car
Maintenance = 10,000. The annual average since ownership has been between 1 - 1.5 lakhs a year
Cleaning = 600
Detailing = 2000. Costs approximately 12 - 14k for each bi-annual session.

No EMI

Total = 20,600 each month

Not including tyres here which wear out every 20,000 km and cost 70 - 80k for a set of 4. My running is very less due to all the review cars I have to test-drive.

automowheels · 16th May 2023, 09:00

Quote:

Originally Posted by MyLife_MyCar

Shouldn't you consider the fuel cost and average of the car? It is one of the significant factors in total ownership cost.

Quote:

Originally Posted by ashis89

Insurance, car cleaning, accessories, etc. all that will be extra. And mentioned above, fuel is another major component. Lastly, average service costs can go up when you replace brake pads, discs, clutch, filters etc.

8 years down the line, it's difficult to predict the car market and hence, the resale value.

For a given car make & model, your service/maintenance cost will more or less be the same. Sure, depending on your usage, wear and tear of certain components may entail higher costs, but it won't vary immensely. Depending on your past service history and quotes from your ASS, you may project these service costs. Fuel, on the other hand, can vary widely based on usage, and for the same make & model, you may have hugely different TCO numbers. Hence, thought of excluding this for simplicity's sake. That said, I agree that the TRUE TCO can only be arrived at with fuel numbers included.

Bibendum90949 · 16th May 2023, 09:08

I'm not interested in playing this game. Thanks

@automowheels, You don't like me getting good sleep?

condor · 16th May 2023, 09:53

Including fuel, insurance, maintenance, & routine replacements including tyres - the average spend for my Storme does touch 18-20k a month. Fuel itself comes to about 45% of this.

androdev · 16th May 2023, 10:07

I prefer to look at percentage terms instead of absolute numbers. I believe some ownership costs like insurance, schedule service, depreciation, cost of taking a loan, etc. can be expressed in simple percentage terms of the total cost of the car.

Insurance + scheduled service:
0.25-0.3 % per month (3-4% per year). Initially insurance cost will be high, later on service cost will be higher but the total cost can be considered as a constant. Owning a 10 Lakh car will result in Rs 2.5-3K per month for insurance and service. The same would be 25-30K for a 1cr car.

Depreciation cost:
1-2% per month depending on the model, resale value and duration of ownership. If you keep the vehicle for 15 years, this can be as low as 0.5% per month. The cost of buying a new Honda City every 2 years would not be very different from buying a high end luxury car every 15 years.

Other costs like fuel and repair costs totally depend on nature of usage and luck.

Affordability can be judged by looking at 2% of the cost of the new car as your monthly outgo - if that's a comfortable amount you are willing to spend every month, then you can consider the car to be within affordability limit.

ashis89 · 16th May 2023, 10:16

Costs apportioned per month:

Car: Seltos D MT
Fuel: 9000
Insurance: 2000
Maintenance: 6000 (includes tyres, accessories, suspension, clutch, brakes, etc @50k per year)
Cleaning: 500 (I clean it myself, with a water wash whenever necessary)

No interest costs and I am excluding depreciation in the calculation

TCO: 17-18k per month

diwakarmuthu · 16th May 2023, 10:23

I don't know if this would be applicable to my car. I am about to enter its 14th year of ownership. I intend to keep the car for at least one more year before I think about change.

Mahindra Scorpio LX 2010

Fuel cost / month = 4000, averaging at 500 kms a month as I drive very little during week days
Insurance cost = 1000 (averaged of 12k a year)
Maintenance = 1500 (Covers general oil change, consumables and other maintenance)
Cleaning = 500
Paint touch up / Tinkering - Have seen the need for the last 3-5 years. Rust issues have come up and the quality of the paint has gone bad too. A proper job would cost me approx 50-75k, hence am not considering it

No EMI, I bought the car paying the cost upfront

Total = 7000 each month

Mi10 · 16th May 2023, 11:00

Car: Ignis AMT
Year: 2020

Fuel cost / month: 2200 (11k in 33 months)
Insurance cost / month: 800
Maintenance/ month: 400 (~13000 over 33 months just on consumables).
Cleaning / month: self cleaning
Detailing/month: 300 (once in 3 years at cost of ~12000)
EMI: None

Total = 3,700 each month

fiat_tarun · 16th May 2023, 12:15

Since I log almost all car expenses into an app, I have very detailed statistics! My average monthly spend over the past 4.5 years is ~₹9,500 which includes fuel, service, tyres, insurance, remap and the major detailing sessions.

aargee · 16th May 2023, 13:18

Detailed to the dot. Considering we've driven about 25 Km (Twenty Five Km) this year & hardly about 5000 Km last year, we've been pondering to sell the car. But then for the resale value it fetches, it's impossible to get a similar car compels us to retain.

What is your car's monthly cost of ownership?-a1.jpg

JoshMachine · 16th May 2023, 15:07

Audi A4

I would say over the lifespan of a car, there are some regular (fuel, insurance, EMI, general maintenance, cleaning/detailing etc.) costs and there are non-regular costs per year (tyre, battery, breakdown etc.)

Not factoring in depreciation and resale (very subjective).

Regular costs averaged out & rounded per month for this year:-
* Fuel - 11,500 (travel a lot, with 13 kmpl)
* General maintenance - 0 (full coverage service pack, received FoC)
* Cleaning / detailing - 600 (AMC)
* Insurance - 5000 (avg of 60k per annum, 2nd yr)
* EMI - 35,000 (reducing monthly)

TOTAL ~51-52,000

Hyundai EON

Wifey's.

Regular costs:-
* Fuel - 6000
* General maintenance - 1000
* Insurance - 400
* Cleaning / detailing - 500
* EMI - 0

TOTAL ~8,000

Spent about 30k for tyres till date and battery 15k.

View Poll Results: How much is your monthly cost of ownership?
Less than Rs. 5,000	72	34.12%
Between Rs. 5,000 to 15,000	83	39.34%
Between Rs. 15,000 to 30,000	27	12.80%
Above Rs. 30,000	29	13.74%
Voters: 211. You may not vote on this poll

15th May 2023, 14:30	#1
automowheels BHPian Join Date: Dec 2021 Location: BLR/GAU Posts: 185 Thanked: 281 Times View My Garage	What is your car's monthly cost of ownership? Thought it'd be interesting to learn from fellow BHPians about how their car's monthly cost of ownership looks like. Getting this number is far from straightforward- you will need to add up your car's on-road price, interest paid (if applicable), projected and actual service cost over the car's expected tenure with you, repairs, repainting, et al. If there are any insurance recoveries, please remember to deduct that from this figure. While we're at deductions, you will also need to deduct the expected resale value of the car. Eventually, you may divide this net cost by the number of months you are likely to keep the car with you since purchase. To keep it simple, let's not add fuel expenses to this since that may vary significantly based on usage. Illustrating this with an example: Total expected usage tenure= 8 years Cost of car: Rs. 8,00,000 Cumulative loan interest: Rs. 1,50,000 Average service charge per year: Rs. 6,000 Repainting & touch-up: Rs. 15,000 Tire change= Rs. 12,000 Battery change= Rs. 6,000 Resale after 8 years= Rs. 4,00,000 Total cost of ownership (TCO)= 8,00,000+1,50,000+(60008)+15000+12000+6000= Rs. 10,31,000 Net cost of ownership (NCO)= TCO- Resale=10,31,000-4,00,000= Rs. 6,31,000 Monthly cost of ownership* = NCO/(8*12)= 6,31,000/96=Rs. 6,573 Getting to this figure was very insightful for me. Hope it is for you as well.
	(7) Thanks

15th May 2023, 22:50	#3
greenhorn Senior - BHPian Join Date: Apr 2007 Location: KL-01 Posts: 7,744 Thanked: 4,387 Times View My Garage	re: What is your car's monthly cost of ownership? I did this to determine when would be the time I would sell my car off sometime in 2012 vs a new figo. I found that the benchmark then was around 40K annually , and put that as the upper cutoff for my indica. While it's dangerously close, its averaged slightly below for the past 10 years. My etios is even less, probably 20K/year both cars run only a few K Kms a year as I'm mostly WFH.
	() Thanks

16th May 2023, 08:43	#5
GTO Team-BHP Support Join Date: Feb 2004 Location: Bombay Posts: 70,492 Thanked: 300,289 Times View My Garage	Re: What is your car's monthly cost of ownership? Don't forget depreciation, guys! That is the silent killer. But to keep things simple, let's focus on the obvious ones. Thar Petrol AT Fuel cost / month = 5,000. @ 6 kmpl, it is a guzzler Insurance cost = 5,000 (averaged of 60k a year) Maintenance = 500. Still in warranty and I expect the annual services to average at 6k over 5 years Cleaning = 600 Detailing = 1500. I get all my cars detailed every 6 months, at approximately 9 - 10k per session No EMI as the car was bought outright Total = 12,600 each month 530d M-Sport Fuel cost = 3000 Insurance cost = 5000. Still have zero-dep on a 10-year old car Maintenance = 10,000. The annual average since ownership has been between 1 - 1.5 lakhs a year Cleaning = 600 Detailing = 2000. Costs approximately 12 - 14k for each bi-annual session. No EMI Total = 20,600 each month Not including tyres here which wear out every 20,000 km and cost 70 - 80k for a set of 4. My running is very less due to all the review cars I have to test-drive.
	(15) Thanks

16th May 2023, 09:08	#7
Bibendum90949 Senior - BHPian Join Date: Mar 2020 Location: Blr/Kochi/Wynd Posts: 1,420 Thanked: 6,899 Times	Re: What is your car's monthly cost of ownership? I'm not interested in playing this game. Thanks @automowheels, You don't like me getting good sleep? Last edited by Bibendum90949 : 16th May 2023 at 09:12.
	(18) Thanks

16th May 2023, 09:53	#8
condor Distinguished - BHPian Join Date: Jun 2006 Location: Speed-brkr City Posts: 15,863 Thanked: 16,006 Times View My Garage	Re: What is your car's monthly cost of ownership? Including fuel, insurance, maintenance, & routine replacements including tyres - the average spend for my Storme does touch 18-20k a month. Fuel itself comes to about 45% of this.
	() Thanks

16th May 2023, 10:07	#9
androdev Distinguished - BHPian Join Date: May 2007 Location: bangalore Posts: 3,089 Thanked: 22,007 Times	Re: What is your car's monthly cost of ownership? I prefer to look at percentage terms instead of absolute numbers. I believe some ownership costs like insurance, schedule service, depreciation, cost of taking a loan, etc. can be expressed in simple percentage terms of the total cost of the car. Insurance + scheduled service: 0.25-0.3 % per month (3-4% per year). Initially insurance cost will be high, later on service cost will be higher but the total cost can be considered as a constant. Owning a 10 Lakh car will result in Rs 2.5-3K per month for insurance and service. The same would be 25-30K for a 1cr car. Depreciation cost: 1-2% per month depending on the model, resale value and duration of ownership. If you keep the vehicle for 15 years, this can be as low as 0.5% per month. The cost of buying a new Honda City every 2 years would not be very different from buying a high end luxury car every 15 years. Other costs like fuel and repair costs totally depend on nature of usage and luck. Affordability can be judged by looking at 2% of the cost of the new car as your monthly outgo - if that's a comfortable amount you are willing to spend every month, then you can consider the car to be within affordability limit.
	(5) Thanks

16th May 2023, 10:16	#10
ashis89 Distinguished - BHPian Join Date: Aug 2011 Location: Bengaluru Posts: 3,458 Thanked: 10,878 Times View My Garage	Re: What is your car's monthly cost of ownership? Costs apportioned per month: Car: Seltos D MT Fuel: 9000 Insurance: 2000 Maintenance: 6000 (includes tyres, accessories, suspension, clutch, brakes, etc @50k per year) Cleaning: 500 (I clean it myself, with a water wash whenever necessary) No interest costs and I am excluding depreciation in the calculation TCO: 17-18k per month Last edited by ashis89 : 16th May 2023 at 10:19.
	(1) Thanks

16th May 2023, 10:23	#11
diwakarmuthu BHPian Join Date: Jun 2009 Location: KA, TN Posts: 358 Thanked: 283 Times	Re: What is your car's monthly cost of ownership? I don't know if this would be applicable to my car. I am about to enter its 14th year of ownership. I intend to keep the car for at least one more year before I think about change. Mahindra Scorpio LX 2010 Fuel cost / month = 4000, averaging at 500 kms a month as I drive very little during week days Insurance cost = 1000 (averaged of 12k a year) Maintenance = 1500 (Covers general oil change, consumables and other maintenance) Cleaning = 500 Paint touch up / Tinkering - Have seen the need for the last 3-5 years. Rust issues have come up and the quality of the paint has gone bad too. A proper job would cost me approx 50-75k, hence am not considering it No EMI, I bought the car paying the cost upfront Total = 7000 each month
	(2) Thanks

16th May 2023, 11:00	#12
Mi10 Senior - BHPian Join Date: Aug 2009 Location: Chennai Posts: 1,169 Thanked: 3,268 Times View My Garage	Re: What is your car's monthly cost of ownership? Car: Ignis AMT Year: 2020 Fuel cost / month: 2200 (11k in 33 months) Insurance cost / month: 800 Maintenance/ month: 400 (~13000 over 33 months just on consumables). Cleaning / month: self cleaning Detailing/month: 300 (once in 3 years at cost of ~12000) EMI: None Total = 3,700 each month
	(3) Thanks

16th May 2023, 12:15	#13
fiat_tarun Senior - BHPian Join Date: Jan 2010 Location: Pune / Mysore Posts: 1,933 Thanked: 3,764 Times View My Garage	Re: What is your car's monthly cost of ownership? Since I log almost all car expenses into an app, I have very detailed statistics! My average monthly spend over the past 4.5 years is ~₹9,500 which includes fuel, service, tyres, insurance, remap and the major detailing sessions. Attached Thumbnails Last edited by fiat_tarun : 16th May 2023 at 12:25. Reason: Cropped the screenshot
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16th May 2023, 13:18	#14
aargee Senior - BHPian Join Date: Jan 2010 Location: TSTN Posts: 6,233 Thanked: 9,616 Times	Re: What is your car's monthly cost of ownership? Detailed to the dot. Considering we've driven about 25 Km (Twenty Five Km) this year & hardly about 5000 Km last year, we've been pondering to sell the car. But then for the resale value it fetches, it's impossible to get a similar car compels us to retain.
	(3) Thanks

16th May 2023, 15:07	#15
JoshMachine Senior - BHPian Join Date: Jan 2013 Location: Pune Posts: 1,248 Thanked: 6,071 Times	Re: What is your car's monthly cost of ownership? Audi A4 I would say over the lifespan of a car, there are some regular (fuel, insurance, EMI, general maintenance, cleaning/detailing etc.) costs and there are non-regular costs per year (tyre, battery, breakdown etc.) Not factoring in depreciation and resale (very subjective). Regular costs averaged out & rounded per month for this year:- * Fuel - 11,500 (travel a lot, with 13 kmpl) * General maintenance - 0 (full coverage service pack, received FoC) * Cleaning / detailing - 600 (AMC) * Insurance - 5000 (avg of 60k per annum, 2nd yr) * EMI - 35,000 (reducing monthly) TOTAL ~51-52,000 Hyundai EON Wifey's. Regular costs:- * Fuel - 6000 * General maintenance - 1000 * Insurance - 400 * Cleaning / detailing - 500 * EMI - 0 TOTAL ~8,000 Spent about 30k for tyres till date and battery 15k.
	(2) Thanks