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The Most and Least Expensive Cars to Maintain
The most expensive thing most Americans own, after their house, is their car. On average, Americans spend 5% of their income on purchasing a car. Another 5% goes towards ongoing maintenance and insurance costs.
But not every car costs the same to keep it running. And different cars have varying risks of leaving their drivers suddenly immobilized.
At YourMechanic, we have a massive dataset of the make and model of the cars we have serviced and the type of maintenance done. We decided to use our data to understand which cars break down the most and have the highest maintenance costs. We also looked into which types of maintenance are most common to certain cars.
Which Car Brands Cost the Most to Maintain?
Based on estimates of total car maintenance over 10 years
Rank Car-Brand Cost 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 Dodge $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 Scion $6,400 30 Toyota $5,500
What has been your experience in this regard ?
(Score: 1) by Sulla on Monday July 13 2020, @03:46PM (1 child)
1986 Vanagon - Grandpa bought this new, in 34 years and 800k miles it has gone through three sets of tires, one engines, one transmission, and odd repairs here and there (fuel line likes to rot out). Since it was passed down to me in '09 I have put 4k into it to keep it running, but is currently dead in my driveway until I put engine #3 into it and replace the radiator and the fuel lines (again).
1996 Explorer - Had this from '10-13 from 130-190k miles. Still had all of its original parts so I doubt it cost the original owner much money. Ended up making money on this vehicle. Bought it for 1500, was totaled and I was sent a check for 4000, sold it back to the dealership for 1500. Probably had to spend 500 on it in small repairs while I had it, so made me 3500.
2012 Caravan - Owned since 2014 and 40k miles with no prior issues. Other than general everything on it being absolute shit and low quality has worked okay since then. Engine is starting to give me trouble and the transmission is showing signs of future issues. Almost caught fire because the seat controls rub against metal and short out causing a bunch of parts to melt and the carpet to get singed. Repaired the faulty wiring and made sure it can't happen again, but need to get rid of it. In these 6 years has cost me less than $100 in repairs.
2013 F150 - Bought new, now at 70k miles. Zero issues or repairs needed.
2016 F150 - Bought new, now at 50k miles. The stock shocks were absolute shit and had to buy new ones. Other than the $60 to replace those I have had zero issues in these four years.
Ceterum censeo Sinae esse delendam
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Tuesday July 14 2020, @03:59AM
> 1986 Vanagon - Grandpa bought this new, in 34 years and 800k miles it has gone through three sets of tires
I call BS on this. Nobody gets 266K miles on a set of tires. Or if you meant the tires were replaced 3 times (4 sets including the original), that would still be 200K miles/set of tires, not bloody likely.
If it's really 800K miles, then maybe 13 sets of tires would be more likely.