SO WHAT DOES IT ACTUALLY COST

davy83

Member
Messages
2,823
i managed to dodge the depreciation trap by buying a car with many problems which had not been cared for, the owners wife would have taken anything to get rid of it, and its worth now more or less what I paid for it 17 years ago. I also don't think you can lump insurance and fuel into the mix as you would have been driving something. Same with tyres and brakes any car uses tyres and brakes up. Except of course my i3 which mostly slows down with regen braking and does not seem to need brake pads :cool:
 

williamsmix

Member
Messages
574
Yes … one thing that hasn’t been considered here is the “opportunity cost of capital”. I think we’ve forgotten about this because money has been very cheap to borrow for the last 15 years and the concept of saving to get meaningful interest was lost. However, a 5 - 6% risk free rate of return is now there to be had, and if you sink your money into a car you kiss that goodbye … With interest rates likely to stay up around long term norms, it’s something to at least be aware of and ought to be considered when looking at ownership costs. Just on my very modest £12k car it’s cost me approximately an additional 20p a mile …
 
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gb-gta

Member
Messages
1,139
You're over-thinking things! - Just what have you spent on keeping the car going, excluding depreciation, fuel, car tax, MOT, insurance etc!

Eb
Yes, man maths relies on not including potential lost investment earnings.
This is one of the arguments car leasing enthusiasts use over buy outright enthusiasts.

20 years ago if I’d have invested 200k in gold rather than a house to live in I’d have 1.6 million now. But I would have been living in a tent for 20 years as I’d have had no house.
 

Ewan

Member
Messages
6,815
As a quick non-Maserati comparison, my 911 (a 997.2 coupe from 2011) has cost £2280 in maintenance over the last 12 months, and I've covered 2100 miles in that time. That's £1.08 per mile.
That is purely for repairs, so does not include costs such as fuel (estimate £650), insurance (estimate £300), MOT (£50) and tax (£360). If I add those in, it becomes £1.73 per mile.
And given I have other cars, and the Porsche is purely an extra toy, I can't really use the "I have to drive something, so these costs don't count" argument. Hence they do need to be added in to the whole ownership cost equation.
Looking at values, asking prices have not changed at all over this time, so I'm ignoring the topic of depreciation. (Man maths!)

So, £1.73 per mile.
I'd imagine this is comparable to a Maser GS, GT or QP, driven over a similar distance and time frame.

As for 2024, it's booked in for a major service in February (at £1200) and will need new front tyres soon afterwards (estimate £400). And some paintwork (I'll guess at £1000). Consequently I'm assuming next year will be very similar to this year.

What I'm not going to do now is sit down and go through all the files of all the other cars. No good could come of that!
 

Ewan

Member
Messages
6,815
Yes, man maths relies on not including potential lost investment earnings.
This is one of the arguments car leasing enthusiasts use over buy outright enthusiasts.

20 years ago if I’d have invested 200k in gold rather than a house to live in I’d have 1.6 million now. But I would have been living in a tent for 20 years as I’d have had no house.
Though the car leasing enthusiasts would have to pay tax on any possible investment earnings. Did they account for that? Plus investments can down down as well as up! (Even gold.)

Doubtless the house has gone up nicely over the last 20 years, and that's tax free. Hurray! (Well, until you die, when the children have to sell it to pay the Inheritance Tax bill. Boo.)
 

Ebenezer

Member
Messages
4,506
Though the car leasing enthusiasts would have to pay tax on any possible investment earnings. Did they account for that? Plus investments can down down as well as up! (Even gold.)

Doubtless the house has gone up nicely over the last 20 years, and that's tax free. Hurray! (Well, until you die, when the children have to sell it to pay the Inheritance Tax bill. Boo.)
Tik tok tells me you should put it in a trust
Eb
 

Ewan

Member
Messages
6,815
To help us all understand/compare, what car is this for?

Tax of £1019 seems a lot. From memory, my “worst” car is about £600 in road tax.
 
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will-w

Member
Messages
208
To help us all understand/compare, what car is this for?

Tax of £1019 seems a lot. From memory, my “worst” car is about £600 in road tax.
Ah yes, just noticed I’m in the 3200 section… That’s for a 2013 GT Sport. I’ll get my coat
 

williamsmix

Member
Messages
574
The 456 was £170k new. Then at its lowest, dipped to £30k. So that’s lots of depreciation for any owners during that financial journey. Plus all the usual running costs.

Makes you wonder if spending circa £180k on a new Maser GT is a wise idea?! You’ll not find me queuing up to do it!
I think it’s all about perception … for Maserati’s target customers £180k probably feels like £18k does to the rest of us(?)! To me it feels like a sum I ought to invest for a financial return, so obviously not in a car. LOL!
 
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SE_123

Member
Messages
416
If you include everything and what I could probably sell for now I'm at about £6.80 per mile.

Still a good smile per mile ratio

:yeah:
 

Gooner

Member
Messages
447
Useful info here, I’m in a similar range of cost per mile on my 2002 Spyder. No really big bills so far but on the other hand my mileage is low these days.

Mind you, thanks to ULEZ my last journey to have a newish tyre reseated cost £12.50 for a half mile round trip, which is £25 per mile, so I might have to rethink it

Joking aside, for a rare 20 year old high performance car I reckon that is quite good.
 

spkennyuk

Member
Messages
5,963
View attachment 120931

Cheap as chips… But worth every penny!

Don't forget the dinners and gifts for the wife so they don't complain too much about the runnings costs of said car ! ;)

The thing is with these cars is a lot are in the 10 to 20 year old bracket or quickly approaching it. Many will do sub 5k miles per year but the bushes and perishable parts are showing their age and need refreshing pushing up the costs per mile.

The only way to work out the true figure is from start of your ownership to end of your ownership and that figure only applies to your car. If you change the clutch 12 months before you sell then the next person has a easy run on clutch costs barring total failure.

Detailing imho opinion should not be included in running costs as its a personal choice to pay somebody to do it for you and you dont include trips to the carwash as a running cost on say a ford focus.

You can't put a price on the smiles per mile.