Financial cost of personal mobility

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I was just thinking that we've done a million miles and change of driving over the past thirty years.
I then thought about just how much this has cost us.
We've never had much in the way of repair cost with any of our vehicles, since I do most of the work myself and not much has actually broken in our daily drivers over that time, so this isn't much of a factor.
Given that for the first half of that period, we were driving far less expensive cars and were also paying far less in nominal dollars for fuel, I'm going to estimate that we've spent the better part of $180K on personal transportation.
There is an obvious convenience factor in having a car outside of a very dense urban area and like most people I can't see how either my wife or I would get to work without driving.
Still, ~$180K would have paid for lots of cab rides and weekend car rentals and even though this represents a fairly small fraction of our discretionary income over that time, it's still a sobering total.
Do the math yourself and even if you drive beaters, which do feature higher repair costs, I think you'll be surprised at just how much you spend on driving.
 
I to see a future in ride subscription service with driverless or driver cars.

It will be amazing if this happens as instead of parking lots and parking up close it will just be drop off area and real estate dedicated to walking between places. Parking lots far away.
 
The freedom aspect is priceless to me. I don't think I could live a life where my transportation ability was determined by cabs, buses, train schedules, or the good graces of friends.

I think there was a time when communities were more tight knit and public transportation wasn't a risk, but nowadays we're all so polarized in our ways and opinions and pleasantries are just not a thing. So you can factor in the safety aspect of your own mobility.
 
The freedom of being able to go when and where you want to is worth it, especially for those that don't live in urban areas. Having to wait for taxis, buses, trains, etc. gets old fast. Only spending $6k per year for gas, insurance, payments and maintenance for assuming 2 vehicles is cheap.
 
I often wonder the same when I see posts on here from people worrying about what oil to use for their car they only drive
Many millennial don't care about car ownership. They use uber and enjoy the freedom of no car payments or insurance or repair/maintenance costs.
 
First off: Fuel is always the biggest expense, often greater then the depreciation of the vehicle.

I worked it out a while back; my 1993 Ford Ranger that I paid $6000 for and drove for 21 years cost only $285 a year (plus, I still have it. If I sold it, that $ amount goes down even further)

As far as maintenance and repairs..... almost nothing.
Maybe a dozen or so tires and a few batteries would be the biggest expenses.

The key to doing ALL OF THIS economically (personal mobility) is this:

1) Never buy new, always lightly used
2) Buy a vehicle that gets good mileage and doesn't cost much to maintain
3) Keep the vehicle forever
 
Horses for courses...my wife and I couldn't get to work without cars.

She can't car pool, and my hours don't mesh with car pooling either, being the resident "here's a disaster/deadline, and you're it" guy.

Wife had a friend on welfare whose car was literlly driving her into the ground. We did a budget for her on ditching the car, and walking (Lithgow is small enough to do that), or taxi, saving thousands a year...she wouldn't budge, as she "needed" a car, for largely indeterminant reasons...which I really do understand.

Cost of transport hit home first year out of University. Living in Canberra, working at Yass, a girlfriend in Sydney, and after that, one in Melbourne...I was doing my tax return and realised I'd earned more than ever before, but had made no progress on savings...then checked my logbook, and saw how much I'd pumped through that car...plus the fun times being had at the other end of the road for sure.
 
I would imagine that lots of people here at BITOG are lower than average for vehicle ownership costs because of the level of OCD shared by many here, frugality, maintenance awareness, diy repairs, etc.. And I bet that there are lots of people way over the average due to poor maintenance, financial problems, etc..

The link below shows the average cost of 25 years from 1990 to 2015 to be $193K dollars. We don't have the OP's other data to compare (no. of years, etc.). Lots of people drive a LOT more than 15,000 miles per year shown in the link.

https://www.rita.dot.gov/bts/sites/rita....able_03_17.html

Interesting stuff.
 
Uber is 1.55 / mile. By your own account you drove over 1million miles over 30 years. That wouls have cost you 1.5mil instead of 180k. Be happy.
 
I drive my personal car very little, about 5K miles a year. Company car is around 15K miles a year.

Even if all was out of pocket expenses, it wouldn't be that much per mile or year.
 
Cars were/and are a hobby. One that started in the 1960's for me. I'd spend money on a car even if I only drove it to town once a week. Same for boats, mororcycles and 4x4's.

Both cars (trucks) and boats have been paying sources of income (wrenching, driving, maintaining) at various points in life. And I always buy well used cars and trucks - usually over 100,000 miles when I'll consider one ... Commercial trucks have to be closer to 500,000 before they are of interest ...

So mobility has been a big part of my life. I can see it as less so for other folks. Maybe the future will be different ...
 
Good transit options don't exist for most commuters, so car ownership is typically the only practical mode.
If we lived in NYC, we could likely go wherever we needed to using the electric sewer, but that is a unique option and most cities offer nothing close to it.
We also have highly disparate commuting patterns these days with entire suburbs and exurbs built around car ownership, so the hopes of those who would promote transit are wishful thinking at best.
We are currently married to the motorcar as a means of getting to work, shopping, entertainment and vacation destinations. Every plane ride begins with a drive to the airport.
Not complaining in that car ownership offers employment and leisure options not otherwise available.
It ain't cheap although it's obviously affordable.
People with a whole lot less income than probably anyone here use and rely upon cars, after all. It's also far cheaper to own and run one here than it is in Canada and let's not even mention the EU.
I'm not really complaining, I'm just a bit surprised at how the costs have added up over the years.
 
Originally Posted By: Linctex
The key to doing ALL OF THIS economically (personal mobility) is this:

1) Never buy new, always lightly used
2) Buy a vehicle that gets good mileage and doesn't cost much to maintain
3) Keep the vehicle forever



Good advice. Add to that keep up with the preventative maintenance and either do it yourself or find someone who does it right.
 
Electric sewer? That’s a classic
wink.gif

We don’t even have taxi service ... and don’t know about these other means ‘cause I’m not doing that ...
Vehicle ownership carries a hefty fee I’m willing to pay ...
 
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Originally Posted By: doitmyself
I would imagine that lots of people here at BITOG are lower than average for vehicle ownership costs because of the level of OCD shared by many here, frugality, maintenance awareness, diy repairs, etc.. And I bet that there are lots of people way over the average due to poor maintenance, financial problems, etc..

The link below shows the average cost of 25 years from 1990 to 2015 to be $193K dollars. We don't have the OP's other data to compare (no. of years, etc.). Lots of people drive a LOT more than 15,000 miles per year shown in the link.

https://www.rita.dot.gov/bts/sites/rita....able_03_17.html

Interesting stuff.


Very interesting.

For context, inflation over the 1975-2015 period was a total of 340%.

As you can see, it is the fixed costs that make up the most expensive portion of car ownership. They are 74%.

As everyone knows, the biggest way to control that and therefore the cost of car ownership is to not buy cars new and to keep them longer.
 
There have been a number of posts showing that buying used saves nothing over buying new since the lower acquisition cost is typically made up for in more immediate need for maintenance and repair.
I've bought both new and used and have not typically found buying new to be any more costly over the lifecycle of a car if you run the car for its entire practical lifespan and then sell it as a beater. A used car is much farther along the path to beaterdom than is one bought new and with a new car you control maintenance and know its history from day 1 which will never be the case with one bought used.
If you want to own something you couldn't have afforded new or that you'd have considered simply too extravagant, like the guy on here who bought a used E class with all the toys for pennies on the new dollar, then that's a different story.
 
Yeah but if you buy well used you "know what to look for" thanks to those who ponied up the big bucks for dealer diagnostics.

The price of a lower control arm for saturns kept dropping over my decade tenure of owning them. I don't think this is isolated-- there are way more parts options for 10-15 year old cars.

And youtube videos on how to fix anything.
laugh.gif
 
Originally Posted By: eljefino
Yeah but if you buy well used you "know what to look for" thanks to those who ponied up the big bucks for dealer diagnostics.

The price of a lower control arm for saturns kept dropping over my decade tenure of owning them. I don't think this is isolated-- there are way more parts options for 10-15 year old cars.

And youtube videos on how to fix anything.
laugh.gif



Well sure, if you're willing to drive something suited to the clients of the Southern Poverty Law Center and are willing and able to wrench it on a routine basis, then you can indeed drive something really cheap really cheaply.
My willingness to do so ended about thirty years ago, but YMMV.
 
Originally Posted By: fdcg27
There have been a number of posts showing that buying used saves nothing over buying new since the lower acquisition cost is typically made up for in more immediate need for maintenance and repair.
I've bought both new and used and have not typically found buying new to be any more costly over the lifecycle of a car if you run the car for its entire practical lifespan and then sell it as a beater. A used car is much farther along the path to beaterdom than is one bought new and with a new car you control maintenance and know its history from day 1 which will never be the case with one bought used.
If you want to own something you couldn't have afforded new or that you'd have considered simply too extravagant, like the guy on here who bought a used E class with all the toys for pennies on the new dollar, then that's a different story.


I'm not sure where those posts saying buying used saves nothing are. Even the previous car I had, I got used at about 40% of the new car price. It was 3 years old and I drove it for 12 years. I don't think I spent anywhere near 60% of the purchase price in the last 3 years or even over the life of the car.
 
Yep, cars burn up money... Especially up here where gas isn't cheap.
$60k per decade for 2 cars is pretty good really.
Per decade for 2 cars;
Our insurance alone is $11k, and that's without collision, but maxed for personal injuries.
Registration $1.5k
Gas for 30k miles a year is $50k
Then the actual cars are probably around $40k in depreciation and maintenance.

You can see why all the guys like Mr Money Mustache recommend cutting back to one car and not planning on using it much!

I think we are going to end up with a 2015+ Outback and a something like a Prius to cut our fuel bills significantly while having some tow capacity and AWD.
 
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