Lifetime spending on cars

[sdkrc]

Was making a list of cars I've owned and thought I'd try work out how much I'd spent. Obviously this just accounts for purchase price and doesn't account for any selling, insurance, repairs etc. 

Lifetime total = £58k

This is for 12yrs of trouble-free* motoring. Reckon I've splooged £15k down the drain once accounting for cars sold. Not awful. 

Any spreadsheet wankers out there know how much they've spent on cars? And should you have just bought a new Mondeo and not bothered with all the shite and hassle?

Thanks for coming to my TED talk

[Bradders59]

I might actually be able to remember how much I paid for my daily drivers since 1978.

HB Viva £70.    7 years old.                                                        Scrapped.

Avenger 1500 £500.    5 years old                                         Scrapped got £25 for it.

Chevette HS £5000    6 months old.                                     Sold for £2300.                      

Mk1 Capri 1600 GT £350.   10 years old.                         Scrapped. got £25 for it.

Vauxhall Viceroy £1000  (I think).      8 years old.          Sold for £60.

Sierra 2.0 GL. £3500 .  3 years old.                                        Scrapped.

Senator 3.0  24v.   £2000.    10 years old.                           Scrapped.

Omega 2.5 V6.     £1200.     8 years old.                                Sold for £350.

Omega 2.5 V6 Facelift. LPG. £800.    10 years old.       Sold for £ 350.

Omega 3.2 V6.  £560.    14 years old.                                    Still own.

EDIT. Forgot this one.  Mercedes 190D. £350   28 years old.   Sold for £350.

Clio 1.5 DCi         £800     10 years old.                                  Scrapped. got £300           

Boxster 2.5.         £1900    20 years old.                                Sold for £2500.

Citroen C1.           £1000    15 years old.                               Still own.                

A bit sad & weird to remember that    stuff I suppose. 

 

Quick add up in my head (so probably wrong) totals £18830. Not that much over the course of 47 years.

Still have the Omega 3.2 and the C1. Total return on the others was around £6300 so down  around £12500 on purchases over the years, which is a lot less than many (most ?) people spend on a single car purchase.

Ive never thought about any of this before, so its been an interesting and quite pleasing exercise.

Thankfully, theres no chance of remembering or finding out how much Ive spent on parts over the years.

Ive kept count with the Omega and Ive spent around £3000 on that over the last eight years.

Still cheap motoring whichever way you look at it.

[warren t claim]

Mine is a hell of a lot less than what women have cost me.

[Bear]

I worked out I'd hit six figures quite some time ago in losses  maintenance and leasing (roughly) and wanted a time machine to go back to 1996 and tell myself to just buy a new SLK and E-class 300 4Matic estate and a lot of waxoyl because it would be cheaper.

Bit I have had over 200 cars and paid ADHD tax many times without realising it.

[Metal Guru]

1982 Fiesta 1.1L new £3850 trade in £2850 net £1000

1984 Ford Orion 1.6GL new  £5450 trade in £1200 net £4250

1991 Ford Escort 1.6 LX (1989) £5500 trade in £2750 net £2750

1994 Ford Sierra 1.8TD LX. (1991) £5000 trade in £3000 net £2000

1995 Diahatsu Fourtrak 2.8 TDL new £16500 trade in £6000 net £10500

1996 Ford Mondeo 1.8 TD LX (1994) £6000 trade in £2900, net £3100

1998 Renault Laguna 1.9 dtL (1997) £8900 sold £6000, net £2900

2000 Jeep Cherokee 2.5TD Classic new £16500 sold £7600 net £8900

2004 Subaru Impreza WRX (new) £19500 net £19500 

2018 Mini Countryman 1.6 Cooper D All4 (2015) £13500 sold £4000 net £9500

2023 Mini Countryman Cooper S PHEV (2021) £25000 net £25000

Makes £89400 sounds a lot but over 40 years it’s about the same as a packet of fags a day.

However, doesn’t tell the whole story. The Impreza alone has had more than its purchase price spent on repairs and maintenance and my wife also had 5 company cars over the years.

[fatharris]

£11822 spent on 24 cars since 2008.

Most have been truly excellent

[Lord Sterling]

😮‍💨.... I'm clutching at straws to remember here....

'93 Vauxhall Astra Cesaro - £35

'89 Rover 827Si - £850

'95 Rover Sterling - £150

'90 Rover Sterling - £150

'87 Rover Sterling - £350

'87 Rover 820e - £300

'95 Mercedes E280 - £250

'02 Peugeot 406 - £150

'05 Vauxhall Zafira £300

'01 Jaguar XJ8 - £1600

'01 Vectra Estate V6 - £650

'02 Jaguar XJ8 - £1200

Total: £5985

Still cheaper than some of the cheapest brand-new buy-it-outright cars on the market currently.

This doesn't include cars I've had free, or swapped through deals etc...

Most of these cars have been great until they weren't. I've sold a few of them too so these can come off the purchase price I guess.

[Split_Pin]

All I know is that I buy a car, spend money on it and then sell it at a loss a short time later. Gr8 business model 😂

But ups and downs notwithstanding, I have lots of fun doing it so I never count it up.

Folk who aren't traders and say they've never lost money on a car have examples that are absolutely hanging.

[Supernaut]

I don't even want to know.

[Dyslexic Viking]

I have a list of cars I've owned but not what they've costed me. But I've kept track of the costs on my Mercedes and it's terrifying.

[wesacosa]

yes I keep a spreadsheet too

 

[cort16]

I really don't want to go there 😄

[Markeh]

I was given the Corsa and I gave it back, so that's 0.
Asterisk on the Sedici is that I actually swapped it for a laptop and paid for a tyre to be done on it... long story.
Asterisk on the 206 because me and a mate went halves
Maths on the newer stuff is just monthly payment * how long I had/am signed up to have it + deposit, not taking into account trade ins/positive equity (which explains why the J12 Qashqai was cheaper than the J11 - there was a bit more equity from the J11 and also less deposit)

0 on the sell = I traded it in and I am too lazy to do the proper maths.

[danthecapriman]

I have no idea and I’m not even going to try to add it up!😄

I don’t tend to go through cars quickly though like some on here ( @HMC 🤣) so in that respect my spend is probably quite low, and I tend to buy cheaply. But, I keep the cars long term and spend considerably more on repair and upkeep. It’s more likely I’ll spend £lots on restoring a car than replacing it.

[Fat_Pirate]

I can't be bothered to calculate it, but I reckon I'd be pleasantly surprised - I very much enjoy the game of beating-the-system with cheap cars.  However, these extremely cheap lease deals on EV Pumas, etc, has me questioning whether I'm still actually winning.

[Imhotep]

This is gonna be a long list… Won’t include free cars though because the list would be even longer…

Vauxhall Corsa B - £10

Peugeot 106 1.1 - £1155

Peugeot 106 1.5D - £150

Peugeot 106 1.1 - £750

Peugeot 306 1.9 TD - £400

Peugeot 306 cabriolet - £250

Citroen Saxo VTS - £200

Citroen Xantia 2.0i - £250

Kia Proceed - £19,996

Peugeot 405 1.6 - £95

Peugeot 306 DTurbo - £250

Rover 216GSI - £240

Citroen Xantia 1.9TD - £300

Rover 75 V6 - £250

Ford Fiesta mk6 - £70

Peugeot 106 1.1 - £200

Saab 9-3 Aero - £750

Ford Mondeo 2.0 - £600

Peugeot 405 2.0 estate - £125

Ford Mondeo 2.5 V6 - £1200

Citroen AX GT - £1500

BMW 116d - £5995

Peugeot 106 1.5D - £200

Peugeot 106 1.1 - £400

Saab 9-3 Aero TTID - £100 (trade in from 1 series)

Ford Mondeo 3.0 V6 - £1400

Honda Civic mk8 - £1000

BMW 318d - £4500

MG ZS180 - £1400

Jaguar S Type 3.0 - £300

Toyota GT86 - still paying for so I won’t count this as yet

I make that £43,911, and I’m 99% sure I’ve missed some. I’m now assessing my life choices and worked out it’s no longer a mystery that I’m so bloody broke all the time. 

[vtec-e]

4 hours ago, Split_Pin said:

All I know is that I buy a car, spend money on it and then sell it at a loss a short time later. Gr8 business model 😂

But ups and downs notwithstanding, I have lots of fun doing it so I never count it up.

I agree totally. Nothing more I can add 😄

[MrBiscuits]

I'll spare you the details, but my headline number for purchase (not running) costs is £27,390.

I'm pretty happy with that for 10 cars over 28 years, cheapest was £400 most expensive was 3 years old and £16500. I've still got that one so it accounts for over 50% of the total.

[Jazoli]

No idea for cars, I’ve done £75k on bikes, probably double that on cars.

[chadders]

Six figures even ignoring what all my company cars cost.

Far less than having kids though.

[robt100]

In 18 years I've spent:
about £13k buying cars.
about £15k selling them.
And probably close to 6 figures repairing/restoring/taxing/fuelling and insuring them😬
 

[bezzabsa]

I used to have a complete list of every car I'd ever owned, but thank god I lost it years ago....

i will have to sit down and attempt to recreate the list - I'll leave out Motorbikes tho LOL

Most expensive I've ever paid for a car 1995 Discovery 300Tdi £5500 , cheapest - well i've had a free one and several sub £50 ones..

 

[Soundwave]

Happier not knowing...!

[barefoot]

Since 1994

Porsche 944 - Bought £7,000 - not sold 
Cortina 1.6L - Bought £150 - Sold £200
VW T2 - Bought £2,950 - not sold
VW Scirocco - Bought £400 - not sold
Lancia Y10 - Bought £120 - Sold £120
Jaguar XJ8 - Bought £300 - Sold £600
Renault Vel Satis - Won £5 ticket - Raffled off £424 total 
Rover 75 - Bought £600 - not sold

Totals £11,525 & £1,344

I don't think the cost of buying them is a major part of the expenditure. My t2 cost £3k, but I have a bill for £14k and others for new engine, gearbox, front axle... I spent £2,400 maintaining my £300 Jaguar and a similar amount on a fiver's worth of Vel Satis. I once totted up all costs for everything Inc fuel insurance tax, the whole lot over a full year for the four vehicles I was running and it just made me wince, so didn't do it again. 

[Eyersey1234]

My total 

1994 Fiesta £free traded in for £300 (I think)

2006 Fiesta £9000 traded in for £90 after 12 years and 173k miles

2005 Panda £3000 sold for £2000 (I think)

2007 Focus £490 traded in for £300

2006 Matiz £250 sold for £250

2015 Focus £7000

 

That makes £16800 in 20 years so not too bad, but then I tend to keep cars a long time

[captain_70s]

2008 Toyota Yaris 1.0 - £5,000
1977 Triumph Dolomite 1300 - £1,400
2012 Vauxhall Corsa 1.4T - £9,500
1976 Triumph Dolomite 1850HL - £850
2005 Honda Civic 1.6 - £nil
1983  Triumph Acclaim L - £850
1989 Volvo 740 GL - £300
1989 Volvo 740 GLE - £700
1956 Vauxhall Cresta - £1,750

£18,350 since 2011. That's a whole 2025 Toyota Aygo!

[Lacquer Peel]

I have probably owned >110 terrible cars and don't want to think about it. 

[HMC]

Ill never add it up- it would be scary but also i feel like trying to put a figure to the fun, joy and life affirmingness and people ive met misses the point- what is life without those things after all? 

(answer- CHEAPER 😂) 

[Schaefft]

I wonder whether I reached six-figures yet. With 50+ cars and all the maintenance counted I can't imagine it being much lower.

The good news is that 9/10 times I actually get back what I had into a car when the time comes to sell it.

[EyesWeldedShut]

Since 1982 I can recall (roughly) 34 cars and the total purchase cost is just under £55,000

Without adjusting for inflation - all the expensive stuff is 1998 or older. All the cheapest stuff is since 2010. 
Most expensive - £5500 in 1999 for a 1989 Range Rover
Cheapest - £60 in 1998 for a Volvo 340 with a year's ticket.

Current most expensive car in the fleet is a 2008 Bini bought in 2018 for £1800 (blocked DPF and shagged turbo)