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    [OC] My car expenses and mileage after 10 years of Corolla ownership
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    [OC] My car expenses and mileage after 10 years of Corolla ownership

    I'm coming up on almost exactly 10 years of owning my 2015 Toyota Corolla LE, so just visualizing the data from tracking my expenses and mileage since buying it new in August 2015

    Car expenses:

    • The total cost of ownership over the 10 years is $43,529 (= $18,888 purchase + $11,453 insurance + $8,122 gas, + $2,279 fees + $1,954 maintenance + $833 repairs)
    • Maintenance is $0 for the first two years because of ToyotaCare
    • Fees include vehicle registration renewals and smog checks
    • Gas and insurance are based off of living in the Bay Area, CA

    Car mileage:

    • The labeled mileage data points are from the gas refills closest to each purchase anniversary date
    • The continuing decline in cumulative MPG reflects the change in the amount of city/highway driving I do; I went from a long commute job that I occasionally drove in for, to a much shorter commute job that I drove in 3-4x a week for, to just working remote. My data also tracks with the car's rated MPG of 29 city / 38 highway

    Tools: Excel

    Posted by raincometh

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    18 Comments

    1. Laadokaylashkaray on

      Thanks for sharing. You’re on the very low end of annual mileage. Did you ever take it on long distance travel?

      The $358 per month for a car seems very low so good job on that. Presumably the very low insurance rate (is that comprehensive?) and not paying for parking probably helps. When I estimated the cost of car ownership, it was closer to 1k a month based on insurance being $250 and parking about $350 a month. So I decided to stick it out with public transit, bike/scooter and occasional renting a car for specialized grocery runs and road trips.

    2. ScroogeMcDucksMoney on

      Interesting to see. Do you feel it’s been a good value? I love my Camry.

      As a personal thought, it may be a good idea to up your insurance policy. That cost looks low compared to mine so I’m assuming it’s the basic full coverage. I was involved in an accident and injured badly. I was not at fault and my car was not present. My saving grace was my own insurance for uninsured/under-insured. Those bottom limits really don’t cover much these days. Food for thought

    3. superrey19 on

      Good stuff.

      I was surprised by your gas costs at first until I saw the second pic, then it made sense. In one year, I drive what took you 4 years.

    4. tastygluecakes on

      What’s up with fuel economy being so high at onset? Is this just a quirk with measurement, or did you actually see a significant difference in the first few months?

    5. the-watch-dog on

      A) the insurance varying so much YoY seems wild to me. B) that’s $11.5K in insurance, you ever made any claim on it? Insurance fascinates me which is why I ask. Cool bit of data!

    8. Kinyrenk on

      Very close to my own experience if accounting for higher mileage as I drove 110,00 miles in the same period and had a bit lower insurance costs as I paid off the car quickly and then went low on insurance for awhile then decided to increase insurance after seeing what seemed an increase in crazy drivers out on the roads. Slightly higher gas from +60% mileage made monthly ownership costs closer $450.

      For a couple years in the middle I wasn’t keep as close track as I bought a 2nd vehicle and neglected to enter all the data so my costs are a bit less exact but my driving habits didn’t change and I had no repairs at all during that period I was haphazardly collecting the data. Mileage even with the 2nd vehicle remained high since it was my commute car, the 2nd vehicle was for longer trips and vacations during COVID.

      Also spent a bit more on winter/summer tires but averaged over 11 years, it is only a bit less than $20 per month.

    10. intronert on

      If you want a “current dollars” view, scale all dollar amounts by
      CPI-U_date/CPI-U_today

      Where date refers to the year and month the expense was incurred, and CPI-U is the Consumer Price Index for Urban areas. You can find these online.

      Your $18,888 then is about $26,000 now.

    12. Gorillionaire83 on

      Your mileage chart doesn’t really track with your explanation. You say you used to have a long commute then it went down over time to being fully remote. Other than during lockdown the mileage per year is linear.

    15. jettanoob on

      my guy, just over 6k miles a year? thats nothing! im a middle america commuter doin 24k/yr. oof!