Quote:
Originally Posted by redpoint5
Depreciation is nearly always the biggest cost. The newer the vehicle, the bigger a hit you're going to take. "Fuel" cost is usually not as big of a concern as depreciation.
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When I bought the Prius, I started a spreadsheet to track every expense associated with owning it: purchase price, taxes and fees, loan interest, insurance, expendables (fluids, tires, brakes, etc.), insurance, and, of course, fuel (~$30,500 total right now). My fuel costs are generally $0.04-0.05/mile, and overall I'm sitting at $0.38/mile all in at 80,000 miles. Were I to sell the car today for $8900 (KBB), that would lop approximately $0.11/mile off that, to ~$0.27/mile. So, that depreciation eats up more than $11,000, much larger than any other expense. At the rate I'm going my projected cost at 160,000 miles will be about $0.23/mile, and I plan to keep the car much longer than that.
Now I just need a driving job that will pay me the federal mileage reimbursement, and I could potentially turn a profit....