Costs of owning a car in your neck of the woods?

[Sari]

Hi!

A question popped up in my mind to which I’d like to get some international perspective. I was pondering about what does it cost to own a driveble car in different parts of the world. To be more precise, I’d like to get perspective on mandatory costs, excluding the actual purchase price of the car, gas, repairs etc. running costs. How much do you have to pay just to keep a car in a road legal state and ready to go?

My example comes from Finland. I own a mid-sized old-ish car (’95), and mandatory traffic insurance for this one is around 500 euros per year, if you are a “new” driver, who hasn’t owned and insured a car before (price gets lower each year, if one doesn’t get in to accidents). Yearly vehicle tax for this one is around 190 euros, if I remember correctly. In my car’s case the tax is based on the car’s weight, because it’s so old. Newer cars get taxed based on how much they pollute. Another mandatory cost is the yearly isnpection, in my case around 60 euros, if the car passes the inspection on the first attempt. If I owned a newer car the inspection would actually be more expensive. In the inspection also the pollution levels are checked from the exhausts, and If my car was newer also the ODB-codes would be checked (I guess only ODB II vehicles are ODB-tested for inspection). On the other hand if my car was older and without cathalytic converter, it wouldn’t have to be checked for pollution.

So in my case just owning a driveable road legal car costs
Insurance (first year) 500 euros
Tax 190 euros
Inspection (inc. pollution) around 60 euros (this depends where you take your car to be inspected)
Grand total of aroud 750 euros just to have the car parked and ready to go on your yard.

Oh and I should mention, my car runs on gasoline. If it ran on diesel, I would have to pay additional tax for that, it might be around 400-500 euros for this type of car. That tax is based on the weight of the car. Diesel itself is slightly cheaper than gasoline, so that’s where the money comes back, if one drives a lot, that is.

What sort of numbers happen in other parts of the world?

Topic

[Michele Pensotti]

Hello Xantia, what a nice nick 🙂

Just by chance is it somewhat related to your car’s model? 😉
Being a Citro-maniac (I have an AX and a BX) I could not avoid to notice it :cheer:

As for your ownership-tax-related situation, here in Italy the things aren’t much different

– mandatory yearly insurance; here too the price class uses a “bonus-malus”s system, and the price starts out highest in class 14 down to class 1 which is the cheapest; for each year without incidents a driver lowers his own class. If instead one does have an accident he does go up two classes
If you’re in 1st class, for a small car (1 liter engine), you can pay as low as 300 euros; for a bigger car the cost rises; if you’re in 14th class you’ll pay thousands of euros!!!!!! :sick:

– ownership tax; directly proportional to the KW of power of the engine; also, if the car is very polluting (lower Euro rating) , it will be surcharged to discourage its owner from polluting and instead change the car.

– bi-annual mandatory inspection (like the MOT in UK); depending on the region where one lives, the cost can range around 70 euros or more; this, of course, if the car actually *passes* the inspection.
If the car does not pass it, it will have to be repaired before it can circulate again.

Where I live (lombardy) there is a special reduction of the ownership tax if the car is over 20 years, and in this case one pays only 30 euros whatever the KW.
Also, if the car is accepted in a special old-cars club, the insurance is also reduced at a fixed price, around 200 euros

Also, here in Italy diesel costs a little less than gasoline; the advantage is even more pronounced since diesel cars have a better mileage.
However in this last years, a lot of people has purchased a bi-fuel car, that is a car that can run on gasoline OR LPG/Methane.
These gases cost about half of the gasoline price, and do pollute a lot less, but their yeld is a little poorer than gasoline.

One can also convert his gas-guzzling car into a bi-fuel car, with a little more than 1K euros.

So, lots of options, and lots of costs! 😆

The sad truth is we are sheeps and the government/oil companies/carmakers do shave and shave on our “fur” 😆 :silly:

Nice to meet you (probably) fellow Citronian 😉

Cheers to you and have a nice sip of LHM 😆

Live long and prosper (and stay dirty!)

10nico

[Sari]

Hi 10nico, and why yes, couldn’t think of a more appropriate nick for a car related forum than my car’s model.:) You basically own the older sibling of my car, the BX that is.:) I got Xantia as my first self-owned car, and I’m pretty happy with it, although it’s soon 19 years old, and Citroens have a bit of a reputation at least here in Finland. That being said, the owners of Citroens do not agree with the reputation, and neither do I. Though I don’t mind it either, got mine relatively cheap because of that, and haven’t really had a problem, even in the winter times. 😆 Suspension spheres should be changed some time soon, otherwise no major issues.

But yes, maybe the costs are similar accross Europe, or at least EU. Probably some eu-wide directives dictate the ownership taxes? Also the insurance system sounds like the one here. In Finland owners of enough old well-kept and faithfully restored vehicles can “museum-register” their cars. I don’t know excactly the criteria, but I’m under the impression, that not just any old piece of junk qualifies, but the car has to be maintained or restored well. With those cars you can drive for one month per year (in our conditions that usually means summer time), and taxing and probably insurances are cheaper as well, I don’t know the excact pricing.

The hot topic right as we speak is switching the taxing somehow to a system, where the amount of tax would be based on how much you drive per year in kilometers. A sensible idea in itself, but the reason for the topic being hot is the system that is being planned. Which is equipping cars with some type of gps-device, that would track how much is being driven… Needles to say this raises some privacy concerns. :dry: Just reading the kilometers from the odometer during the annual inspection (or MOT, that was the word I was looking for!) would probably just lead to people tampering with their kilometers, so that isn’t any good either.

But hey, cheers! *cluncs down a sip of lhm :sick: * Ever owned or considered the XM? Those seem pretty cool too, but I’m under the impression that maybe more skills in car repairing would be benefitial with those..

[Desmond Lipton]

The cost of having a car is just one of a disadvantage you can find, however, it can be disregarded once you know your purpose and the benefits of having a car. Finding the best offers can help you a lot especially in comparing the rates. So, what are you waiting for? Why not head to Sandy Springs Scion and take a look at their best automobile.

[Dave]

Well here in America more specifically Wisconsin I pay $75.00 per year for registration and another $600.00 per year for insurance personally. That is all I have to pay for now.

Roughly 535 euros per year

[Author]

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