2008-10-28

predictive cost to own

ran across this on y! autos.
http://autos.yahoo.com/chrysler_pt_cruiser_convertible_base-price/?zip=95051

in case the link someday goes dead, it predicts that in 5 years the total cost of owning the continual car will be $46,215, assuming 15k miles/year with this breakdown:

depreciation: $12,602
fuel cost: $13,395
financing: $3,162
insurance: $6,922
maintenance: $2,613
fees, taxes: $2,000
repairs: $1,038
opportunity cost: $4,483

all of these things will be pretty easy to check in the future with the possible exception of the "opportunity cost," which i'd have to dig on a bit to figure out. they give the cost/mile as being $0.62 (dividing the $46k figure by 75k miles). there's also no mention of car payments here (maybe that's offset in the opportunity cost -- i'm a little tired right now to think this through fully).

five years from now i may have to pull one of my accountant pals aside to make sure i'm doing an apples-to-apples comparison.

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