Date: Fri, 8 Dec 1995 19:21:31 -0600 (CST)
Sender: Vanagon Mailing List <vanagon@vanagon.com>
From: dakhlia@wuecona.wustl.edu (Sami Dakhlia)
Subject: about the REAL cost of ownership
Allow me to add my few dollars to last week's thread...
This is just a back-of-the-envelope calculation containing everything I
could remember, including recommended investments such as CHT and oil
pressure gauges. It does NOT, however, include those little "optional
improvements" such as solar panels or heated seats :) Neither shall I
include related psychiatric or other medical treatments and pharmaceutical
expenses (Zantac and Minoxidyl) :O
For comparison sake, it is important to weight the inputs (parts and
labor) with the same prices (wages) as those used in other calculations
(such as in Consumer Report, for example), i.e., labor must be priced at
what a good mechanic would charge you (about $60-70/hour at the dealer
here in MO), *even* if you did the job yourself. Of course, we also need
to guestimate how much time the expert mechanic (not Joe's Garage) would
have spent, which is usually less than the typical listmember. Keep track
of how much time the owner really spends on his repairs and infer his
worth from that. Parts, too, should be weighted at what the dealer would
charge for them if he (the dealer) installed them, but I won't do this
here for simplicity sake.
I drove about 47,000 miles in 4.5 years. Bought it for about $3,000 and
would sell for about the same (if forced at gun point); hence no
depreciation. (Of course, had I invested that money instead in, say, a
bond with 5% return, I would have earned about $150 a year. Normally, this
opportunity cost should be included, too, but I'll spare you that today.)
"labor (me)" may seem high, but includes reading and thinking. "labor
(professional)" is just a bunch of unbacked guesses; correct me if you
know better.
parts labor (me) labor (prof.)
18 oil changes (Syntec)
& tune-ups $40 x 18 3 x 18 1.5 x 18
exhaust (#1) $130 3 1
exhaust (#2) $50 8 2
rebuild $800 80 20
gauges $110 8 3
fighting corrosion $250 40 20
4 tires (XZX reinf) installd $400 - -
fuel/vacuum hoses $100 6 2
new alternator (installed) $440 - -
fuel injection problems - 20 2 ?
fuel (2,900 gls.)x $1.15 $3,380
TOTAL (maintenance-no fuel) $3,000 239 hours 78x$60=$4,680
Hence, not including fuel, maintenance cost was $0.16/mile. Include fuel,
and the cost was about $0.24/mile.
Now how much of this did I pay off with my own labor? That's $4,680/239 =
$19.58/hour, the wage I pay myself for doing my own work. Alternatively,
the cash-only-cost per mile is $0.14, counting fuel. Don't count fuel and
we're down to about 6 cents per mile for parts.
--
Sami ('75 Westf.)
dakhlia@wuecona.wustl.edu
http://wuecon.wustl.edu/~samid/
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