What is your cost per day?

[Dory]

I have a 4 year payment set up and if I don’t drive the car the payment and insurance is right at $20 per day whether it’s too cold to drive or not for my used 2015 GT premium. Gas and maintenance is extra. Sometimes I sit in the car to listen to the shaker sound system for awhile to try and get my $20 worth lol!

Sponsored

 

[RacinJason]

I'm at about $13.25 and daily drive, but like you said gas and maintenance is not in that calculation.

 

[Rock&Roll]

$18 a day but I've been driving the truck lately with this snow. I still try to DD.

Only $12k to go and she's paid for

 

[calistag]

$7.65/day (not counting maintenance). My daily rt commute is only 27 miles.

 

[Hashbrownn]

... I never even thought of calculating the daily cost.
may need to ask my wife.

 

[VooDooDaddy]

I think you may be calculating your "per day" costs incorrectly.

You are only factoring in the time span of the loan. You need to consider how long you anticipate owning the car?

I bought my car as a long-term possession, and given my age (48), there is a good chance I'll own it until I depart from this earth; in other words 20-40 years from now.

There is no reason I shouldn't have my car that long. It isn't my DD, and I take the maintenance to religious levels, so it should be looking/driving/running well 20 years from now, no problem!

So, I would suggest you calculate your "per day" costs not by the time span of the loan, but on the anticipated span of ownership. When you do that, your "per day" costs drop way, way down.

 

[sdiver68]

Without a toy budget, Im less motivated to work hard, earn promotions, complete my graduate degree, and otherwise do all those things in life that arent fun. Over the course of my years, Im convinced Ive come out ahead.

Therefore, I consider my fun car (and racing before I retired) to have net positive ROI.

 

[GregP27]

Costs:
1) Initial Price at Dealer if you pay for it outright or total Loan Payback if you finance. You COULD track only payments made to date if you don't plan to keep it. Get your initial mileage, too.
2) Initial insurance.
3) Any Aftermarket Parts Cost.
4) Each and every gasoline purchase. Get cost and miles.
5) Each and every insurance cost.
6) Each and every maintenance cost (oil changes, new tires, shocks, etc).
7) Each and every time you pay for a car wash, record the cost.
8) Total cost is the sum of 1 - 7.

Total costs: divide by total days to get cost per day. If you use Excel, this is simple. In one cell, date of purchase. in the next, "=Today()". Subtract 1 from 2 to get total days. Also, input current mileage.

Divide total cost by days to get cost per day.
Divide total cost by miles (current miles - initial miles) to get cost per mile.

Seems like it is complicated, but it really isn't.

My 2019 Mustang GT Premium PP1 is slated to be delivered 5 Mar 2019 and I'm going to track it from day 1. Not for anything in particular, but out of personal interest only. I'll report the numbers yearly. My cost will higher than most because I plan to pay cash for it and keep it. But if you finance and trade before you pay it off, the cost may be lower ... but you won't own it. If I sell mine, say 15 years down the road, then I'd have to factor in the residual sale value and my costs would drop to show total cost of ownership for the time I owned it.

Hopefully someone else will track theirs, too.

Cheers!

 

[sdiver68]

Costs:
1) Initial Price at Dealer if you pay for it outright or total Loan Payback if you finance. You COULD track only payments made to date if you don't plan to keep it. Get your initial mileage, too.
2) Initial insurance.
3) Any Aftermarket Parts Cost.
4) Each and every gasoline purchase. Get cost and miles.
5) Each and every insurance cost.
6) Each and every maintenance cost (oil changes, new tires, shocks, etc).
7) Each and every time you pay for a car wash, record the cost.
8) Total cost is the sum of 1 - 7.

Total costs: divide by total days to get cost per day. If you use Excel, this is simple. In one cell, date of purchase. in the next, "=Today()". Subtract 1 from 2 to get total days. Also, input current mileage.

Divide total cost by days to get cost per day.
Divide total cost by miles (current miles - initial miles) to get cost per mile.

Seems like it is complicated, but it really isn't.

Cheers!

You forgot about opportunity cost, alternatives analysis, utility value, discount rate, and risk premium.

Mostly just kidding, Edmunds does a similar forward calculation called True Cost to Own.

 

[jonrjen]

OH HELL, dammed the cost per day, month, year or what ever, just go enjoy the car!!!

 

[GregP27]

Hi sdiver68,

I really don't agree with opportunity costs since I made a choice to buy the car. I also don't figure up alternatives also since I made a choice. Utility value I do not understand, but if I get interested, I'll check Edmunds. I negate the discount rate because I'm going to pay mine off on day 1. Risk premium? I don't get that one. If you drive it, you will need insurance almost everywhere in the U.S.A., and SHOULD have it even if it is not required somewhere . It costs what it costs.

I'm tracking my cost of ownership, not the cost of having bought something else or, alternately, having not bought the car at all.

I suppose it is only logical to track the cost of lost interest on the money I spend on the Mustang, but if I were going to get that income, I'd have to forego the purchase of the Mustang. So, I negate that as a part of the cost when deciding to buy the Mustang outright. Accountants are ruining the U.S.A., but they can't screw up the spreadsheets on my personal PC.

I noticed you said you were mostly kidding, but I really don't believe in those other costs in the slightest. When you make the decision to buy the car, you already forego the alternatives voluntarily. The ONLY way to get the lost interest is to NOT buy the car, so it isn't relevant to the cost of actual car ownership. If you do NOT buy the car, then you get the interest, but do not have the car.

Somewhere along the way, ya' gotta' make a choice. I did and my 2019 Mustang GT premium PP1 is on order. So far, all I have in it is $1,500 to order the car. I also have a VIN number and a delivery date (5 Mar 19).

However, if anyone is interested, I attached the basic spreadsheet for anyone else to use on their own.

It will track the cost of car OWNERSHIP, not the cost of all the alternatives. That's one you should calculate BEFORE you buy the car, if at all. Many people don't track gas mileage either. I do just to get a leg up on problems. If my gas mileage drops significantly and I'm driving the same, then there is something wrong. Otherwise, I look at gas mileage BEFORE I buy the car. After you own it, you have to have gas in the tank if you want to go anywhere, so the mileage is rather pointless except as a maintenance indicator. I'll track it and put in an automatic alarm if the mileage changes more than, say 15% within any 3 tanks of fuel). If that happens, either I went for a performance drive in the mountains, went to a track day, someone stole fuel, I did some towing, or I have a maintenance issue or issues. In any case, I want to be notified if that happens so I can look into it.

Cheers to all.

Edit: I did NOT add in the 15% mileage alarm yet ... May re-post if anyone else is interested when I add it. I did leave in the aftermarket parts I have waiting for the car when it gets here. Please delete them and add in your own aftermarket items.

 

[Dr. Norts]

This is what happens when you leave your account logged in and your wife makes a post lol....

How much was the Whipple honey? Oh just 2 grand! It was on sale haha

 

[calistag]

Yeah, let's make sure we account for all the future bolt-on's and stuff which will never end. Ask me how I know from from a JKU.

 

[frank s]

I'm appreciative of the thought and effort that goes into these responses to the original question, "What is your cost per day?" My apprehension of the issues are much less detailed, more short- and narrow-sighted.: If I'd never bought the car—or at this point, stopped paying for its use—by how much would my spendable increase?

Call a month thirty days;
Calculate the daily cost of the monthly payment;
Do the same for insurance costs;
Ignore 99.44% of the potential for adding complexity to the equation;
Announce your Cost Per Day.

To get a little more complicated, figure out your cost-per-mile already driven: Use your daily cost times the number of days you've had the car, divided by the odometer's displayed mileage.

Could probably derive a cost-per-minute of driving, if you'd accept a moving average speed like that shown on my (now defunct) Garmin GPS.

(Damn. Now I'm going to have a dollars calculation going on in my head every time I drive out of the garage.)

 

[Deleted member 35786]

As long as I am still saving money and maximizing my monthly IRA contributions I could care less about cost per day.

Sponsored