Cost to Drive a Mustang (2004)
Max C. Webster III
this year:
http://groups.google.com/groups?hl=en&lr=&ie=UTF-8&threadm=20031102144952.
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The Most Boring On-Topic Post *Ever* (Part II)!
I purchased my 2001 GT Coupe for $24,861.38 on October 31, 2001. As of today,
it is three years old. I have kept meticulous records on every penny I have
spent on this vehicle. This is my report of those costs as of October 31,
2004, to RAMFM.
The car (El Imán de Chicas):
2001 Mustang GT coupe, green/tan, leather, automatic transmission, Mach 460
stereo with in-dash six CD changer. Other than replacing the original Goodyear
tires with Bridgestone Potenzas at 45,000 miles, no modifications have been
made to this car. The car currently has 69,571 miles; it had 259 when I bought
it. The car is in excellent condition (no mechanical problems, one minor
parking-lot ding in the rear quarter panel and minor pitting on the front of
the hood, no rips, tears or worn spots in the interior). The car was involved
in one accident in October 2002, in which the front and rear bumpers and the
left-rear quarter panel were damaged. All damaged parts were replaced.
The driver:
Married male, 40, with a clean driving record, employed as a systems analyst,
residing in Hoover, Alabama, a suburb of Birmingham.
The costs:
The costs calculated using actual cash payments are in the left column. The
costs using depreciation (from edmunds.com) instead of loan payments is the
right column. The report is designed to be read using a monospaced font, so if
you are having trouble reading it in your newsreader, you can see it as a plain
text file here:
http://hometown.aol.com/maxx2112/mustangcosts2004.txt
The "note" is $414.35 per month. Insurance coverage is provided by USAA, with
$100K/300K/$100K limits. The payments in services are for tires and scheduled
maintenance only -- there are no out-of-pocket repairs included. The payments
in "Other Costs" are for car washes and supplies.
Cash Payment Basis Depreciation Basis
Costs Amount Costs Amount
----------------------------------- -----------------------------------
Payments $ 14,502.25 Depreciation $ 12,490.38
Service 1,720.71 Service 1,720.71
Fuel 4,390.88 Fuel 4,390.88
Insurance 3,369.68 Insurance 3,369.68
Tax & License 729.33 Tax & License 729.33
Other Costs 375.04 Other Costs 375.04
----------------------------------- -----------------------------------
Total Cash Costs $ 25,087.89 Total Accrued Costs $ 23,076.02
=================================== ===================================
The following section breaks the total costs down by mile and date range.
Cost per mile and time period Cost per mile and time period
----------------------------------- -----------------------------------
Miles Driven 69,312 Miles Driven 69,312
Cash Cost per mile $ 0.3620 Accrued Cost per mile $ 0.3329
Daily Cost $ 22.89 Daily Cost $ 21.05
Weekly Cost $ 160.23 Weekly Cost $ 147.38
Monthly Cost $ 696.25 Monthly Cost $ 640.42
Annual Cost $ 8,355.00 Annual Cost $ 7,684.99
=================================== ===================================
Most of the miles driven were for business purposes, and I received
compensation at $0.345 per mile. For fuel purchases, I use a credit card that
rebates a portion of each purchase (3% for fuel, 1% for all other) against
future fuel purchases. The following section backs out business miles, mileage
reimbursements, and fuel rebates to calculate how much it cost me to drive each
personal-use mile.
Adjusted Personal Cost Adjusted Personal Cost
----------------------------------- -----------------------------------
Business Miles 46,101 Business Miles 46,101
Personal Miles 23,211 Personal Miles 23,211
Mileage Reimbursements $ 15,905.15 Mileage Reimbursements $ 15,905.15
Fuel Rebates $ 748.15 Fuel Rebates $ 748.15
"Out of pocket" costs $ 8,434.59 "Out of pocket" costs $ 6,422.72
Personal use per mile $ 0.3634 Personal use per mile $ 0.2767
=================================== ===================================
Observations:
After two years, I was "upside down" on my car. That is, I owed more than it
is worth. This year I have some positive equity in the car. This positive
equity has made my adjusted personal cost per mile much higher than the accrual
basis. These costs will be recovered if and when the car is sold. The
financing contract remains 60 months same-as-cash with 25 remaining payments.
Since there is no incentive pay the loan off early, I will make all the
remaining payments.
The "average" driver will put between 12,000 and 15,000 miles on a vehicle in a
year. I was much higher than average in my first two years, putting 55,370
miles on the car. I did only 13,942 miles this year. Still, my total miles
driven is till much higher than the average driver's, so the average driver's
per-mile cost likely will be higher than mine because of a lower mileage
denominator.
Insurance costs steadily increased during the first two years, but finally went
down this year. My current monthly premium is $73.30. It has been as high as
$106.20.
In the three-year period, I have purchased 297 tanks of gas. My fuel economy
for all miles driven is 19.5 miles / gallon, a decrease from last year's 21.6.
The decrease is likely due my not driving as many highway miles as before. For
a single tank, it has been as high as 26.9 or as low as 16.4 MPG -- both
figures are outliers and are probably due to pump errors. Averaged over any
ten consecutive fuelings, the high was 23.5 and the low was 18.7 MPG. My
average "city" mileage is 18.9, and my average "highway" mileage is 23.0 MPG.
Mustangs sure are fun to drive, even for us retentive number-crunching types!
- Max -
=======
In the future, everyone will be hyperlinked for fifteen minutes.
http://hometown.aol.com/maxx2112/
Just Say No to 6:5 Blackjack!
http://www.cafepress.com/justsaynoto6to5/
Scott Van Nest
only one child and I already don't have time to myself. much less time to
crunch numbers.
Scott
"Max C. Webster III" <maxx...@aol.com.mil.gov> wrote in message
news:20041031200047...@mb-m27.aol.com...
Max C. Webster III
> a married male at 40. you need more children to fill this time. I have
> only one child and I already don't have time to myself. much less time to
> crunch numbers.
>
> Scott
Just for you, tonight I will attempt to double the number of children I have!
Say, what's 2 * 0 anyway? :)
Ya know, I woke up this morning at a casino, and hade a very enjoyable 250
drive home through the Mississippi and Alabama countryside. Earlier this year,
I had a great week in Las Vegas and Arizona. With kids, feh, I'd be just
working in the yard.
BTW, the cost report basically wrote itself -- I had it all set up from last
year, so all I had to do was copy and paste the number from Excel.
Here's my Las Vegas story -- it involves a Dodge Magnum and lots of folks who
wanted to look at it.
http://hometown.aol.com/maxx2112/las_vegas_october_2004.html