Anyone calculate actual cost per mile driven?

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ThankYouJack
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Anyone calculate actual cost per mile driven?

Post by ThankYouJack »

I think the IRS rate is 56 cents per mile. Seems a bit high if you're driving a ~$30k car for ~10 years that isn't a gas guzzler. But I'm curious if any posters on here keep track of all car related expenses and what the cost per mile comes out to be. If so, what car are you driving, how many miles a year are you driving it, how long have you had it, etc...?
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Random Musings
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Re: Anyone calculate actual cost per mile driven?

Post by Random Musings »

You won't know the real answer until you finally part ways with the car. Plus keep relatively meticulous records, including road tolls and parking paid if those are material costs.

I just buy $20k cars and drive them into the ground. Although with the current car situation, you don't get the same bang for the buck right now.

RM
Last edited by Random Musings on Fri Sep 24, 2021 6:53 pm, edited 1 time in total.
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ResearchMed
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Re: Anyone calculate actual cost per mile driven?

Post by ResearchMed »

ThankYouJack wrote: Fri Sep 24, 2021 6:42 pm I think the IRS rate is 56 cents per mile. Seems a bit high if you're driving a ~$30k car for ~10 years that isn't a gas guzzler. But I'm curious if any posters on here keep track of all car related expenses and what the cost per mile comes out to be. If so, what car are you driving, how many miles a year are you driving it, how long have you had it, etc...?
How could one know completely until you sell (or otherwise disposes of) your car.
Otherwise, you don't know what the total cost of the vehicle was.
Everything else seems to be on a "as paid" basis (gas, insurance, repairs), but not the total cost of the vehicle, and for some people, the cost of the vehicle isn't trivial.

And the costs probably aren't the same each year. First year, more depreciation, the last year, perhaps more in repairs, etc.
Yes, it all averages out for the "average cost per mile", but still... for someone who owns a new vehicle for 2 years, it would be quite different from someone who owns a "pre-owned" car for 15 [additional] years.

Btw: When did "used car" become some sort of bad terminology, changed to "pre-owned"?
Did studies actually show that selling a "pre-owned" X car was better than selling a "used" X car?

RM
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B4Xt3r
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Re: Anyone calculate actual cost per mile driven?

Post by B4Xt3r »

Assuming that cars are worthless after 15 years or 250k miles:
Prius was I think 18 (or 24) cents per marginal (or total) mile
F150 was I think 24 (or 51) cents per marginal (or total) mile

Total cost is highly influenced by the total miles, but per additional marginal mile is the cost it would take me to drive an extra mile tomorrow, presuming all the fixed costs are sunk costs.
Last edited by B4Xt3r on Sat Sep 25, 2021 5:21 am, edited 2 times in total.
Random Poster
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Re: Anyone calculate actual cost per mile driven?

Post by Random Poster »

Yes.

See this thread: viewtopic.php?f=11&t=288342
BernardShakey
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Re: Anyone calculate actual cost per mile driven?

Post by BernardShakey »

Well, it's highly dependent on miles driven as the fixed costs get spread across those miles. I have four cars, in an ordinary year (not 2020-21), a couple run $0.25-$0.30 per mile and the other two are closer to $0.45 (higher insurance costs, lower miles). These are all paid off cars so no purchase value included.
Last edited by BernardShakey on Fri Sep 24, 2021 6:57 pm, edited 1 time in total.
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miamivice
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Re: Anyone calculate actual cost per mile driven?

Post by miamivice »

ThankYouJack wrote: Fri Sep 24, 2021 6:42 pm I think the IRS rate is 56 cents per mile. Seems a bit high if you're driving a ~$30k car for ~10 years that isn't a gas guzzler. But I'm curious if any posters on here keep track of all car related expenses and what the cost per mile comes out to be. If so, what car are you driving, how many miles a year are you driving it, how long have you had it, etc...?
I have for several vehicles I owned. Included in a spreadsheet the following information:

Purchase price
Miles when bought
Miles when sold
Sale price
Car repairs

Then I took the number of cost divided by number of miles driven and came up with a number. Depending on the vehicle reliabilty, the numbers were widely different. Most expensive was a ford explorer. Can't remember the cheapest.

The spreadsheet is on a different computer, so I don't have it handy.
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ResearchMed
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Re: Anyone calculate actual cost per mile driven?

Post by ResearchMed »

miamivice wrote: Fri Sep 24, 2021 6:56 pm
ThankYouJack wrote: Fri Sep 24, 2021 6:42 pm I think the IRS rate is 56 cents per mile. Seems a bit high if you're driving a ~$30k car for ~10 years that isn't a gas guzzler. But I'm curious if any posters on here keep track of all car related expenses and what the cost per mile comes out to be. If so, what car are you driving, how many miles a year are you driving it, how long have you had it, etc...?
I have for several vehicles I owned. Included in a spreadsheet the following information:

Purchase price
Miles when bought
Miles when sold
Sale price
Car repairs

Then I took the number of cost divided by number of miles driven and came up with a number. Depending on the vehicle reliabilty, the numbers were widely different. Most expensive was a ford explorer. Can't remember the cheapest.

The spreadsheet is on a different computer, so I don't have it handy.
Gas?
(or electric these days)

RM
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miamivice
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Re: Anyone calculate actual cost per mile driven?

Post by miamivice »

ResearchMed wrote: Fri Sep 24, 2021 6:58 pm
miamivice wrote: Fri Sep 24, 2021 6:56 pm
ThankYouJack wrote: Fri Sep 24, 2021 6:42 pm I think the IRS rate is 56 cents per mile. Seems a bit high if you're driving a ~$30k car for ~10 years that isn't a gas guzzler. But I'm curious if any posters on here keep track of all car related expenses and what the cost per mile comes out to be. If so, what car are you driving, how many miles a year are you driving it, how long have you had it, etc...?
I have for several vehicles I owned. Included in a spreadsheet the following information:

Purchase price
Miles when bought
Miles when sold
Sale price
Car repairs

Then I took the number of cost divided by number of miles driven and came up with a number. Depending on the vehicle reliabilty, the numbers were widely different. Most expensive was a ford explorer. Can't remember the cheapest.

The spreadsheet is on a different computer, so I don't have it handy.
Gas?
(or electric these days)

RM
For my purposes, I wasn't concerned about the fuel cost so I didn't track that. I was mainly looking at whether it was cheaper to buy an old car and repair more often versus buying newer and repairing less often, but paying higher amounts of depreciation. For the vehicles I owned, it turned out to be about a toss up.
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MikeWillRetire
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Re: Anyone calculate actual cost per mile driven?

Post by MikeWillRetire »

I have a Camry, and I tracked expenses for the last 6 years. I calculated 0.49 per mile for gas, maintenance, insurance, registration, and emission tests. It doesn't include the cost of the car. But it does include some high insurance costs because my two kids were on the policy.
B4Xt3r
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Re: Anyone calculate actual cost per mile driven?

Post by B4Xt3r »

MikeWillRetire wrote: Fri Sep 24, 2021 7:05 pm I have a Camry, and I tracked expenses for the last 6 years. I calculated 0.49 per mile for gas, maintenance, insurance, registration, and emission tests. It doesn't include the cost of the car. But it does include some high insurance costs because my two kids were on the policy.
Capital outlay to purchase is often the biggest cost of ownership. Fuel is usually second.
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quantAndHold
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Re: Anyone calculate actual cost per mile driven?

Post by quantAndHold »

When I had an average mid sized car that I bought new, drove 15k miles per year, and got rid of at 150k miles, it was indeed just about exactly what the federal mileage rate was.

About half of the cost was depreciation. To save money, buy a cheaper car or keep it longer. To spend more money, buy an expensive truck or suv.
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MikeWillRetire
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Re: Anyone calculate actual cost per mile driven?

Post by MikeWillRetire »

B4Xt3r wrote: Fri Sep 24, 2021 7:18 pm
MikeWillRetire wrote: Fri Sep 24, 2021 7:05 pm I have a Camry, and I tracked expenses for the last 6 years. I calculated 0.49 per mile for gas, maintenance, insurance, registration, and emission tests. It doesn't include the cost of the car. But it does include some high insurance costs because my two kids were on the policy.
Capital outlay to purchase is often the biggest cost of ownership. Fuel is usually second.
For me, the insurance was much more than fuel because I had two sons under age 25 on the policy, and I only drove about 8500 miles per year.
L84SUPR
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Re: Anyone calculate actual cost per mile driven?

Post by L84SUPR »

4$pg/8mpg=50cents/mile

The math worked a lot better when fuel was cheaper. :oops:
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Saving$
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Re: Anyone calculate actual cost per mile driven?

Post by Saving$ »

I calculated it once for a 15 year period, plugging what I could sell my current vehicle for at that time. I keep meticulous track of expense in Quicken, so I have the cost every time I've filled the tank, done service, etc.
I was astounded that is was only about 1 cent less than the IRS rate at the time. Was a real eye opener.
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ram
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Re: Anyone calculate actual cost per mile driven?

Post by ram »

I lose about 44 cents /mile when I drive my Lexus LS for work. ( $1.00/mile - 0.56).

I make about 20 cents/mile if I drive my 2006 Toyota Avalon.

Depreciation is the biggest difference.
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eddot98
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Re: Anyone calculate actual cost per mile driven?

Post by eddot98 »

Saving$ wrote: Fri Sep 24, 2021 8:01 pm I calculated it once for a 15 year period, plugging what I could sell my current vehicle for at that time. I keep meticulous track of expense in Quicken, so I have the cost every time I've filled the tank, done service, etc.
I was astounded that is was only about 1 cent less than the IRS rate at the time. Was a real eye opener.
Duh! I’m not surprised because I doubt that the IRS just picked their rates out of a hat.
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Bogle7
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Re: Anyone calculate actual cost per mile driven?

Post by Bogle7 »

Yes.
$1/mile.
2007 Audi A3.
1700 miles/year.
Insurance, petrol, maintenance, plates.
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firebirdparts
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Re: Anyone calculate actual cost per mile driven?

Post by firebirdparts »

Mine is quite low; Gasoline being the highest cost item with the way I own cars. On my daily, 20 cents a mile fully allocated would cover me fine.

I used to take Autoweek, and they always displayed that when they reviewed their long-term testers. A lot of it was truly shocking. They included first year depreciation, and then sometimes they'd break something not under warranty and get stuck with a $2500 repair. But then also on some of the higher performance cars they had, the tires wouldn't last a year, and they'd end up buying a high-dollar set of tires after 10,000 miles.
This time is the same
runswithscissors
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Re: Anyone calculate actual cost per mile driven?

Post by runswithscissors »

I'm surprised by the low numbers. I buy late model used cars (about $40K or average price paid for a car) that are about 2 years old on average, drive them for 5 then sell them. I only drive about 7,000 miles a year so my cost per mile is up there. Cost per mile incl depreciation ($4,000/year or $0.57), insurance ($0.12), registration/safety ($0.09), tires ($0.07), gas ($0.17), car washes ($0.02) and regular maintenance ($0.06) comes out to $1.10/mile. This does not include occasional repairs outside of warranty. If I factor those in the total cost is probably about $1.15/mile.
Katietsu
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Re: Anyone calculate actual cost per mile driven?

Post by Katietsu »

Yikes. It looks like the SUV has cost a little over a $1 a mile. The sedan is probably close to the IRS numbers. Highish locale for gas & insurance costs.
vtMaps
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Re: Anyone calculate actual cost per mile driven?

Post by vtMaps »

It's much easier to calculate the total cost of ownership if you lease. My wife leases a subaru (zero down, 12k miles per year) for about $275 per month (includes tax, title, registration, free roadside assistance, free towing, and free annual state inspections). That's $0.275 per mile plus gas, maintenance, and insurance. There are no repair costs (car is under warranty). She will buy one set of winter tires and turn in the car with the original tires. Winter tires (plus the cost of changing them twice a year) will cost about $750 per 3 year lease.

Total cost of driving is about $0.10 less per mile than the IRS reimbursement rate of $0.56 per mile. I don't think she could do better by owning the car.

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B4Xt3r
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Re: Anyone calculate actual cost per mile driven?

Post by B4Xt3r »

runswithscissors wrote: Sat Sep 25, 2021 2:01 am I'm surprised by the low numbers. I buy late model used cars (about $40K or average price paid for a car) that are about 2 years old on average, drive them for 5 then sell them. I only drive about 7,000 miles a year so my cost per mile is up there. Cost per mile incl depreciation ($4,000/year or $0.57), insurance ($0.12), registration/safety ($0.09), tires ($0.07), gas ($0.17), car washes ($0.02) and regular maintenance ($0.06) comes out to $1.10/mile. This does not include occasional repairs outside of warranty. If I factor those in the total cost is probably about $1.15/mile.
It’s the $4k/year depreciation cost. I’ve never had a $4k/year repair year once (so far, at-least).
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RootSki
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Re: Anyone calculate actual cost per mile driven?

Post by RootSki »

I only monitor fuel costs per mile through the Fuelly app. Currently it costs me $0.08 per mile using premium fuel (93 octane, 37mpg real).
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ThankYouJack
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Re: Anyone calculate actual cost per mile driven?

Post by ThankYouJack »

Thanks for the replies. It is more expensive than I would have thought off the top of my head. I'm now wondering the cost per additional mile to drive my cars. I was thinking about taking a 1,400 mile road trip, but am now thinking it may be cheaper to fly.


A rough estimate is:

Gas: 27 mpg @ $3.00 gal = $0.1111 / mile
Tires: 40,000 miles @ $800 = $0.02 / mile
Oil changes: 6,000 miles @ $60 = $.01 / mile
Other maintenance / repairs (est.) = $.03 / mile
Depreciation (est.) = $.04 / mile (assuming I keep the car for 10 years and drive between 120k-150k miles)

So about 21 cents per additional mile driven.


My other high mileage car that I drive less often:

Gas: 20 mpg @ $3.00 gal = $0.15 / mile
Tires: 50,000 @ $600 = $0.012 / mile
Oil Changes: 4,000 miles @ $50 = $0.012 / mile
Other maintenance/repairs: $0.05 / mile
Depreciation (est.) = $0.02 / mile

So about 24 cents per additional mile driven.

Random Poster wrote: Fri Sep 24, 2021 6:54 pm Yes.

See this thread: viewtopic.php?f=11&t=288342
That's great, thanks!
260chrisb
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Re: Anyone calculate actual cost per mile driven?

Post by 260chrisb »

Random Musings wrote: Fri Sep 24, 2021 6:50 pm You won't know the real answer until you finally part ways with the car. Plus keep relatively meticulous records, including road tolls and parking paid if those are material costs.

I just buy $20k cars and drive them into the ground. Although with the current car situation, you don't get the same bang for the buck right now.

RM
Well, tolls and parking aren't a cost of operation but a cost of travel. I did this years ago with several Taurus wagons and came out to about .24 per mile. Buying 3-4 years old cars greatly reduced the cost of depreciation. Obviously the key is to keep and drive them onto the 200K range.
B4Xt3r
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Re: Anyone calculate actual cost per mile driven?

Post by B4Xt3r »

ThankYouJack wrote: Sat Sep 25, 2021 8:06 am Thanks for the replies. It is more expensive than I would have thought off the top of my head. I'm now wondering the cost per additional mile to drive my cars. ...
That's the difference between marginal and total in my post above.

As a fun aside, an F150 seems to be ~33% more expensive for me to operate on the next mile than a prius. I suppose its likely 33% more fun to operate though :), so on a value proposition it might be equal!
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