How much do you spend per year on your car for maintenence?
I have an 88 190 and I would say about $2000 per year, anything from brake pads to the odometer stops working..

I have averaged $1175/year for maintenance during the 2 years I have owned the car, not counting optional upgrades like Euro lights. About on par with my Celica GTS, about 1/3 - 1/4 of the money pumped into my Acura Legend!

probably around $250/year on the Honda CRV. Less than $1000/year on the E320. Don't ask about the "project" car - 300D. It has been on a pretty steep spending curve since I purchased it in Feb. The curve should flatten out over the next 6 months :).
Jim
'85 300D
'95 E320
'97 CRV

I drive about 60,000 miles/year, my wife drives about 30,000 miles/year and my teenage daughter drives about 30,000 miles per year. My annual maintenance costs seem like about 1 or 2 million dollars a year. It would scare me too much to calculate them accurately.

Have a great day,

The ML is the weekend (soccer mom) vehicle and vacation traveling vehicle. About $500 for routine servicing.

The SL500 is the cream puff...about $200-300 for its checkups.

The 300E is the daily driver - around $1000 - $2000 depending on the failed part of the season. It has gotten cheaper since I've joined the forum and started fixing stuff myself instead of taking it to the dealer.

This is the first year I owned my 560SEL. I spent about $2500 on maintenance and repairs. This included the timing chain, front brakes and rotors, rear suspension nitrogen cylinders, hoses, belts, all new fluids, an a/c hose, a repair to one of the hoses for the suspension, some suspension parts, and a handful of other things. After I found this site, the repairs came much cheaper! I probably could have saved at least $500 had I known about it sooner!

I think the future, "normal" years will be about $1000 a year, including fluid changes and preventive maintenance. Pretty cheap, really. I do my own repairs, and buy my parts on line of course! The gas is what costs the most...at about 15 MPG, I cringe at the pumps!

Glad to hear
 

Sometimes it gets discouraging for me to go the the mechanic to get my car and get $600+ repair bill.uuugghh
But I am a realtor and the car is really a commercial car and get driven hard so I suppose its ok.

I was wondering, nowadays, do they "engineer" failer into a car? that is do that design parts to fail so that the car company can make money on parts? If so I think that is absolutly immoral, I know that they have the ability to build a machine and have all the parts last for at least 25 years, cmon...

The "designed failure" is a nice conspiracy theory, but I really don't think it's true.

What I think is true is that given the constraints allowed to the engineers when building a vehicle has more to do with how and when parts fail. After all, government regulations continue to tighten their requirements for safety, fuel efficiency, and emissions. All the while, consumers want to have all of the latest technology...at a "fair" price. The government constraints adds complexity to the vehicle, while the consumer needs compromise superior build. After all, if we had "aircraft-quality" components in our Mercedes, they would probably sticker for about what a small airplane would go for.

Metal parts themselves do not break down, rather the moving components wear out beyond tolerances that render the part ineffective. The rubber seals, plastic wiring insulation, and such are very prone to chemical breakdown, whether it be the fluids that they come in contact with regularly, or the temperatures they reside in, especially fluctuating temperatures.

As far as failure due to design, it's impossible to simulate the myriad conditions that the thousands of parts contained in a car may encounter during its lifetime, given the short lead time given to engineers when developing a new product.

I have a TV set that hasn't had a problem since I purchased it new in 1984, but then again, it doesn't have to contain seven types of volatile recirculating fluids, heat up to internal temperatures of 500 degrees and then cool down, and be able to withstand external temps of -40 to 115 and maintain a glossy finish. Plus, the chassis doesn't have to withstand the structural stress of 120+ mph speeds. How many TVs could survive a 5 mph impact, much less a drop from the lower shelf?

For purely maintenance on my cars, not upgrades or bringing a newly acquired car up to my standards, I probably have spent over the years about $500 per year per car. Obviously, this very low figure indicates that I do almost all the work myself. I have found that there is little that I can't do myself or with the help/advice of one of my good neighbors and this great site. It should also be known that I am a tool junkie and have tools that even I haven't used yet. If you need a special tool to do the job, it usually is cheaper to buy the tool rather than having the job done by someone else. Another key to having very low maintenance bills is to sometimes realize that some things are simply not really worth fixing exactly as it originally came from the factory. As an example, my daughter had a simple switch go out on a Korean P.O.S. she once owned and a replacement was $55 from the dealer. I replaced it with a Mil. Spec. switch that would never fail for only $2. It looked fine and sure worked good.

I keep fairly complete records for all my cars.

On the BMW, I've had it since '93. When I got it, it had 59,000 miles on it, it now has 121,000. When I last totalled up my maintenance records, it was at about $4500. That is really almost all maintence parts (tires, oil, brake pads, rotors, etc.) and a lot of replacement parts (radiator, brake system parts, wheel bearings, etc.). I have done ALL the labor for service and repair myself, with the exception of a recent driveshaft replacement ($600, and by far the most costly single car repair I have ever incurred). So, about $560 per year on average, I guess, for parts only (if I paid the labor charges, the amount would have been astronomical, esp. for diagnosing and fixing problems, and the car would not have been worth it to me).

On the Porsche, I have had it for over 10 years now, but have only driven it around 15,000 miles total. So, the repair costs have been minimal. The biggest repair and maintenance cost has probably been yearly oil changes (12 quarts per change). I have spent some "unnecessary" money on it though. Like the night that I started cleaning the engine, removing parts to get better access and do a good job, and I ended up taking the entire engine and transmission out of the car! Just on cleaning material, powdercoating, cadmium plating, replacing of gaskets, hoses and seals, etc. (hey, gotta do it while you're there) I probably spent close to $2000.

On the MB, none, of course, its all covered for 4 years!

The average on the 108 is about 600 per year, although this year alone I have already put $1,400 into it. That is mostly parts and very little labor (includes tires).

Right now for the year 2001, it's cost $.45/mile (gas, oil, repairs and insurance). That number is down from $.55 before the run to Las Vegas. Since purchase the cost per mile averages out to $.11/mile.

Since my wife isn't looking....

I'd say that I spend about $1200-$1500 a year - maybe less. However,I tend to be a bit anal about maintenance. My car is
a 1993 300SD with 165,000 miles on it. It is not perfect
but you would never think that it is a 93 with that kind
of mileage on it.

The w140 seems to have a life of its own. Things start
to go wrong and then seem to 'repair' themselves. Bizarre
but true.

In my case, I plan to keep the car a lot time and I cannot
afford to miss work (I get paid by the hour) so keeping
my car in good shape is a priority for me.

I actually believe in changing the filters, oil, etc. and
doing transmission service in accordance with the book.
Over the life of the car it will, I think, be a lot cheaper.

I will go through 1 Benz in the time other people go through
4 Hondas, Toyotas or whatever. (I have owned several
Toyotas)

I spend less than $200/yr avg on maintenence for both of my 300Es. :)
That will increase a little this year. Both are coming due for a set of tires and one will need front rotors at the next pad service. :(
Just in case you are wondering. Both are excellently maintained. :)

Scott,
Please list the mileage of both Mercedes'. Also, what, if anything, exactly has gone wrong (that isn't considered "maintenance") ??

WellI have had my car for just over half a year, and so far I have done some oil changes, front brake pads, two tires, and thats about it.

Of course now the car is in the shop for some tranny repairs, which happend today, but all things considered, I don't forsee spending more than $2k this year for maintaining my car, otherwise I figure, oil every 3k and filter, roughly $30 each time, figure would do it 5-8 times a year, so roughly $150-200 or so for oil changes, the rest would be routine maintenance, ai filter, etc etc,

As long as there are not major mechanical failures, the cost should nto be too expensive at all.

Hey Larry, Havent seen ya in a while.. how was your trip?

We missed you whileyou were away...

Alon