Year 4, Final 1998 Audi Numbers

It has become apparent that I am the custodian of a terribly dry blog.

I sold the old 1998 A4 Avant yesterday for $2000. I purchased it nearly 4 years ago for $4200 making the 'depreciation' only $2200 over the course of 4 years. See below for details on how all the other expenses stacked up. To me the most interesting numbers are down at the bottom. $/mi by year and accumulated. It will be interesting (no really!) to see what the 2008 car with 34k miles will be like with high depreciation but low maintenance costs.


Year 4 cost of ownership numbers...
Total miles: 246,684 (69,543 of them mine)
Year 1 miles: 20,195
Year 2 miles: 25,304
Year 3 miles: 12,653
Year 4 miles: 11,391

Total gallons of fuel: 3265
Year 1 gallons: 930
Year 2 gallons: 1155
Year 3 gallons: 618
Year 4 gallons: 562

Average miles per gallon: 21.3
Year 1 mpg: 21.7
Year 2 mpg: 22.0
Year 3 mpg: 20.8
Year 4 mpg: 19.9

Fuel cost total: $10,137
Est year 1 fuel cost: $3022
year 2 fuel cost: $3056 (cheaper gas this year, 5k miles for 'free' avg $2.64/gal)
Year 3 fuel cost: $1911 (avg $3.24/gal)
Year 4 fuel cost: $2148 (avg $3.82/gal)

Insurance total: $2201
Year 1: $380
Year 2: $486 (rates went up and I didn't notice?)
Year 3: $667 (added collision coverage)
Year 4: $668

Maintenance total: $4119
Year 1: $1730 (all sorts of random junk, some murkiness of what to 'count')
Year 2: $1442 (big timing belt and hose repair job and oil changes only)
Year 3: $426 (heater core, hatch struts, O2 sensor, oil changes)
Year 4: $521 (tires, oil changes, smog check)

Accident repair: $1695

Total everything cost of ownership: $21,185 (!)
Year 1 total: $11,608 (includes$4200 purchase)
Year 2 total: $5069
Year 3 total: $3086
Year 4 total: $1422 ($2000 subtracted for sale)

$/mile by year excluding purchase, accident repair, and sale
Year 1: $5,600/20,195 = $0.28 ($0.15 fuel / $0.13 ownership)
Year 2: $5,067/25,304 = $0.20 ($0.12 fuel / $0.08 ownership)
Year 3: $3,086/12,653 = $0.24 ($0.15 fuel / $0.09 ownership)
year 4: $3,422/11,391 = $0.30 ($0.19 fuel / $0.11 ownership)

All inclusive $/mi as expenses and mileage accumulated
After 1 year: $11,609/20,195 = $0.57 ($0.15 fuel / $0.43 ownership)
After 2 years: $16,677/45,499 = $0.37 ($0.13 fuel / $0.23 ownership)
After 3 years: $19,763/58,152 = $0.34 ($0.14 fuel / $0.20 ownership)
After 4 years: $21,185/69,543 = $0.30 ($0.15 fuel / $0.16 ownership)