Toyota, Lexus, and Tesla brands of cars are ranked as the manufacturers with brands of cars that are the cheapest to maintain, according to data from a Clunker Junker study.
The study, which analysed maintenance costs from the last 10 years for 185 popular and luxury cars sold in the US, takes into account the value of repairs, as well as their percentage relative to the original purchase price.
According to the study, more expensive vehicles appeared cheaper to maintain because the maintenance costs represent a smaller proportion of their original prices.
The study said Toyota is the cheapest car brand to maintain, with maintenance costs representing 13.41 percent of the purchase price.
The Japanese carmaker had eight of the top 10 cheapest cars to maintain, with Land Cruiser having 7.29 percent, Sequoia at 8.5 percent, and Supra at 8.56 percent.
In the luxury car segment, Tesla dominates the results, being even cheaper than Toyota to maintain. This means that keeping Tesla cars up and running costs an average of 7.1 percent of the car’s value.
For instance, Tesla Model S costs just 4.6 percent of its value to maintain while the Model X is close, at 5.1 percent.
Lexus took the second position, with 12.3 percent, thanks to its legendary reliability.
Porsche was in the third position, at 17.3 percent, although other German car brands did not fare well in the study because BMW, for instance, came in last, with maintenance costs totalling over a quarter of the car’s value over a 10-year period.
BMW had the most expensive individual models to maintain, with the X1 having 42 percent, X2 at 40 percent, and X3 at 34.5 percent taking considerable chunks of their original value.
Meanwhile, several expensive models like the Audi S8 or Chevrolet Corvette appear to be among the least costly to repair.
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In Nigeria, for instance, many buyers look beyond colour and appearance to take into account fuel efficiency, safety, and price, but most importantly, the cost of regular maintenance.
Commenting, Olóyè, a Twitter user said on his handle @Ol0ye that the cost of a car is not just in the initial outlay because the cost of maintenance is as important as the initial price.
He said some cars will cost the buyer way more especially second-hand ones- than he or she paid for the vehicle, adding that RAM costs the most in maintenance.
Across RAM models, he said, the average cost of maintenance over a period of 10 years is 27.8 percent. With some models like the RAM Promaster being the highest at 62 percent of the purchase cost.
Pointing out that BMW brands use specialised parts, Olóyè said that Land Rover, Jaguar, and Volvo come in at between 24.5 and 22.5 percent of the initial cost.
Olóyè said that Honda models are another brand with high maintenance costs as all Honda has expected a maintenance cost of 22 percent of the initial purchase cost.
“Hyundai comes in at 28 percent with the Hyundai Venue being as high as 33 percent while the Kia brand is at 25.5 percent. Although improvements have been made on the newer models of both,” he explained.
