The Car Brands With the Highest Maintenance Costs Over Time

The true cost of owning a car goes beyond the sticker price. Maintenance, for example, is an expense that can add up quite a bit over time. However, your mileage will vary depending on the car.

Mobile car repair provider YourMechanic.com analyzed their own data to find out which car brands and models require the most maintenance over time. They explain:

At YourMechanic, we have a massive dataset of the make and model of the cars we have serviced and the type of maintenance done. We decided to use our data to understand which cars break down the most and have the highest maintenance costs...First, we looked at which major brands cost the most to maintain over the first 10 years of a car’s life. We grouped all years of all models by brand to compute their average cost by brand. In order to estimate annual maintenance costs, we found the amount spent on every two oil changes (as oil changes are generally done every six months).

According to their data, BMWs were the most expensive to maintain by far, with a 10-year cost of $17,800. They found the luxury brands were the most expensive in general, but many budget vehicles ranked high, too. Saturns were 6th on their list with a 10-year maintenance cost of $12,400.

Toyota was the best value for maintenance, according to the list. Scion and Lexus were the second and third most inexpensive brands, respectively (both are part of the Toyota group).

For maintenance costs on all the brands, check out their graphic below. Then head to the full post for more detail on how costs change over time and how they vary by model.