Car costs steady, according to RACV

According to Victorian motoring body RACV, the cost of car ownership has eased. Falling interest rates have reduced loan costs by an average of almost 10 per cent while vehicle value authority Glass's Guide claims the rate of depreciation has generally fallen.

The latter cost is deemed as the most significant portion of car ownership expenses, at around 38 per cent. The RACV uses the Volkswagen Jetta as an example of the impact of depreciation, suggesting that while the medium-sized model's running (fuel, tyres and maintenance) costs are only slightly less than the class average, its "excellent forecasted trade-in value gives it class-leading standing costs". Standing costs include insurance, registration and interest on a loan.

RACV also suggests manufacturers have tried to bring down servicing costs, referring to 15,000km/12 month intervals as "now common, with a few vehicles scheduled to go into the workshop every 20,000km or even longer". In other cases, fixed price or capped servicing has helped reduce costs.

The Driving Your Dollars study rated 101 cars; divided by sales segment, and this year included the plug-in Mitsubishi i-MiEV model. RACV admitted, however, that the electric vehicle's depreciation rate could not be determined due to a lack of accurate data to determine a trade-in value.

That's a shame because in terms of running costs like fuel and even servicing, the i-MiEV is an interesting case. The i-MiEV service schedule does not involve much part replacement but does include "a significant amount of labour in checking the vehicle's systems". RACV instead provided a "range of its estimated costs", which figured from $241.80 per week.

Fuel prices were taken into account but despite the ongoing increases during the year, the RACV suggested more fuel-efficient engine options applied to new cars including the Subaru Impreza and Toyota Camry "saved their owners money on fuel costs overall in the past 12 months".

VW earned praise again for fuel efficiency with its Golf 77TDI. The diesel hatch beat Toyota Prius with 5.65 cents per kilometre versus the Toyota's 6.08.

Segment bests: 2012 versus 2011
Light – Suzuki Alto GL $113.31; $110.64
Small – Kia Cerato S $156.99; $157.30
Medium – VW Jetta $189.72; $199.90
Large – Ford Falcon EcoLPI XT $227.08; $234.13
Compact SUV – Kia Sportage Si $188.91; $183.43
Medium SUV – Holden Captiva CX $230.30; $228.40
All-terrain SUV – Jeep Grand Cherokee $261.77; $305.83
Peoplemover – Honda Odyssey $225.85; $231.51
2WD ute – Ford Falcon XL LPG $189.21; $198.93
4WD ute – Toyota HiLux SR $255.92; $257.10

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