Vehicles and the True Cost of Ownership: How Much is My Car Really Costing Me?

In May I started tracking vehicle depreciation in my monthly expenses. At the end of May my odometer showed 23,120 miles. I ended June with 26,277 miles.

Each mile costs $.0867 in depreciation, and I drove 3,148 miles. For June, my vehicle depreciation expense was $272.93.

I made a special effort this month to reduce the miles I put on the G5. I would have driven more miles but instead I swapped cars with my partner and drove the Corolla during the last 10 days of the month. The reason I did this was to defer servicing the G5 in June. I've already written off much of the value of the Corolla in Quicken so I do not take a depreciation charge on its miles each month. Instead I deduct a certain amount every six months from its value.