Collecting maintenance costs

[lemos]

Hi everyone,

My name is André, and I’m on a mission to gather real-world car maintenance costs—whether they’re scheduled or unscheduled.

Why? Because I believe that fear of high maintenance costs often drives people away from certain brands, models, or even older cars, which leads them to opt for a newer vehicle instead (the FUD is real!). I personally experienced this when I let go of my beloved e39 Sport Package years ago (and yes, it still stings!).

If you're willing to contribute, I’d greatly appreciate your input. Please provide the following details about any maintenance work you've had done:

• Model (525i, 540d, 530e, etc)
• Model Year
• Mileage
• Service Name (scheduled, or unscheduled)
• Labor cost
• Parts cost
• Country the work was carried
• Year the work was carried

As we collect more data, we’ll be able to compare costs across different models, engines, and mileage. I’m excited to see what trends and insights emerge from this!

Thank you so much in advance for your help!

[M5Rick]

Model as shown, as no one has replied yet I'll come in.
It really depends how much you use the vehicle, the more you use it the more likelihood the maintain costs will rise. Things like brake pads you could do yourself choosing a set that would suit you eg low dust ones but of course it would need a dealer visit for other things like the yearly safety check and at the same time have that oil change with your choice of oil (recommended oil around a £100 for 10 litres) and their filter while its there saving you time and money and recording that in the service book.
Spark plug change time could be easy or tricky on some cars like on mine (£350 with 2 year parts guarantee) but things like air filters and smelly cabin filters are not hard to change yourself. Tyres are self explanatory and there are different ways you can go about to replace old or worn tyres whether buying new online or even slightly used ones to keep costs down, just need a friendly tyre shop to fit them, one or two bigger places won't even fit them only their own which really are where non car people, who know little about cars go and it could be against trade dealing agreement for them to refuse, for instance if they refuse to fit your better used tyre(s) or winter tyres you can report them to your local authority as its a safety issue.
With some cars like mine rather than an 'all in one' service with a huge bill at the end things come up which need to be done, like the 2 yearly brake fluid change, so you plan to book it in for that for instance to coincide with something else that you want done.
Hope this helps.

[lemos]

but that's exactly the kind of information that I think could be useful for me, and others. Especially if we're talking about an M5!

With enough data, one could plot how much an M5 ownership costs per mileage. Of course there will always be variations, like was it at an official dealership? In what country was it?

I do believe that with enough data, at least some cost boundaries will start to surface.

Like, how much was your latest yearly safety check?

Model: M5 F10
Model Year: ?
Mileage: ?
Service Name: Scheduled, Yearly safety check
Labor cost: £xxx
Parts cost: £xxx
Country the work was carried: UK(?)
Year the work was carried: 2024



I appreciate the honest, and detailed answer. I am still reaching out to my friends and colleagues to get as much of this type of information as possible (for as many brands as possible).