Long term - High Mileage expectations

[Teslaeata]

When it comes to longevity of a car, most of that is up to the opinion of the owner. I know people who have gotten rid of a car because the alternator or starter died and left them stranded. They lost all confidence in the car and "had to" get rid of it. I know people who can't stand to own a car once there has been any body work done to it. I know people who get rid of a car once they realize they are underwater on it -- you know, "buy high, sell low" as they say.

But I also know people who buy a car with 200,000 miles and drive it until it has 500,000 miles. They don't care if it costs $3,000 a year to keep in on the road, because a new car would cost even more.

I bought my MME with 16k miles on it. Now it has 100k miles on it, and (if I wasn't making extra payments on it) I would still have 4.5 years worth of payments left! I do make extra payments, and hope to have it paid off before it hits 200,000 miles. I also put $100/week in a savings account to pay for maintenance and repairs.

There won't be a day when your car simply drives itself to a salvage yard upstate... but there may come a day when you don't want to pay for a certain repair. That day and that repair amount is completely up to you. We are humans... so that day usually has more to do with feelings than common sense.

Certainly get all your points.

Bought mine new for cash outright and am happy to underwrite any maintenance & repairs as, when & if they arise.

I already had the alternator/starter scenario - the £2,200 e-heater replacement - though it didn’t leave me stranded.

Both batteries are holding out well, had the HV one not done so I expect there would have been symptoms before end of warranty ended and the cost of an LVB is for nothing anyways.

Transmission whines a bit, not sure if that’s in my mind, but I’m keeping an eye on particulate wear levels by having transmission oil analysed every so often - if that fails I’d happily sling a new one under the back of the car for c£6,000.

What it has saved and continues to save in fuel, road tax, servicing etc probably funded the maintenance & repairs thus far.

It’s depreciated to a point further depreciation don’t bother me.

So, Stangy lives to fight another year until I feel like splashing out on a GT Rally or for another reason.

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[jmcbrew]

What it has saved and continues to save in fuel, road tax, servicing etc probably funded the maintenance & repairs thus far.

And that's really the thing, isn't it? I drive a lot, since I drive for Uber... about 60k miles per year. A similar ICE car over on this side of the pond would get about 24 MPG (you have better options in the UK). My electric is about 20 cents per kWh vs gasoline at about $3.50/gallon on average. Charging costs me around $3,400/year on the Mach-E, while a similar gasoline car would cost me about $8,700. That's a $5,300 savings. In a gas car, I would also spend about $1,000 on oil changes per year. That's a $6,300 savings. After four years (my estimate for paying off my auto loan), I will have saved $25,000. I bought the Mach-E for $29k, so it will have just about paid for itself in fuel and oil change savings.

We didn't even get into brake pads/rotors. I'll probably still be on the original set at 200k miles.

 

[Teslaeata]

And that's really the thing, isn't it? I drive a lot, since I drive for Uber... about 60k miles per year. A similar ICE car over on this side of the pond would get about 24 MPG (you have better options in the UK). My electric is about 20 cents per kWh vs gasoline at about $3.50/gallon on average. Charging costs me around $3,400/year on the Mach-E, while a similar gasoline car would cost me about $8,700. That's a $5,300 savings. In a gas car, I would also spend about $1,000 on oil changes per year. That's a $6,300 savings. After four years (my estimate for paying off my auto loan), I will have saved $25,000. I bought the Mach-E for $29k, so it will have just about paid for itself in fuel and oil change savings.

We didn't even get into brake pads/rotors. I'll probably still be on the original set at 200k miles.

Very interesting!

Your experience is consistent with reports on this side of the pond, slight variation on the theme given differences in the variables, but still pretty close.

Just spoke to the guy at our local Indian takeaway with whom we discuss our cars, usage etc, more so since I bought Stangy.

He also uses his car for some taxiing, c30,000 miles annually.

Yesterday he proudly announced that he just joined “my” EV club.

He bought it under assisted finance deal and his fuel savings alone cover his monthly finance payments.

Winner, winner, chicken dinner

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