We do need details on costs used too. Electricity varies. And gas prices obviously vary, but annual

As we enter the holiday season, you who chose a Volt may know it is like a gift that keeps on giving, whereas a Toyota Prius is an expense that ultimately costs more to own even though it sells for much less.
The Volt in question cheap car rental in orlando is a 2013 model year, as Edmunds does not have data loaded in for the 2014, which now costs just under $35,000. It also assumes the full $7,500 tax credit, but no state or local credits.
The components of TCO® are depreciation, interest on financing, taxes and fees, insurance premiums, fuel, maintenance, repairs cheap car rental in orlando and any federal tax credit that may be available. In order to estimate certain cheap car rental in orlando mileage-dependent costs, we assume that vehicles will be driven 15,000 miles per year
Note that TCO® is a comparative tool, not a predictive tool — your actual five-year cost of owning a particular vehicle will vary depending on your personal circumstances, such as your driving history and the number of miles you drive.
The base Prius is now over $2,000 less than last year – which in turn was just a bit more than 2012. Also, the PiP qualifies for a federal tax credit of up to $2,500 plus the State of California’s cheap car rental in orlando Clean Vehicle Rebate Program (CVRP) which offers a $1,500 rebate.
So we ll take the Edmunds data for a 2012 with a grain of salt. In this case, the base PiP cost $27,584 and TCO is $39,222 – it would need to be adjusted, but then, so would the Volt which is $1,200 more than 2014 MSRP (including destination).
The 2013 Volt’s TCO is $30,080 – and without tax credit , it’s $37,580. In this case of previous-years models it beats the plug-in Prius by $1,642 – though again, comparing two 2014s would create a different spread still likely to see the Volt beating the PiP to some degree.
Cruze price: $19,627. TCO: $39,019 – that’s just about double the price ($19.392) for true ownership cost. The inexpensive Cruze has hidden costs making it almost as expensive as an un-subsidized PiP, more than the regular Prius, and $8,939 cheap car rental in orlando more than the subsidized Volt.
The Cruze on the other hand is a relatively cheap car and when people focus on price – or worse, monthly payments – it appears to be a better value when they fail to look at all costs involved, but for people who match Edmunds’ criteria, it is anything but!
This entry was posted on Friday, December 13th, 2013 at 5:55 am and is filed under General . You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. Both comments and pings are currently closed.
I firmly believe that the Volt TCO will actually improve more in the next 2 years as more hard data from the first batch comes in and we see real costs. I think the maintenance and repair costs are a bit inflated on year 4 and 5 on the Volt. Also if you took a wear and tear comparison on the Volt as compared to a standard ICE car Volt components would show maybe the equivalent of 1.5 years wear on all overall components except tires. So I say depreciation should be less and it would be a great car for rental fleets used.
As provided in earlier posts, I will conservatively cheap car rental in orlando save about 6 to 7k on fuel alone each year I own my volt. I really dislike the argument that I could just buy a Honda I20 and save almost 40k on the price (remembering I had to pay 53k in OZ after a lot of haggling) and save on fuel. by that token though, why not just buy a scooter cheap car rental in orlando and save thousands over an i20? the volt is more comfortable cheap car rental in orlando and quite luxurious to drive that s why that is the same reason people by luxury cars
taking into account the graphs provided, I will save over the long run and enjoyed a great car whilst doing so. in the US, you no-longer have to be an early adaptor for this technology. electric cars should be becoming mainstream about now. we need more advertising and less media trying to put a political spin on a great concept.
My 2 years fuel costs for both gasoline and electric is averaging $400 per year. My maintenance cost was $75 for the first 2 years because I had the oil changed early. My insurance for the first year was $1575 and the second year was $1820. Repairs (tires removed a screw and a nail for 2 tires $35 to fix 2 tires. I did have some body damage repaired due to super storm Sandy $875. There was also some warranty work and recalls on the charger $0. I drive 65% electric so I think I m well under their tracked costs, oh year maybe $80 in car washes, which reminds me . After this cold spell it s time for another wash. There is also no visible traction battery deterioration got my highest overall EV runs last summer.
*Above data is based on Edmunds.com’s proprietary “Total Cost of Ownership” (TCO) calculator and includes cheap car rental in orlando initial cost, depreciation, interest on financing, taxes and fees, insurance premiums, fuel, maintenance, repairs and any federal tax credit that may be available at the time of purchase.
The insurance numbers seem out of whack. Why would a lower cost car cost so much more in insurance? Does it have a much higher incidence of theft or is the safety rating that much different? I m glad the Volt s cost of ownership compares well but I want the comparisons to be accurate.
This is information that many here did know before buying a Volt. I knew this, too, although not so much in detail, yet I cannot buy a Volt. My relatives complain about high gas prices, but when I explain that they will save money if they buy at least a hybrid, then they say that it costs too much. The funny part is that all have a BS in a technical field or science, yet cannot see how technology will save them money in the future.
So as the saying goes (and expressed above): you pay now or pay later. I do my own servicing after the factory warranty expires, so I save some later. cheap car rental in orlando But after reading (from cover to cover) the owner manuals for the Chevy Volt and the Spark EV, I am sure that buying a BEV or an EREV I will be paying now only once. Then I will save later.
Raymondjram : My relatives cheap car rental in orlando complain about high gas prices, but when I explain that they will save money if they buy at least a hybrid, then they say that it costs too much. The funny part is that all have a BS in a technical field or science, yet cannot “see” how technology will save them money in the future
Thanks for the suggestion, but the TCO calculator will not work for any of our Zip Codes, and probably doesn t use our gas prices or insurance rates, which is higher than in the mainland. If it was in a spread sheet format so anyone with Excel or a compatible program can post their local numbers and get a valid result, then it will help.
2) I question the depreciation numbers on the Volt. No way you can sell the Volt after 3 years for only 3542$ less than purchase. The 2000$ depreciation for the Prius is also pretty optimistic. It would be interesting to see what KBB says.
I am going to throw this out as food for thought as to why the Leaf is so low on maintenance. The arguement applies to other pure EV s as well. Look at the simplicity of the design. Look how small the motor and gearbox are. Shoot, the inverter and power module are bigger than the motor and transmission.
Since tax-credit availability is temporary cheap car rental in orlando and the analysis purpose is long-term, we should consider the difference without. That leaves the difference with Volt at just $637. And since Prius clearly offers more seating room in back and a larger cargo area, that in itself is enough to make the difference a wash.
Factoring in the price of gas really changes things. The expectation of it going up is very realistic, again, since this is long-term. Going up changes the equation hence the need to consider the plug-in model. That raises the question cheap car rental in orlando of bringing region into the equation since we all know how winter really impacts cheap car rental in orlando outcome.
You are correct! For those who live in cities and travel less than 80 miles in a day, a BEV is the best vehicle. For those who travel over 80 miles in a day, the EREV is better, unless you buy a Model S.
I calculated cheap car rental in orlando $125/month savings in electric/gas costs over a hybrid s gas costs, and leased at $300. That is a virtual lease payment of $175. I would gladly pay $175/month to drive a vehicle as nice as a Volt. Name one other vehicle you can lease for $200/month that would be as nice
I used only 5.8 gallons in a year to go over 8,000 city PA miles my wattmeter told me I used 70 cents per day for electricity add that to the total maintenance of $12 to rotate the tires once and my total for the year for fuel and maintenance is less than $275!
Skeptical of the Edmunds.com insurance rates for Prius or overall conclusion that a base Volt 5-yr TOC is $8,137 cheaper than a base Prius 5-yr TOC? I used kbb.com s 5-yr TOC calculator * for Long Beach, CA, which gave the Volt savings as $7,618, an Edmunds/KBB disparity of only $519.
Since tax-credit availability is temporary and the analysis purpose is long-term, we should consider the difference without.That leaves the difference with Volt at just $637.And since Prius clearly offers more seating room in back and a larger cargo area, that in itself is enough to make the difference a wash.
Not sure I understand the validity of your other assumptions either. If, instead, a buyer values performance/acceleration, quiet ride, or all electric drive for most of their driving, the scales would tilt very much in favor of the Volt, just like the Total cost of ownership shows.
We do need details on costs used too. Electricity varies. And gas prices obviously vary, but annual driving distance has a significant influence as well. Less or more really alters results of plug-in vehicles. Then there s things like vacation travel to consider.
Just drove 1100 miles to visit my sister for thanksgiving, spent $90 on gas, $75 on tolls. $90 represents less than 1/4 of my annual travel costs. Round trip air fare would have been about $500 by the way.
It s about the same as the Volt, more or less. With the Leaf the scheduled maintenance is a brake flush every couple of years. With the Volt it s an oil change every couple of years