What Are The Cheapest And Most Expensive Cars To Maintain In The Philippines?

What Are The Cheapest And Most Expensive Cars To Maintain In The Philippines?

Owning a car can be a blessing or a curse, depending on what kind of motorist you are. While driving your own set of wheels could spell convenience and the privilege to avoid the hellish commute in the country, it also means that you have to shell out serious money every year, lest your priced investment could easily go to waste.

Aside from fuel and parking expenses, there’s your comprehensive car insurance, annual Land Transportation Office (LTO) registration, and periodic maintenance service (PMS). The biggest slice of your budget goes to preventive maintenance, which could range from P2,000 to P25,000 per visit to your dealership (more on this below).

And since not all cars are created equal, some are more expensive to maintain than others. Below are the most expensive and cheapest car brands to maintain in the Philippines and worldwide.

The list

Automobile resource site YourMechanic released a list of the most expensive brands to maintain over the first 10 years of a car’s life. To find out which make has the most expensive maintenance cost, the website got the average cost of two oil change sessions per year of all the models from the same brand. Among the top five brands with the most expensive maintenance costs are the following:

1.               BMW $17,800
2.               Mercedes-Benz $12,900
3.               Cadillac $12,500
4.               Volvo $12,500
5.               Audi $12,400

If you’ve noticed, four out of five of the brands above are European luxury brands, which is not surprising since their units are far more expensive than the other brands by average. While Cadillac may be the odd man in the said group, the American brand is one of the upscale brands under General Motors.

Now that we’ve seen the brands that are expensive to maintain, it’s time to see which ones are the ones that won’t blow your budget. To put things in contrast, these are the cheapest cars to maintain according to the website:

1.               Toyota $5,500
2.               Scion $6,400
3.               Lexus $7,000
4.               Honda $7,200
5.               Mitsubishi $7,400

Based on their maintenance fees, Japanese car brand Toyota and its divisions Lexus and Scion have all earned the top three spots. Meanwhile, two more Asian brands, namely Honda and Mitsubishi, have earned the fourth and fifth spots, respectively. It should also be noted that Lexus is Toyota’s premium line of cars.

YourMechanic also lists the following car models as the ones with the lowest maintenance costs over a period of 10 years. Shortlisted below are the models available in the Philippines. Please note that models may vary per region, and the costs are just estimates.

1 Toyota Prius $4,300 (P202,100)
2 Kia Soul $4,700 (P220,000)
3 Toyota Camry $5,200 (P244,400)
4 Toyota Corolla $5,800 (P272,600)
5 Toyota Yaris $6,100 (P286,700)
6 Kia Optima $6,400 (P300,800)
7 Lexus IS250 $6,500 (P305,500)
8 Honda Civic $6,600 (P310,200)
9 Honda Accord $6,600 (P310,200)
10 Volkswagen Jetta $6,800 (P319,600)
11 Lexus RX350 $6,900 (P324,300)
12 Nissan Sentra $7,200 (P338,400)
13 Subaru Impreza $7,500 (P352,500)

The cost of maintenance in the Philippines isn’t far off. According to the Manila Times, the cost of PMS in the country is relatively cheaper than the findings in the US; you can bring your usual Japanese sedan to your dealership’s service center and pay as little as P2,500 for the oil and filter change, with labor included. For the more upscale tiers, European car maintenance can run up to P25,000 per visit, which is usually twice a year for most cars.

Aside from the biannual oil change, some parts like tires cost around P20,000 for a set, while the car’s battery can go up to P5,000, which is replaced every after 18 months or so. While this may seem cheap at first, keep in mind that the older the car becomes, the more services the car will need to keep it in its best condition.

How about you? How much are you spending for your car maintenance?

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