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| The Basics | The cheapest cars to own (and fix)
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From flimsy bumpers to intricate technology, some cars simply cost a lot more than others to maintain and repair. You can bet your insurer notices, too.
By Liz Pulliam Weston
The blue-white light from those new high-intensity-discharge headlights can seem pretty cool -- until you crunch one in a fender-bender and have to replace it.
Instead of a few bucks for an old-fashioned lamp, or even $60 for a halogen, youll shell out $500 or more.
Thats just one of the surprises that could be in store for you the first time your new car needs a repair. Thanks to differences in design and manufacture, two vehicles with similar price tags can rack up vastly different fix-it bills over time.
Cars with higher repair costs ding their owners another way: in higher insurance premiums. Insurers tend to boost the cost of collision coverage on vehicles that regularly rack up big repair bills.
People get excited when they see a great deal advertised on a lease for a luxury car, said Jeannine Fallon, spokeswoman for car comparison site Edmunds.com. They think, hey, I can afford to drive a Jaguar instead of a Ford Taurus.
Only after they get the car home do they start to notice how much more it costs to fix and maintain their prize, Fallon said. Then they realize they cant afford to own it.
Why some repairs cost more
Why the variations? Among the key factors:- Design. How a car is put together can determine how well it survives a crash -- and how much it costs to fix afterward. Among 2003 midsized sport utility vehicles, for example, the Honda Pilots bumpers simply hold up better than many of its rivals. In 5-mph crash tests conducted by the Insurance Institute for Highway Safety, the Pilot sustained an average $404 in repair costs -- compared with $1,246 for the Toyota 4Runner and $1,646 for the Kia Sorento.
- Technology. Obviously, cars in general are far more sophisticated than they used to be, but some really push the envelope. BMWs iDrive technology is much more advanced than its competitors, says car expert Phil Reed. The training required (for mechanics) is greater, the parts are more specialized.
- Imported vs. domestic. If the car is imported, chances are the parts need to be, as well. That can add to the price, particularly for the less popular makes.
- Luxury vs. everything else. All other things being equal, more expensive cars are going to cost you more to repair just because its what the market will bear.
Everything in a luxury car is inflated, said Reed, Edmunds.com consumer advice editor and lead author of Strategies for Smart Car Buyers. Im not sure the cost is always justified.
Mobile money pits not easy to identify
Figuring out just which cars are repair nightmares, though, isnt as easy as it might seem. Different groups measure these things differently, which is why I turned to three different sources for their evaluations.
I started with Edmunds.com, which has a True Cost to Own feature designed to measure the five-year cost of vehicles, including financing, depreciation, gas, insurance and, yes, repairs.
There are some pretty major variations in repair costs, even between similarly priced cars and among vehicles made by the same manufacturer. Audi had both the cheapest and most expensive cars in the luxury wagon category, while Nissan had the same in compact trucks.
The differences were often substantial. Among luxury convertibles, the Lexus SC 430 had a five-year repair cost of $742 -- about one-third that of the Porsche 911.
Below are the cars Edmunds.com identified as the most and least expensive to own in various classes, based on their five-year repair costs as measured by warranty providers.
| Highest and lowest repair costs | | Description | Make | Model | Style | Repair cost | | Compact truck | | | | | | Best: | Nissan | Frontier | 2dr King Cab Standard RWD SB | $701 | | Worst: | Nissan | Frontier | 4dr Crew Cab SVE-V6 4WD SB | $1,011 | | | | | | | Luxury convertible | | | | | | Best: | Lexus | SC 430 | 2dr Convertible | $742 | | Worst: | Porsche | 911 | Turbo AWD 2dr Cabriolet | $2,067 | | | | | | | Midrange Convertible | | | | | | Best: | Mitsubishi | Eclipse Spyder | GS 2dr Convertible | $701 | | Worst: | BMW | Z4 | 2.5i 2dr Roadster | $1,156 | | | | | | | Luxury coupe | | | | | | Best: | Chevrolet | Corvette | Z06 2dr Coupe | $920 | | Worst: | Porsche | 911 | Turbo AWD 2dr Coupe | $2,067 | | | | | | | Midrange coupe | | | | | | Best: | Toyota | Camry Solara | SLE V6 2dr Coupe | $701 | | Worst: | Mercedes-Benz | C-Class | C230 Kompressor RWD 2dr Sport Coupe | $1,328 | | | | | | | Large truck | | | | | | Best: | Nissan | Titan | 4dr Crew Cab LE RWD SB | $701 | | Worst: | Cadillac | Escalade EXT | 4dr Crew Cab AWD | $1,010 | | | | | | | Minivan | | | | | | Best: | Kia | Sedona | EX 4dr Minivan | $632 | | Worst: | Oldsmobile | Silhouette | GLS AWD 4dr Ext Minivan | $869 | | | | | | | Luxury SUV | | | | | | Best: | Ford | Excursion | Limited 4WD 4dr SUV | $860 | | Worst: | Porsche | Cayenne | Turbo Tiptronic AWD 4dr SUV | $2,067 | | | | | | | Low-priced SUV | | | | | | Best: | Kia | Sorento | EX RWD 4dr SUV | $632 | | Worst: | Honda | Element | LX AWD 4dr SUV | $889 | | | | | | | Midrange SUV | | | | | | Best: | Suzuki | XL-7 | EX III RWD 4dr SUV | $653 | | Worst: | Land Rover | Freelander | SE3 2dr AWD SUV | $1,897 | | | | | | | Luxury sedan | | | | | | Best: | Lexus | GS 430 | 4dr Sedan | $742 | | Worst: | Jaguar | XJR | 4dr Sedan | $1,937 | | | | | | | Midpriced sedan | | | | | | Best: | Hyundai | XG350 | L 4dr Sedan | $632 | | Worst: | Jaguar | X-Type | 2.5 4dr AWD Sedan | $1,897 | | | | | | | Luxury wagon | | | | | | Best: | Audi | allroad quattro | AWD 4dr Wagon | $1,205 | | Worst: | Audi | S4 | Avant quattro AWD 4dr Wagon | $1,668 | | | | | | | Midpriced wagon | | | | | | Best: | Saturn | L300 | 4dr Station Wagon | $702 | | Worst: | Audi | A4 | 1.8T Avant quattro AWD 4dr Wagon | $1,368 |
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Source: Edmunds.com
Youll notice the above chart doesnt include many low-priced vehicles; thats because the lower-priced convertibles, coupes, sedans and wagons in Edmunds.coms survey tended to have similar repair costs. The Honda Civic, for example, technically had the worst five-year repair cost among low-priced coupes, but its tab of $724 wasnt much higher than the $632 price tag run up by the best-ranked coupe, the Hyundai Accent.
The Edmunds.com figures have their limitations, however. Since theyre based on warranty repairs, they dont include the really big repair costs -- those inflicted by a crash.
To get that information, I turned to the Insurance Services Office, which provides risk information to insurance companies. The ISO rates vehicles based on insurers actual loss experience -- how much real-world crashes cost to fix. The ISOs data blend frequency as well as severity, which means some cars get a worse rating because theyre involved in crashes more often (as well as being more expensive to repair afterward). The vehicles below are all 2003 models.
| Costliest and cheapest collision coverage | | Costliest | | | Cheapest | | | | Dodge | Neon | 4 DR | Buick | LeSabre | 4 DR | | Ford | Focus | 2 DR | Buick | Park Avenue | 4 DR | | Ford | ZX2 | 2 DR | Chevrolet | Suburban | SUV | | Hyundai | Accent | 2 DR | Chevrolet | Tahoe | SUV | | Hyundai | Accent | 4 DR | GMC | Yukon | SUV | | Hyundai | Elantra | 4 DR | GMC | Yukon XL | SUV | | Hyundai | Tiburon | 2 DR | Mercedes | M-Class | SUV | | Kia | Rio | 4 DR | | | | | Toyota | Celica | 2 DR | | | | | Toyota | Echo | 2 DR | | | | | Toyota | Echo | 4 DR | | | |
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Source: Insurance Services Office
The ISO doesnt give dollar amounts for repairs, though, which is a major limitation of their data. So I turned to the Insurance Institute for Highway Safety, which performs all kinds of crash tests and measures the damage afterward. I focused on the kind of repair damage were most likely to face: the low-speed fender-bender.
Some cars, like the inexpensive midsized Mazda 6, did OK, averaging just $342 in damages. Others fared far worse. Institute researchers called the bumpers on the more expensive Infiniti G35 a disaster, with a repair price tag four times greater.
The following vehicles were rated poor in 5-mph crash tests conducted by the Insurance Institute for Highway Safety. Each suffered greater-than-average damage in collisions designed to test the effectiveness of the vehicles bumpers.
| Fender-bender flunkers | | Year | Make | Model | Type | Average repair cost | | 2003 | Kia | Sorento | Midsize SUV | $1,646 | | 2004 | Cadillac | SRX | Midsize SUV | $1,644 | | 2003 | Infiniti | G35 | Midsize Moderate | $1,481 | | 2003 | Infiniti | FX35 | Midsize SUV | $1,436 | | 2004 | Chrysler | Pacifica | Midsize SUV | $1,315 | | 2003 | Mercedes | E-Class | Large Luxury | $1,300 | | 2003 | Toyota | 4Runner | Midsize SUV | $1,246 | | 2004 | Nissan | Quest | Minivan | $1,137 | | 2004 | Acura | TSX | Midsize Moderate | $989 | | 2004 | Chevrolet | Malibu | Inexpensive | $952 |
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Source: IIHS
Of course, theres a lot more involved in buying a car than just evaluating its potential repair costs. But if youre bent on buying one of the vehicles that didnt fare well in these evaluations, you might want to consider budgeting a little extra to cover the inevitable surprises your mechanical baby is likely to present.
Liz Pulliam Weston's column appears every Monday and Thursday, exclusively on MSN Money. She also answers reader questions in the Your Money message board.
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