How Much Should You Budget for Car Maintenance?

Across all 52 vehicles we model, maintenance and expected repairs average $842 a year. Budget by that number alone and you'll be over-saving early and badly short later, because the curve is steep: the fleet averages $561 in year one and $1257 by year ten — about 2.2× more.

Set aside a fixed amount monthly and let the surplus from the early years fund the expensive later ones. On a typical vehicle that means roughly $70 a month from day one: you'll bank a cushion in years 1–4 and draw it down from year 6 onward, instead of facing a $1257 year with nothing saved.

Two adjustments worth making. If you drive materially more than 12,000 miles a year, scale up — costs are partly time-driven and partly mileage-driven, so doubling your mileage adds roughly 40% rather than doubling the bill. And if you use a dealership rather than an independent shop, add about 30%: AAA's 2026 labor-rate survey puts independents around $80–130/hour with dealers typically $20–40/hour above that.

The gap between the cheapest and dearest mainstream vehicles we track is real but bounded — and it is dwarfed by the year-1-to-year-10 swing above. Luxury badges are the genuine outlier: parts and labor cost more, and included-maintenance programs hide it for the first few years.

AAA's Your Driving Costs 2025 puts maintenance, repair and tires at 11.04¢ per mile — about $1,656 a year at their 15,000-mile assumption. That is higher than our $842, and deliberately so: AAA prices a comprehensive extended warranty into the figure, assumes dealer retail rates, and models 15,000 miles against our 12,000. Treat AAA as the conservative ceiling and our figure as the independent-shop, average-mileage case. If you want to budget defensively, use theirs.

Every vehicle page shows the full year-by-year curve, real service pricing and intervals, and a calculator that adjusts for your mileage, how old the car was when you bought it, and where you get it serviced.