Tweet that went viral: real cost of car ownership

How do you compute your car's ownership cost? Fuel expense + some provision for maintenance, insurance etc? Below is the real cost of ownership of a normal 10-12 lakh car on a per km basis.

When I published a tweet on this topic this week, I had no idea it will go viral. The tweet saw 2 lakh+ views within a day and numbers bookmarks, RTs and replies. Check the original tweet here.

A normal car costing 25-30 INR /km is hard to believe-but it is the truth. Of course there are variables

- if you've not taken loan, you will be saving on interest amount

- Many fixed costs when calculated on a per km basis will be a function of how many kms you use your car every year. If you're driving a lot, per km cost will be less, if your car stays idle at home, then per km cost will be high. Taxi drivers drive much more per day than a private car owner, so they get a reduced per km cost on depreciation, insurance etc

- Toll if you're lucky you can save (no toll around your town or very little usage of toll roads)

- EVs may save heavily on fuel (1 INR per km vs 7-8 per km) but battery replacement after 5-6-7 years will cost almost as much as a new car, so that expense need to be factored. EVs have very little resale value as of now, so depreciation is very high.

Of course car ownership brings convenience, luxury, comfort- don't have to wait for taxi person to accept your booking & show up, no need to depend on public transport, better privacy, time management and status symbol. No denying that.

Let me know your thoughts.

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