4 Car Brands That Cost Twice as Much To Maintain as the Average Vehicle

According to Consumer Affairs, “the average car costs around $900 per year to repair and maintain.” But some vehicles cost their owners twice that much money or more to keep up and running every year.

Unsurprisingly, the most expensive cars to maintain and repair are those built by luxury manufacturers using premium materials and high-end parts that cost a fortune to fix and replace.

Vehicle purchasing and researching platform CarEdge used millions of automotive data points to analyze and rank major auto manufacturers according to their vehicles’ long-term ownership costs, frequency of breaking down and probability of needing major repairs.

The most expensive ones to own — naturally among the most expensive to buy — cost more than double what typical buyers spend yearly to keep their vehicles in good working order.

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The average Porsche model requires $22,075 for maintenance and repairs during its first 10 years on the road — that’s $2,207.5 per year, making the iconic nameplate the most expensive brand on the market.

Of course, that’s just an annualized average. Like all vehicles, Porsches cost more to maintain and repair the older they get.

You can expect to spend $734 in year one to keep your high-performance, imported German status symbol on the road. By year five, it more than doubles to $1,683. By year seven, the average Porsche costs $3,001 and by its 10th year of service, the average Porsche costs its owner $4,745.

Overall, the average Porsche costs over $10,031 more than even the average luxury brand over a decade, and it comes with a 51.2% probability of suffering a major repair during that time — 16.1% worse than the segment average.

With an average annual maintenance and repair cost of $1,931.2, BMW isn’t far behind Porsche in what its owners pay to keep their vehicles running smoothly.

Unlike Porsche, which doesn’t dabble in entry-level luxury, BMW has models ranging from the high $30,000s to well over $100,000, which sheds light on the brand’s comparatively forgiving long-term costs — but owning a BMW certainly isn’t cheap.

The average owner spends just $610 in year one, roughly doubling to $1,212 by the fourth year. By year seven, the average is $2,643 before rising to $3,686 in the 10th year of ownership.

In one decade, BMW owners pay $7,268 more than the owner of the average luxury car, thanks, in part, to a 45.9% chance that a BMW will require a major repair in its first 10 years, which is 10.8% worse than the average luxury brand.

The Land Rover brand — which makes not just the vaunted Range Rover lineup but also the Defender and Discovery models — costs an average of $18,569 to repair and maintain over 10 years, annualized to $1,856.90 per year.

Land Rover doesn’t have models as affordable as BMW, but the cheapest options start in the high $40,000s, which is more accessible than Porsche.

In year one, the cost of maintenance and repairs is just $656. By year five, however, those expenses more than double to $1,429. By the eighth year, they nearly doubled again to $2,790. In the 10th year, the average Land Rover owner spends $3,451 to keep their luxury off-road vehicle up and running.

In the first decade, the average Land Rover costs its owner $6,525 more than the average luxury brand. In that time, there’s a 41.7% chance that a Land Rover will need a major repair, which is 6.6% worse than the segment average.

The No. 4 most expensive brand to maintain actually comes in at just under double the industry average. The Jaguar nameplate has a 10-year maintenance and repair cost of $17,636, or $1,763.6 per year. That’s “just” $5,592 more than the average luxury car costs its owner over a decade of ownership.

Although in some circles, Jags have a reputation as luxury lemons that spend more time in the mechanic’s garage than in their owners’ garages, there’s only a 40.5% chance that a Jaguar will require a major repair in its first 10 years of service. That’s just 5.5% worse than the average luxury automaker, which makes Jaguar not just cheaper to own, but more reliable than the other three manufacturers on this list.

Like Land Rover, the closest Jaguar comes to entry-level luxury is a handful of starting MSRPs that are just a few bucks under $50,000.