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Survey: Land Rover, Porsche Most Expensive Cars To Maintain

Over 10 years, buying one car brand can cost you almost five times as much in maintenance fees as another. Buying a Land Rover can cost you more in maintenance and repair than any other car purchase decision.

Some drivers may be willing to pay higher maintenance fees to own a more luxurious, high-performance car. But if you want to avoid paying too much for repairs and maintenance appointments, avoid buying a European luxury car. That’s one conclusion from Consumer Reports’ annual study of the 10-year maintenance cost of new cars.

Related: What Is Total Cost of Ownership?

The publication asked its subscribers “how much they paid out of pocket for their total maintenance (oil changes, etc.) and repairs during the previous 12 months.” It totaled up data dating back 10 years and found some distinct trends.

New cars carry a bumper-to-bumper warranty – often for three years, though some cover up to five. Maintenance costs tend to rise once the warranty period is up, CR says.

Related: Car Warranty Guide – Everything You Need to Know

About CR’s Methods

Several prominent organizations research the cost of car ownership (including us). Most of them study every car on the market, excluding perhaps a few exotic, high-priced models whose owners aren’t concerned with cost.

Consumer Reports, instead, surveys its own subscribers. CR is a magazine that studies and rates all kinds of consumer products. Surveying people who subscribe to a publication like that gives you data on a smaller, pickier subset of the market. But it gives CR a view of what the most discerning consumers think.

Brands Differ Radically

They think imported luxury cars are expensive to own. There’s just one affordable brand – Subaru – on the list of the priciest cars to maintain. All the rest are luxury brands.

Related: Cars, Trucks, and SUVs With The Lowest 5-Year Cost of Ownership

But not all luxury cars performed poorly in the study. One – Lincoln – even placed among the five least expensive. No domestic brands appear on the 10 worst list.

The worst offenders also tend to make luxury cars and nothing else.

Many luxury automakers are, in fact, not separate automakers. They’re divisions of mainstream carmakers. Lincoln, for instance, is Ford’s luxury brand. Many Lincoln products share parts with Ford products – a fact that can make repairs less expensive down the line.

Land Rover parts? They’re just Land Rover parts. And Land Rover parts are expensive.

The Most Expensive Car Brands Over 10 Years of Maintenance

CR found 10-year maintenance costs as low as $4,035 (Tesla) and as high as $19,250 (Land Rover). The worst offenders:

Rank Brand Total Maintenance Cost Over 10 Years
1 Land Rover $19,250
2 Porsche $14,090
3 Mercedes-Benz $10,525
4 Audi $9,890
5 BMW $9,500
6 Volvo $9,285
7 Infiniti $8,500
8 Acura $7,800
9 Mini $7,625
10 Subaru $7,200

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