What your car really costs you
Herve Rousseau
07/11/2007
You have to think about taking into account not only the purchase itself, but also the maintenance of your vehicle. (François Bouchon / Le Figaro)
Safer, more comfortable, more efficient ... new cars are also more expensive to maintain. What there is to know.
Automobile enthusiasts have reason to rejoice. Over the next few months, new products will follow one another. The only French Renault, Peugeot and Citroën will offer at least one new model per month. Competition plays in favor of lovers of four wheels who will soon have new reasons to give in to their desires.
Will this be enough to revive registrations? Over the past eight years, the share of car purchases in the household budget has fallen, according to a study by INSEE. Even if the prices of beautiful sedans and 4 × 4 generally remain above 30 euros. The new Laguna has an entry price of 000 euros. But, as soon as you want to add a few comfort and security options, the rating increases. It costs 30 euros for the Laguna III diesel 450 liter, equipped with a particle filter (a real plus for the environment) and an on-board GPS. At BMW, the entry ticket is 22 euros for the series and 000 for the 37 Series, without the options (800 euros for the comfort package which includes the lane departure warning system).
More complex cars
If you give in to temptation, consider not only the purchase itself, but also the maintenance of your vehicle. Indeed, the share of maintenance and repairs has increased by about 35% since 1998, 2,5 times more than inflation.
Going to the garage for a simple routine maintenance can therefore hold unpleasant surprises. Over 800 euros for the complete overhaul of a Laguna III according to L'Auto Journal, 1 euros for a Porsche 500. The reasons for this inflation are many. The price of spare parts has increased, driven by soaring prices for raw materials, but above all by technological developments. Electronics-related repairs remain essentially the preserve of dealers, which is far from favoring competition from independent garages, as INSEE underlines in this same study.
Cherry on the cake, the simplest interventions can turn to the Chinese puzzle on certain models. It takes an hour to change the bulb of a headlight of Audi A8 and an hour and a half for that of a Renault Modus, according to Norauto. An operation that can hardly be performed at home, since it is necessary to dismantle part of the front of the vehicle. Consequence, to change a lighthouse, count 45 to 100 euros of labor, depending on the networks. And, with that, you did not pay for the bulb, or around thirty euros for the Audi.
The prices of the most innocuous parts seem to have also climbed, technological evolution obliges. Thus, Bosch has developed a new flat wiper blade, supposed not to deteriorate with the frost or heat, but, in return, it is necessary to pay 30 euros to acquire a pair, against 20 euros for those of the previous generation. Another seemingly harmless piece: candles. And yet, they have inherited technologies from motor racing, have become self-cleaning (when they are designed using yttrium, a rare metal) and their price has increased from 4 to 7 euros on average. But, in the end, the consumer should be a winner: a motorist can travel 60 kilometers with a new generation candle instead of 000. This is one of the main credos of brands: spare parts are more expensive , but they last longer. In fact, there is no shortage of examples. The catalytic converters are six times more expensive than their predecessors, the injection carburetors which equip most diesels, three times more expensive ...
source: http://www.lefigaro.fr/conso/2007/11/07 ... oiture.php
it really doesn't make me want to buy a recent car.
800 euros for a visit (complete overhaul) of a Laguna III is crazy.
An hour and a half of labor to replace a bulb of Modus (small Renault car) ....... + the price of the bulb: it is expensive the burnt bulb .... etc. ........... etc.
I will keep my R25 as long as possible.
THIS IS A SCAM !!!!!!