5 year ownership update

Hello all I've just got the car back from its annual service and thought I would provide a 5 year ownership update, including costs. So, here is a year-by-year run-down of things I've had done, including servicing, MOTs, essential maintenance and elective maintenance / fettling Year 1 Following PPI - engine coolant pipe, coil packs & heat shield, paid for by vendor Later in the year 4X coffin arms, 2 front tyres, diff seal, oil & filter Front discs & pads service inc. brake fluid change Wheel refurb MOT Total year 1 cost to me = £4041.11 Year 2 AC radiators and condenser, low temp thermostat, front wheel arch liners Crank sensor - so far this is the only 'breakdown' I've had, although to be fair it only stopped once I'd driven it to the indy and parked on their forecourt. (Symptoms were inability to rev over 4,000 RPM and difficult to start when warm). bonnet and front bumper respray and front wheel arch rust repair service and timing chain tensioner seals replaced MOT Total year 2 cost = £2600.42 Year 3 purchase exhaust back boxes purchase and fit front strut top mounts, full alignment, replace number plate lights service: brake lines, gearbox pipes, gearbox oil and filter change, brake fluid change MOT Total year 3 cost = £2675.28 Year 4 fit exhaust boxes, fix door microswitch (driver's side window wouldn't close fully when shutting door) wiper blades service MOT Total cost = £922.06 Year 5 replace headlight removal bars and tool repair rust and paint 2x door strikes and 1x front wheel arch service: replace metal power steering pipes, front brake pipe, brake fluid change MOT Total cost = £2115.21 Overall total 5 years ownership = £12354.08 Average per year is £2470, which matches quite well with the standard estimates of £2000 per year to run a 996. Total mileage in my ownership is 16,738 (total 81,000). Longest road trip - Cornwall to Girona and back. On a recent drive from Cornwall to Gatwick / around central London and stretches of M25 I noticed the car is quite 'crashy' going over potholes, catseyes, uneven road surfaces, etc. So, maybe a full suspension assessment / refurb may be on the cards in the not too distant future - unless it's just the terrible state of UK roads! Thanks to SCS Porsche, Braunton Engineering and RPM Technik for carrying out all of the above works and Elite for the wheel refurb. I hope the information is interesting / useful John

How many miles have you done in the 5 years?

It's written in his post Huntsman. 17000. Nice methodical maintenance Baldlemur and as you say, bang on the £2k per year figure really. Don't go on P'heads throwing the £2k figure around mind. You'll get a load of people who've never owned a 911 declaring they can't possibly cost that much to run. Either that or you'll get some cheap skate owners saying you can do it for less. They'll happily sell all the issues and worn out components on to the next guy though. :roll:

Interesting post John. Just out of curiosity, has the real value of your car increased much over those 5 years do you think? When i sold my c4s after 4 years and 20k miles, i made a profit on the sale which equalled 80 per cent of my total running costs, minus fuel and insurance . Mind you i think i was a bit lucky! Rick

That'll teach me!

I'm at 2.5 years and i've just passed £8k spend (this includes ALL expenses though, including optional ones, like new exhaust, new clutch, RMS, IMS, etc) and under 4k miles. So yeah... 2.5k a year is pretty much what it takes (unless you're like me and spend extra money when you dont have to ) Feast your eyes...

I'm not brave enough to add all of my receipts over the past 2 years...even excluding my incoming invoice for engine rebuild, i think it would be circa ~ £2.5k per year. But i might get depressed if i look. I'm going to wait until 996s are worth the same as 911 2.7s are now, and then i will calculate the total spend and show the wife how i was right all along and that i did make money on it!

Amateurs. £21k over five years / 30k miles here but don't tell my wife. And that's not even with any big-ticket items (engine, suspension) although there's around 4k of paint & wheel refurbs in there. Still she looks great, runs sweetly, and puts a smile on my face every day. The car, I mean. The wife goes without saying, of course

It depends on how you look at it. £2k is probably ok but if you are improving the car too, 'betterment' costs money on top of this. If you buy a good car in the first place, £2k does it, if you need to tidy it up, that cost is on top.

Just to make you all cringe now that i note the Road Tax line item above... the Road Tax in Ireland is €1,804/£1,600 per year. That hurts the most...and i never include it in running costs.

Thats a pretty comprehensive log of costs. I wish I was as methodical as you but time and other things don't permit. my first 996 was a C2s Cab and I used it as a daily for 3 years and around 45 to 50k miles, summer, winter, ice snow the lot.I even drove it in that really bad winter we had a few years ago when people were staying at home because of the snow. My running costs were new water pump, replaced IMS (waste of money) MOT and service. Oh and I think I greased the bonnet catch once but I cant remember how much it cost Car is sold now but I wish I had kept it.

Currently adds up to just over £12100 after 5 years & 25,000 miles.

I've spent £6821 on my 996 in 6 years from 111k to 138k so far 27k miles. I mostly do my own spannering, so thats parts inc tyres and MOTs - you could easily double that figure if paying someone.

I think 2K a year is a good rule of thumb - here are my stats PURCHASE PRICE £72,204.34 TOTAL MAINTENANCE SPENT (from receipts by previous owners and including my maintenance £41,511.57 Maintenance Spend From My Ownership £6,790.56 My 5 Year Ownership Costs Maintenance Spend From 1st February 2015 -31st March 2015 £1,474.63 Maintenance Spend From 1st April 2015 -31st March 2016 £1,913.14 Maintenance Spend From 1st April 2016 -31st March 2017 £2,133.94 Maintenance Spend From 1st April 2017 -31st March 2018 £1,148.85 Maintenance Spend From 1st April 2018 -31st March 2019 £95.00 My Mileage = 16K over 5 Years Purchase Price Feb 2015 = £11,995 6 monthly WBAC Valuation 07 June 2015 107,000 £9,200.00 16 January 2016 109,000 £8,695.00 05 June 2016 110,000 £10,000.00 01 February 2017 113,000 £8,725.00 01 June 2017 115,000 £9,315.00 01 February 2018 117,000 £9,255.00 01 June 2018 118,000 £9,560.00 01 February 2019 120,000 £7,000.00 18 July 2019 121,000 £8,395.00 So - if I walked away selling the car to WBAC today the car would have cost me £10,390 for 5 years motoring - that's £173 a month (less than my lease on my Ford Focus)

I've had my 996 for six years and I reckon I've spent about £600/year on maintenance whilst driving about 3.5K miles/year. This has included things like new top mounts, all new suspension arms, GT3 coilovers, new RMS, gearbox arm repairs, new shifter cables, brake lines, including over the gearbox, new FW & clutch, AOS, new TG cats and boxes, etc etc. My car isn't for polishing, it's for driving, so it's maintained that way, i.e. the oil is always golden, but the paintwork has never seen a clay bar. I have deferred a gearbox rebuild for some time, but I have a nearly new 997 gearbox waiting to go in, once I source some affordable output flanges for it. I also need to replace the solenoid for bank 2, which will be fun.. My low costs have only been achievable through doing every last job myself and through hunting around for the right parts at the right prices. I reckon my costs would easily have topped £2.5K/year had I not done this.