Top cheapest and most expensive cars to maintain in Nigeria

23/09/2019

When you buy a car, goes a Nigerian saying, you marry a second wife. Because cars cos money to maintain. Which is the most and least to care for?

Driving a car is not all there is to owning a car. You have to maintain the car for it to serve you well. This maintenance also goes a long way to determine how long the car will serve you. One question arises though: how much are you willing to spend for your car's maintenance?

All cars do not cost the same when it comes to maintenance, some cars are pretty expensive to maintain compared to some others that are cheap to keep on the road.

Online automobile site YourMechanic.com from data that spans 10 years, has come out with an index of cheapest cars to maintain as well as the most expensive cars to maintain, brought to you by Naijacarnews.com.

The statistics use the amount it costs to change oil twice in a year for the 10 years to come up with this maintenance comparism, as it is generally recommended that oil be changed every six months, or there can be consequences.

man-under-car

Everybody wants a car, but maintenance can be quite pocket draining

1. Car brands & estimated maintenance cost over 10 years

Below are the data gathered by reliable car mechanic sites in the world, indicating an average maintenance cost for each car brand over a decade, converted to Nigerian naira for your reference.

Rank  Car brand  Maintenance cost
 1  BMW ₦6,408,000
 2  Mercedes-Benz 4,644,000
 3  Cadillac 4,500,000
 4  Volvo 4,500,000
 5  Audi 4,464,000
 6  Saturn  4,464,000
 7  Mercury 4,320,000
 8  Pontiac 4,248,000
 9  Chrysler 3,816,000
 10  Dodge 3,816,000
 11  Acura 3,528,000
 12  Infiniti 3,348,000
 13  Ford 3,276,000
 14  Kia 3,168,000
 15  Land Rover 3,168,000
 16  Chevrolet 3,168,000
 17  Buick 3,096,000
 18  Jeep 2,988,000
 19  Subaru 2,952,000
 20  Hyundai 2,952,000 
 21 GMC 2,808,000
 22  Volkswagen 2,808,000
 23  Nissan 2,736,000
 24  Mazda 2,700,000
 25  Mini 2,700,000
 26  Mitsubishi 2,664,000
 27  Honda 2,592,000
 28  Lexus 2,520,000
 29  Scion 2,304,000
30 Toyota 1,980,000

>>> Maintenance cost is one of these factors: Factors to consider before buying cars in Nigeria

BMW-330I-and-Mercedes-Benz-C300

Car brands like the BMW and Mercedes Benz will set you back annually the most for maintenance

While you may not be familiar with some car brands as they are not well known in here in Nigeria, you can see from the information that luxury cars from Germany and America such as the BMW, Mercedes-Benz and the Cadillac are the most expensive to maintain while the Asian Auto giant Toyota ranks least on the table along with its subsidiaries, the Scion and the Lexus.

It is also worthy to note that the maintenance costs of cars changes as the car ages i.e. the cost increases as the car grows older. This is probably because one may not like to spend much on cars when the cost of maintenance is becoming higher than the car's worth.

However, having compared the cost maintenance of different brands of cars, we cannot conclude that all models of a particular car brand follow the pattern of either being expensive to maintain or least expensive to maintain. Individual models of different car brands also have different cost of maintenance. Here we look at them from the least to the most expensive.

>>> For your reference: Oando engine oil in Nigeria - Available products, Prices and Reviews

2. Cheapest & Most expensive cars to maintain

Here are the car models that cost least to maintain worldwide. You may consider buying one of these to save car repair budget.

Car Brand  Maintenance cost
Toyota Prius 1,548,000
Kia Soul 1,692,000
Toyota Camry 1,872,000
Honda Fit 1,980,000
Toyota Tacoma  2,088,000 
Toyota Corolla 2,088,000 
Nissan Versa 2,124,000 
Toyota Yaris 2,196,000 
Scion xB 2,268,000 
Kia Optima 2,304,000 
Lexus IS250 2,340,000 
Nissan Rogue 2,340,000 
 Toyota Highlander 2,376,000 
 Honda Civic 2,376,000 
 Honda Accord 2,376,000 
 Volkswagen Jetta 2,448,000 
 Lexus RX350 2,484,000 
 Ford Fusion 2,520,000 
 Nissan Sentra 2,592,000 
 Subaru Impreza 2,700,000 

If awards are to be given, the Asian Auto manufacturers will come out tops; especially the Toyota brands that have totally proven to be economical in terms of maintenance, followed by the Honda and the Kia car manufacturers.

Toyota-Prius

Toyota Prius is the cheapest car to maintain, however it does cost a bit more to start with

>>> Talking about car prices, let's see Who own the most expensive car collections in the world

3. Common issues that require car maintenance/ repair

But what causes this disparity in the cost of maintenance? Well, some cars tend to have high frequency of reoccurrence of a fault. You find that you often visit your mechanic to work on a particular fault time and again. This contributes to the cost of maintenance of a car.

Let us now look at car brands, their issues and their frequency of occurrence.

Car Brand   Car Issue Issue Frequency 
 Mercury Fuel pump replacement  28x 
 Chrysler Exhaust gas recirculation/EGR valve replacement  24x 
 Infiniti Camshaft position sensor replacement  21x 
 Cadillac Intake manifold gasket replacement  19x 
 Jaguar Check Engine Light is on inspection  19x 
 Pontiac  Intake manifold gasket replacement 19x 
 Dodge  Exhaust gas recirculation/EGR valve replacement 19x 
 Plymouth Not starting inspection  19x 
 Honda Valve clearance adjustment  18x 
 BMW Window regulator replacement  18x 
 Ford PCV valve hose replacement  18x 
 BMW Idler pulley replacement  18X 
 Chrysler Overheating inspection  17x 
 Saturn Wheel bearing replacement  17x 
 Oldsmobile Not starting inspection  17x 
 Mitsubishi Timing belt replacement  17x 
 BMW Drive belt tensioner replacement  16X 
 Chrysler Camshaft position sensor replacement  16x 
 Jaguar Battery service  16x 
 Cadillac Leaking coolant  16x 
 Jeep Crankshaft position sensor replacement  15x 
 Chrysler Engine mount replacement  15x 
 Mercedes Crankshaft position sensor  15x 

Mercedes-G63-AND-KIM-KARDASIAN

Cars like Kim Kardasian's Mercedes Benz G63 are not prone to frequent breakdown, but they cost a bomb to start with

The Ford Mercury had the most issue as it suffers most from fuel pump related issues. I guess this was the reason its production was discontinued in 2011.  The Fiat Chrysler Automobiles FCA has the highest frequency of faults, with the Chrysler appearing four times with different faults and the Dodge, which is a part of the FCA conglomerate having exhaust gas recirculation issues.  

As Naijacarnews brings you this resource about the cost of car maintenance of different car brands and models, this is not to say that the information is peculiar to these cars irrespective of the manner of handling. Some cars will do well if and only if they are handled properly.

Generally, proper handling of your car could effectively limit the cost of maintenance.

>>> Informative maintenance tips always available on Car Care at Naijacarnews.com

Joshua-Okeafor

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