This forum has a lot of anecdotal information on vehicle dependability and maintenance costs, based on the poster's experience with a few, a few dozen, or, in Scotty's case, a few thousand cars. But what if you could see hard, detailed and quantifiable data on 10 year maintenance costs? I know it has to exist - how else would the extended warranty companies be able to price policies?
I MAY have found such a source (see link below). From what I know from my experience with a few dozen cars, it seems pretty accurate in range and ranking, at least.
But I'd like the more experienced forum members to take a look at what they are posting, and either validate or contest their data to get a read on its accuracy.
I've contacted the Caredge firm to get a better idea on the source(s) and scope of their data, and will post what I find out here.
https://caredge.com/ranks/maintenance/popular/10-year/best
Follow the money.
looks like commission from car sales pays for it
"Most Reliable Cars" are Jeep Wrangler, Hyundai Elantra, & Porsche 911 ?
https://caredge.com/blog/most-reliable-cars
"Hyundai has been able to fine-tune their build quality"
Yeah right
Nissan and Mitsubishi in the top 5 best? I find that hard to believe.
I was surprised, too, but keep in mind that each manufacturer's mix of sales skews the manufacturer rating - Mitsubishi sell small, cheap cars, Nissan mostly Versas and Sentras. Go to the model specific part - a Miata is a lot cheaper to maintain than a 4Runner, though they are both quite reliable. Things like tires and fluids and spark plugs are included, as well as failure rate. You can dig down to see major failure rate, I haven;t found that in a chart.
when you switch to cost of ownership (which includes maintenance), Toyota drops down to #10, and Mitsubishi rises to the top.
https://caredge.com/ranks/costs
extended warranty companies be able to price policies
They're not exactly interested in maintenance cost (which includes oil, tires, brakes, inspection & other scheduled type stuff). Only things that are covered in the policy terms.
Warranties: metrics such as MTTF (Mean Time To Failure), which would also be interesting to see.
insurance providers: average part cost, market value etc.