I’ve no experience running a car here, but do want to explore outside the city, so would appreciate some ball-park figures for monthly running cost of, say, a modest mid-sized second-hand car such a 5 year old Altis.
Or is that stupid, better to get a cheap old banger to throw away / alternatively lease a new one… thoughts?
Just rent one for a week when you need it. Cram all your needs into one week.
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ok maybe i can figure/remember what it costs to run my ford telstar a year before i sold it in 99. I did keep a ledger of all the expenses related to the year on the car.
I did oil changes every 3000 km ( I know way too soon) but i had an account at AutoBacs so it was cheap to do about 600 to 1000nt per time , depending on the oil i chose. My car was old and the shocks never seem to last on taiwan roads. I went through 8 sets of shocks in 400,000km there (my usa car is still on original shocks after 400,000km but needs a set now but expensive in usa). In taiwan the shocks were bout 100 bucks each, done in pairs and the allignment was about 800nt then.
Insurance , comprehensive cost me about 30,000nt/year. License tax about 6000nt / year.
My car only got about 10km/liter so about 40km/4 liter or just over a gallon so call it 25mpg. Which isnt bad.And it was only a three speed auto.
So with buying tires every 30,000km at about 12,000 per set of 4 every two years.
I would say roughly insurance, license fee and maintenance cost me about 65,000nt/year.
gas? Well that depends on how much you drive.
Driving as much as I did gas cost me about in today’s dollars 8000nt per month doing 3000 kilometers per month
So running my car costs me about 13200 per month Taiwan dollars or very roughly 5 Taiwan dollars per kilometer
And depreciation figure 7000 nt per month for my car
So let’s make things simple and call it 20000 Taiwan dollars a month to run that car
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To be even more boring let’s see about my Acura rsx here in the USA over the last 17 years I’ve had her
Purchase price including interest about 620000 nt dollars
Can sell today for about 20000 nt so depreciation about 600000 over 17 years
Insurance about 36000 a year comprehensive
Repairs average 30000 nt per year
License fee starting more but less every year so average say 8000 a year
Gas average used about 40000 per year
Total about 114000 running costs plus about 36000 depreciation so roughly 150000 nt per year or about 12500 per month so it’s been cheaper to run my current car
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sorry. You mean your current car is a small-size city car one? so it’s cheaper for the fuel and other cost?
Thanks @tommy525 for very helpful examples.
@shawntl - his US car is an Acura rsx which is a sports coupe, so not much like a kei car 
very helpful indeed. I appreciate his details in the comment 
I’ve just collected a list of small cars that most of them I can find on some Taiwan sites. Price can vary (used ones) but decent enough for a first-time budgeted buyer like me 
unfortunately, several brands don’t exist in Tw, or perhaps I’ve not been able to find yet. toyota small cars seem not to exist here, either daihatsu’s nor citroen e.g. c3
the right column is mileage btw. I think I still need some time to work out the other (maintenance) costs (similar to what @tommy525 said, but applied for these small cars, thinking it should be different (lower?) in some way)
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Toyota Yaris are fairly frequently seen here.
Did occasionally see a Citroen C3 but I think that’s a size bigger than you’re considering
Good one 
However I think the land cruiser will be better where we are. 
I don’t recommend the hyundai matrix 1.3L , recycled plastic melts in summer and the engine burns to shit. I do have a very cheap one for sale though. That or the scrap heap lol.
How the hell you remember this stuff ?
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That sounds crazy but you were doing a lot of mileage.
I see you figured in depreciation. I always buy second hand so don’t worry much about that.
I had some bangers for years, they never cost me much to run in Taiwan. The most expensive part was getting the radiators fixed usually. If the transmission goes it could cost 25k NTD but I even managed to get them partially fixed for 8k and they ran fine.
Insurance here could be 2000ntd to 6000nt depending on how comprehensive. Tax cheap on the small cars.
Car parking fees are often around 3k per month indoors.
I just bought a 2nd hand 11 year old SUV in great condition for 200k. It will do for a good while. A new SUV would set me back up to a million NTD and it looks and functions almost exactly the same. Depreciation is a bitch.
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I heard the Prius c is available in Taiwan and so is the swift
When I left Taiwan in 99 Peugeot 205 and Citroen AX and Opel kadett were all popular
Toyota had the Taiwan made Tercel
As for the Prius C I got one here in the USA
Cost me 660000 nt including interest over six years
The car is now worth about 300,000 so depreciation over six years can be considered good
A good depreciation rate in the USA is considered to be 50pct over 3 years and 75pct over six years so the Toyota c has beat the average
So far ran it 75000 miles at 46mpg average at average gas price over the six years of 3 dollars per gallon means
Depreciation 360,000nt or 60,000 per year or 5000nt per month
Gas About 1600 gallons used in 75000 miles or about 2000 nt per month driving about 1650 kilometers per month
The Prius C is hybrid with excellent gas mileage
Maintenance has been great at about 8 oil changes so far once every 16000 kilometers at about 1500nt per change
It’s On it’s 2nd set of tires which costs about 12000nt for the set
No parts have failed
Replaced wiper blades twice at about 1000nt a set
Insurance about 24000 nt per year for this model obviously everyone’s insurance varies
License fees go down every year but averaged about 6000nt per year or about 500nt per month
So to recap this would be an excellent small car
Depreciation 5000nt per month
Gas. 2000nt per month
Maintenance about 200nt per month so far
Insurance 2000nt per month
License fees about 500nt per month
Total 9700nt per month
Prius has been known to go over 500000 km plus without major failure but if the battery goes it’s about 60000nt for a refurbished one double fir a new one
If the inverter or electric motor goes you need to junk the car as the converter is about 2000 dollars US and so is the electric motor
So I’m hoping those don’t fail on me for at least 500,000 KM I hope to have this thing
Brakes last longer on hybrids pad change will be expected to be about 150 dollars per axle
So far over 75000 miles have not needed pads or rotors
On a non hybrid I would expect to be on my third complete set of pads and probably second set of rotors which costs about 300 USD per axle
And gas consumption at about 20 kilometers per liter is the same as my 50cc Honda moped I had once
So incredible
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It is an excellent small car. Good analysis . The problem is it’s probably WAY more expensive in Taiwan being a hybrid import . And people earn less here.
I saw a buy car tv Taiwan YouTube on the Prius C and I remember it was reasonable for a Japan made car
And import car prices are way over that for most
Even Taiwan made cars are not cheap
Only one model trim at 859000 nt dollars in Taiwan
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yep. I should add it to the list
thanks to @tommy525 and @Brianjones for the beautiful talk and details
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My mind is full of useless shit lol
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Me too bro.
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Bet you can’t remember what you had for lunch yesterday either ?
Rice or noodles.