Annual costs: You’ll get a charge out of the 3’s low upkeep costs that start at a mere $169 in year one.Most scheduled service visits are little more than a tire rotation and changing the windshield wipers and onboard air filter. One of the benefits to driving an electric car like the compact Tesla Model 3 is low maintenance and expected repair costs. For now, here are the cheapest vehicles to maintain and repair. We’ll look at the models that are predicted to cost their owners the most for maintenance and repair procedures in a separate post.
With luxury marques, Tesla comes out on top at an average $5,867 in maintenance over the first 10 years. It’s predicted to set an owner back an average $25,844 over the course of a decade, which is $11,511 more than the average ride on the road will cost during the same ownership period, and more than $22,000 less than the Tesla.Īmong mainstream brands, the site’s research found that Toyota vehicles are the cheapest to maintain overall, with an average 10-year cost of $5,996. Though nobody would ever cross-shop such a vehicle with the Tesla, the database says the Ram 3500 heavy-duty full-size pickup truck is the costliest vehicle of any kind to keep running. Electric cars require less maintenance and fewer repairs than conventionally powered models, as they don’t require fluid, filter, belt, and spark plug changes, and their powertrains comprise fewer moving parts (including a single-speed transmission). According to the website that beats the industry average among luxury models by $8,734. According to the index of 10-Year Maintenance Costs maintained by, the Tesla Model 3 is the cheapest vehicle to maintain, with a projected 10-year cost of $3,587.