Contents
Spending record
This is bigger ticket stuff, not regular consumables like petrol and tolls.
Date |
Expense |
Cost |
Vendor |
Notes |
2023-01-06 |
Dealer 0th service |
free |
Mazda |
Free 1-month service |
2023-09-06 |
Dealer 1st service |
$330 |
Mazda |
Should've been the 6-month service but we couldn't book in earlier |
2023-10-16 |
Suncorp comprehensive |
$1388.75 |
Suncorp |
Covered for $50900 with $995 excess |
2023-10-20 |
NRMA comprehensive |
$1612.56 |
NRMA |
Covered for $35000 with $1000 excess, payments are now MONTHLY |
2025-11-07 |
NRMA comprehensive |
$1792.06 |
NRMA |
Covered for $31233 with $1000 excess, monthly payments of $149.34 |
2026-08-25 |
Dealer 4th+5th service |
$860.00 |
Mazda |
Includes the fuel lines and aircon system cleaning upsell for $250-270 or so |
2026-11-07 |
NRMA comprehensive |
$1801.68 |
NRMA |
Covered for $28358 with $1000 excess, monthly payments of $150.14 |
On-road costs
Date |
Expense |
Cost |
Notes |
2023-10-16 |
CTP with QBE |
$429.28 |
- |
2023-10-16 |
Rego |
$582.55 |
- |
2024-10-20 |
CTP with QBE |
$453.29 |
- |
2024-10-20 |
Rego |
$625.00 |
- |
2025-10-08 |
CTP with NRMA |
$558.89 |
QBE's website is closed from 01:00 to 05:00, so fuck 'em |
2025-10-08 |
Rego |
$661.00 |
- |
2026-10-27 |
CTP with NRMA |
$612.17 |
- |
2026-10-27 |
Rego |
$580.00 |
- |
Estimated yearly running costs
Estimate updated in October 2026, annual values unless specified.
- Rego: $580
- A $100 cost-of-living-relief discount is in effect until 2027-08-31
- CTP with NRMA: $612
- Comprehensive with NRMA: $1801
- Servicing: $500
- Tolls: Averaging $110/mon at the moment ($1320/yr)
- NRMA roadside assistance ($11 per month): $132
- Fuel: $150/mon ($1800/yr)
- Maintenance (eg. tyres, etc): $144 (wild guess)
- Loan: $1008/mon ($12096/yr)
- Fudge factor: $11/yr
That makes it $18996 per year, or a neat $1583 per month.
- Monthly: loan, comprehensive, tolls, NRMA, fuel, small maintenance
- Yearly: rego, CTP, servicing
Breakdown to monthly costs
These total to $1583 per month.
PAYG monthly
- Loan: $1008
- Comprehensive insurance: $150
- Tolls: $110
- NRMA roadside: $11
- Fuel: $150
- Smaller maintenance: $12
- Fudge factor: $1
Pay $1442 each month.
Big hits averaged per month
- Rego: $48.33
- CTP: $51.00
- Servicing: $41.67
Put aside $141 each month.
Fuel estimates
We're driving about 9250km per year, which equates to 770km per month, and spending about $150/mon at the moment. We're filling about 73L per month.
That gives an average mileage of about 9.45L per 100km, sounds roughly correct. The averaged petrol price is $2.00/L, but it definitely goes up and down around that number. This gives us a distance-cost of 18.9c per km.
Assume it's shitty and add 10% to that, for $2.20/L averaged. Thanks Trump, thanks for the war in the middle east.
- $165/mon for petrol
- 20.8c per km
Assume it gets REALLY shit and petrol goes to $2.50/L on average.
- $188/mon for petrol
- 23.6c per km
Anyway for now we budget $150/mon for petrol.
Servicing pricing
This is a fixed-cost deal with a nice schedule of expected servicing costs.
Assume we drive about 10,000km per year, and service yearly, which is extremely neat.
Year 1 |
$350 |
- |
Year 2 |
$452 |
brake fluid |
Year 3 |
$426 |
engine air filter |
Year 4 |
$536 |
brake fluid, cabin air filter |
Year 5 |
$350 |
- |
Year 6 |
$528 |
brake fluid, engine air filter |
Year 7 |
$350 |
- |
Year 8 |
$536 |
brake fluid, cabin air filter |
Year 9 |
$426 |
engine air filter |
Year 10 |
$452 |
brake fluid |
The average over 10 years is about $440 per service, plus any extra expenses for labour or things that need replacing. Call it $500 to be sure.