Price paid vs cost of maintenance
 

Well, it took a whole year to finally pass the X5's paid price. Not counting premium fuel costs, repairs, upgrades and maintenance costs have surpassed bought costs by $31.94. Even then, some routine maintenance costs can be deducted. New tires, alternator, keys, tinting, smog pump, and new battery are the highest paid items. These items are about half the purchase price. So really, replaced parts needed have not actually passed purchase price. :rofl:

Do ya'll keep track of costs? I keep a spreadsheet for maintenance. Plus, when it does come time to sell it, a full record is available.

No, I have too many BMWs and already have enough reasons to be depressed. . .

I make mental notes which when they surface make me consider selling all of the Germans and going back to a new Tacoma.

I keep all of my receipts, but not a spreadsheet. It'll take a while for me to tally up everything for the past 18 years of ownership...and another while to go surpass my purchase price.

So far, maintenance/repair with discretionary spend (no gas/insurance incl.), I'm at $12019. Paid $15000 for it back in 2015 so have exceeded purchase price as of yet. Maintenance/repair items are "only" $7440 and honestly some of those parts are not yet installed (complete cooling system, valve stem seal parts, etc).

spending on ad hoc repairs,w/no written plan nor paper trail, lately
 

After many projects over the past 30 years, done with/without my present wife's tacit approval, stated "permission", or hidden from her entirely, I've learned that the latter works best for me. If she doesn't approve, I find a way....

• When I would resto or repair a car or truck for general usage, spending was out in the open, with a plan known to her. As are repairs on her and my daily drivers and personal pickup trucks.
  
  
• When building my race car, at first it was in plain sight, with plans drawn and spending written down; then covertly done when it became more expensive (though blowing an engine at a race, then replacing same was hard to hide).
  
  
• When I decided to build a camping trailer, she arbitrarily gave her permission to spend $500 on it; I immediately moved the project to my friend's shop, 50 miles away, to hide costs and labor until it was too far progressed for her to stop it, without throwing away was was already spent. Afterall, it was originally to be her trailer (she camped with her girlfriends), though it eventually became my solo camper, never used by her. I only spent 8-10x the given budget.
  
  
• Then there's the X5, which she didn't want me to get (traded my much more valuable, yet unused for 13 years, drag-race Chevelle for it, car for car). I spend only what I'm sure it needs, and on a tit-for-tat basis for what she spends on her projects. It's all my money (social security & pension, anyway).

I plan for keeping all our car/trucks going 'til my end, the X5 foremost among them (5), so tracking what's been spent on 23 (GMC 1500), 20 (X5), 17 (Chevy 2500HD), 13 (Cobalt LS coupe), and 12 (HHR Panel) year-old non-collectible vehicles isn't worth the time nor trouble.

I paid $6300 for my 2003 5-speed with 93k miles, back in 2016.



I have spent about $2700 on maintenance alone (no gas, tires, or insurance) doing all the work myself (except I paid the dealer to flush the brake fluid, I am not touching that job!).



The previous owner was the original owner and kept good records. They paid nearly $10,000 in maintenance alone (no gas, tires, or insurance) from new up until 93k miles. Quite spendy! And they left a lot of deferred maintenance for me, otherwise I wouldn't have spent half of what I have. But they did good with BMW's recommended fluid changes (brake, coolant and oil) and that sort of thing, so I am grateful for that.



I do keep a spreadsheet and added in all of the PO's repairs so that I know what has been replaced. There was a LOT of warranty work done on this car, not even counting the out-of-warranty stuff.

I bought my E53 on 8/28/21.

I'm probably pretty close to the purchase price by now, even with the 6MT and "in a hurry due to baby" premium I paid.

PDR
100% suspension refresh
AVIN
Tires
100% Fluid Change
Brakes (including rear upgrade to vented rotors)
LF Axle

Still a couple things to do, which I have the parts in hand for:
Radiator (everything in the cooling system is dated 2018, except for the radiator, which is a 2003 time bomb)
Finish stereo

I paid $23,800 for my 2002 in June of 2006. Over the course of 14 years and 7 months and 336,000 miles of ownership, I spent just under $22,000 on maintenance and repairs, not including tires.



The history: On a regular basis:

> Rotate tires, inspect pads & Rotors, CV boots, general look over every 5000 miles
> Oil / Filter change every 8000 miles
> Brake fluid flush every 30,000 miles
> CV Boot replacement generally every 75,000 miles
> Replace belts and clean CCV every 100,000 miles
> Replace differential and transfer case fluid every 100,000 miles
> Replace sparkplugs every 120,000 miles
> Replace expansion tank, coolant and hoses every 150,000 miles
> Replace brake pads every 163,000 miles (Akebono ceramics)
> Replace rotors-once at 63,000 miles (325,000 miles on current Brembos)
> Automatic transmission fluid – leave it alone in the GM 5L40-E

My unplanned repairs included:

> Front axles at 60,000 miles (Prior owner didn't maintain CV boots)
> FSR at 78,000 miles
> Two sparkplug coils and accessory belt tensioner at 124,000 miles
> Alternator at 126,000 miles
> Front driveshaft and transfer case at 136,000 (used a salvage TC for cost savings)
> FSR (again) at 159,000 miles
> Thermostat and OFHG at 176,000 miles
> Front tension struts and power steering pressure hose at 192,000 miles
> Rear differential seal at 200,000 miles
> Secondary air pump at 224,000 miles
> Rear suspension bushings and upper rear control arms at 242,000 miles
> Thermostat (again) at 245,000 miles - at least it was warranty this time
> Steering column double U-Joint shaft at 245,000 miles
> Valve cover gasket at 245,000 miles
> Both fuel tank sending units, fuel pump and canister at 245,000 miles
> Aux fan when the harness got chewed up in the mechanical fan and shorted out at 259,000 miles
> Pre-cat O2 sensors at 260,400 miles
> Water pump at 262,800 miles
> DISA Valve and MAF at 264,000 miles
> Thermostat (again) at 299,000 miles (don’t know what’s going on with these)
> Driver door handle carrier again at 310,600 miles (thought they had these fixed finally)
> Intermediate accessory belt pulley and oil level sensor at 310,600 miles
> Valve cover (not just the gasket) and OFHG at 317,000 miles (No measurable wear on camshaft lobes)
> All spark plug coils, MAF and fuel filter at 342,400 miles
> Third FSR at 347,000 miles
> Fourth FSR & harness connector at 357,000 miles – warranty this time
> Engine mounts and rear driveshaft guibo at 357,000 miles
> MAF, Thermostat (again!!!), All front CV boots 361,700 miles
> Pre-cat O2 sensor (Bank #1) at 366,000 miles
> Secondary air pump at 368,000 miles (prior was a used one off eBay)
> Air injection check valve at 377,000 miles
> Front brake tension struts at 378,000 miles
> Catalytic converters at 383,000 miles

2006 6mt (189,000 miles as of Dec 2021)

below dollars as of Dec 2021

$27,500 purchased used 2/10/2010, 58,000 miles

$11,252 repairs(starter/alternator/cv joints/brake lines/etc/etc/etc)

$23,425, maintenance and enhancements since 20/10/2021 (oil change/battery/tires/tune ups/wheels/etc)

I have considered purchasing something new but my cost would
be between $50,000 and $100,000 depending on the replacement
vehicle.

AND I would loose the manual transmission. So I'll drive the X5
until it or I pass on into the next life.

I'm in the game late. Paid $4000 for mine (12/26/20 -143,123 miles). They were asking $4200. After I saw the air duct hose missing, one front boot almost cut, a few drips of oil, and minor stuff, I asked for a quick $200 for parts. Bought it and drove it 100 miles to Austin. Had it up to 95 MPH at one point just to dig into it. While registering it, the TXDMV told me it was paid already. They changed title and registration to my name. Discount Tire also had it listed. I contacted the previous owner. He gave me the Discount Tire phone number used to buy the tires. Balance and rotation were bought too. Discount rotated the tires for free. Since the registration and more maintenance records were provided, I sent the previous owner $200 in cash. Right now, I'm up to another $700 in parts not counting new shafts. I'll do all the installation work myself. Coolant system over haul, axle shafts, and struts/shocks are the biggest items I want to get done.