Cost guide
Car maintenance cost: servicing, MOT and repairs
Car maintenance cost has two parts: scheduled servicing with the annual MOT, and wear and repairs such as brakes, batteries, suspension and exhausts. 73 Auto estimates both for a specific car. It costs each repair by how often that part wears out or fails on similar cars in DVSA MOT results, so an older, higher-mileage car carries a larger repair allowance than a newer one, and an electric car carries no engine oil, clutch or exhaust costs.
Published 2026-09-28 · Publisher: 73 Auto
What counts where
Each part is costed in exactly one category, so nothing is counted twice.
| Servicing and MOT | The MOT fee for each MOT due while you own the car, and scheduled servicing: oil, filters, plugs, belts, fluids and inspections. |
|---|---|
| Repairs and maintenance | Wear items (brake pads and discs, the 12V battery, suspension parts, wheel bearings, clutch, exhaust, bulbs) and unscheduled repairs, from engine and gearbox to electrics and, for hybrids and electric cars, the high-voltage system. |
| Tyres | Costed separately; see car tyre cost. |
| Not included | Accident and cosmetic damage, glass, modifications, recalls (which are free) and extended warranties. |
Estimate maintenance for a specific car
Enter a UK registration to see servicing, MOT and repair costs for that car at your mileage. Your first check is free and shows the vehicle summary and its headline ownership cost. The category-by-category breakdown is part of a paid check.
UK number plate or 17-character VIN
Servicing and the MOT
Servicing is modelled from the car's age, class and annual mileage using typical UK servicing costs. The MOT fee is counted once for each MOT that falls due while you own the car, at the official maximum of £54.85 for a car. In Great Britain a car's first MOT is due three years after it was first registered, so a newer car may have no MOT cost for part of your ownership; see MOT cost for how many fall due.
How repairs are estimated
- Work out what the car has. Turbocharger, gearbox type, air suspension, diesel particulate filter, hybrid or electric drive. A part the car doesn't have is never costed.
- How often each part fails. From DVSA's anonymised results for tens of millions of UK MOT tests, by age, mileage and model, alongside published warranty-claim statistics. Because well-kept cars fail less, these rates are applied relative to the car's own class rather than to the whole fleet.
- What each repair costs. UK parts and labour for the make.
- Year by year. Projected as the car ages and covers your mileage, with repairs the manufacturer's warranty would cover left out while it lasts.
- This car's own MOT. Advisories and failures on the latest MOT become a separate near-term allowance. Corrosion is only costed when the car's MOT history shows it.
The result is an expected cost with a range: a rare, expensive failure counts in proportion to how likely it is, not as its full bill.
What the maintenance figure is based on
| Input | Where it comes from | Type |
|---|---|---|
| This car’s MOT history | DVSA MOT record for the registration | Official data |
| How often parts fail by age, mileage and model | DVSA anonymised bulk MOT test results (Open Government Licence) | Official data |
| Repair frequency and cost | Published warranty-claim statistics | Published statistics |
| MOT fee | Official maximum MOT fee for a car | Official rate |
| Parts and labour prices, servicing costs | 73 Auto reference data, with cited UK costs where available | 73 Auto estimate |
| Annual mileage and ownership period | What you enter, or standard UK assumptions | Your input |
Full detail on every source is on the data sources page, and how each category is calculated is on the methodology page.
Common questions
Why does an older car cost more to maintain?
Wear items and failures become more likely with age and mileage, and the manufacturer's warranty no longer covers them. The estimate reflects both, and adds anything the car's latest MOT has already flagged.
Is this what my garage will charge?
No. It is an expected cost across similar cars, not a garage quote or a prediction of what will fail on yours. For a used car you're considering, check its MOT history too.
See maintenance in a full worked example
A mid-priced worked example of each fuel type, showing servicing and repairs alongside every other cost.
| Vehicle | Fuel | Per year | Per month | Per mile |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| MINI Mini 2018 | Petrol | £5,078 | £423 | £0.69 |
| Tesla Model Y Long Range AWD 2022 | Electricity | £5,177 | £431 | £0.70 |
| Toyota RAV4 2017 | Diesel | £5,691 | £474 | £0.77 |
| Toyota Corolla 2019 | Hybrid Electric | £5,983 | £499 | £0.81 |
About these examples. All 53 were calculated under one standard scenario: 7,400 miles a year, 3-year ownership, finance purchase. They describe the specific vehicles 73 Auto has analysed, not every car of that type in the UK. They were calculated on 21 Jul 2026. Since then, 73 Auto has rebuilt its fuel prices and VED rules, tyres, servicing, repairs and maintenance, depreciation and insurance models, so a new report for the same car today can give different figures from its example.
Limitations
How a car has been looked after changes its repair bills more than any model can see. Many parts and labour costs are 73 Auto reference estimates rather than quotes, so treat the figure as a budget, not a price.
How 73 Auto works this out
Every category is explained in the methodology, and the data sources page lists which inputs are official data and which are 73 Auto estimates. How pages are written and kept up to date is set out in the editorial policy; to report a factual error, see corrections.