Tesla cars are cheapest to own with half the Toyota maintenance costs over 5 years

It costs only $580 in maintenance and repair costs to own a new Tesla for five years, according to a new study, making Teslas the cheapest vehicle to have in such a timespan.

For comparison, Toyota cars are third cheapest to own with $1,125 in costs over the same period. The reasons are rather self-evident, since electric cars don't have to do the pilgrimage to the dealer for oil and filter changes, plus their brakes last forever.

When it comes to the 10-year costs of car ownership, though, the difference between Tesla with its $4,035 total repair and maintenance expenses, and Toyota with its $4,900, shrinks significantly. This makes both Tesla and Toyota the cheapest vehicles to own over the longer run, with Buick as cheap as Toyota. 

Most expensive cars to own

What are the most expensive vehicle brands to maintain, then? Rather unsurprisingly for anybody who has had to deal with their dealer maintenance or repair costs, the premium German brands are the most expensive to have.

Starting with BMW's $9,500 cost to own over 10 years, and going through Audi's $9,890 or Mercedes with $10,525, then finishing with Porsche and the whopping $14,090 in maintenance costs over a decade, they are all a rather pricey undertaking.

The most expensive cars to own are made, again rather unsurprisingly, by Land Rover. The notoriously fragile Land Rovers are money pits when it comes to repairs, with total cost of ownership over a decade set at the eye-watering $19,520.

Leave it to Elon Musk to brag with those statistics, as Tesla's CEO never misses an opportunity to hammer the low EV maintenance and repair costs home.