Top Ten Cheapest Cars to Maintain

Ellie Dyer-Brown, 17 days ago

5 min read

  • Cost
White Tesla model Y

FixMyCar reveals which of the most popular new and used cars are the cheapest to maintain.

New year, new you…new car? If you’re looking to buy a new set of wheels, it’s worth researching annual maintenance costs before you decide which model to go for.

Fortunately, FixMyCar has all the information you need.

Contents

Top ten cheapest cars to maintain

The cheapest car to maintain

Data insights

How we worked it out


Top ten cheapest cars to maintain

ModelTotal maintenance cost
Tesla Model Y£352.67
Ford Puma£358.97
Tesla Model 3£362.29
Volkswagen Polo£363.73
Vauxhall Corsa£365.27
Ford Focus£371.54
Nissan Juke£372
Volkswagen T-Roc£374.64
Nissan Qashqai£375.82
Hyundai Tucson£377.85

The cheapest car to maintain

The Tesla Model Y is a fast yet practical EV that provides excellent range between charges and comes with the added benefit of Tesla's Supercharger network. It has a four-star rating from WhatCar?.

MaintenanceAverage price
Full service£185.90
Interim service£120
MOT£46.77
Total£352.67

The Model Y's annual maintenance cost is £6.30 less than the second-cheapest car, the Ford Puma, and £25.18 cheaper than the most expensive model, the Hyundai Tucson.

A black Tesla Model Y at a charging station.

Data insights

The most expensive model for a full service is the Tesla Model 3, with an average price of £201.46. The cheapest is the Ford Puma (£185.25).

A blue Ford Puma.

In the interim service category, the Model 3 is the cheapest again, costing £115 on average. The most expensive model is the Nissan Qashqai, with an average price of £137.84.

Red Tesla model 3

An MOT costs the most for a Tesla Model Y (£46.77) and the least for a Ford Focus (£44.16).

A grey Ford Focus RS

How we worked it out

This guide uses FixMyCar's average quote data from 2023 and 2024 for three aspects of car maintenance: full service, interim service and MOT.

We looked at the ten best-selling cars and the most popular used cars to come up with a final list based on the total cost of the three services above.

Cars that were included in our analysis but didn't make it into the top ten include the Audi A3, BMW 1 Series and Volkswagen Golf.


Want to save money on car repairs and maintenance? You're in the right place!

If you found this guide helpful, you might also like...

Written by Ellie

Ellie Author Pic

Ellie is FixMyCar's Content Writer. She has over three years of experience writing about cars and regularly collaborates with automotive experts to provide trustworthy advice for drivers in a language they understand. Her work has been featured in Yahoo! Finance, iNews, The Daily Express and The Sun. She has a BA in English literature and an MA in creative writing from Durham University. Outside of work, Ellie follows F1 and eagerly awaits Ferrari's next era of dominance in the sport. She drives a Suzuki Swift.

Find Ellie on LinkedIn.