Keeping car maintenance and repair costs down

 *The tables provide a full breakdown of the top 15 best and worst-performing cars based on their overall Index, a combined measure of reliability and repair cost-effectiveness. A higher index score indicates a more reliable and cost-effective vehicle.

Although the KIA Optima had the highest average repair cost of £3,226.83 (linked to engine and gearbox), there were more luxury brands in our list of high-cost and low-reliability vehicles. This includes Land Rover, Porsche and BMW. However, these costly repairs aren’t just exclusive to the high-end market with the Mazda CX-5 and Citroen Relay also leaving drivers with expensive bills to pay.

Despite this, the data suggests that compact cars are generally cheaper to keep on the road. 

How much do electric and hybrid vehicles cost to maintain?

As drivers look towards greener vehicles, you may be wondering about the running costs for these. Obviously, you'll have to pay to charge the vehicle on a regular basis but should be able to save on routine servicing and maintenance costs. Bear in mind that a major repair for an EV - like replacing the traction battery - may end up very expensive.

How do I avoid high running costs and repair bills?

There are two overarching ways of reducing costs:

• Taking a proactive approach to your car maintenance
• Choosing a vehicle that is cheaper to repair

Of course, repairs are part of a vehicle’s lifespan. While your car is in the garage, you might need to borrow another one. Take out temporary insurance in an instant to enjoy fully comprehensive coverage for as long as you need - with no impact on the owner’s no claims bonus.

Claire Wills-Mckissick, an expert in temporary car insurance at Tempcover, adds:

"Car repairs can be expensive and inconvenient, often leaving drivers without transport when they need it most. That’s where short-term insurance steps in as a crucial safety net.

With Tempcover’s flexible short-term cover, you can quickly get behind the wheel of another car while yours is off the road. Whether you’re borrowing a friend’s car or using a second family vehicle, it gives you the freedom to stay mobile without the hassle of long-term commitments, keeping you on the move even during major repairs."

Sources

Methodology

The analysis was carried out by Tempcover using repair data from MotorEasy and insurance group data from Parkers.

Stage 1 – Data Collection

Average repair costs and the percentage of claims made were collected for the following systems across all car models available on MotorEasy:

Engine

Gearbox

Electrical system

Suspension

Braking system

Stage 2 – Additional Metrics

Insurance group data from Parkers.co.uk was added to provide further context on ownership costs and how they align with repair expenses.

Stage 3 – Ranking Models

To create the final ranking, the average cost of repair for each car model was calculated by combining the repair cost with the percentage of claims made. This provided a true weighted average cost per model. The models were then ranked against one another to produce a final index that reflects both the typical cost of repair and reliability.

Metric Source

Ave. Cost of Repair https://www.motoreasy.com/audi-reliability

% of claims made     https://www.motoreasy.com/audi-reliability

Insurance Group       https://www.parkers.co.uk/Mazda/6/review/

Reliability Score        https://www.motoreasy.com/audi-reliability

A higher index score indicates a more reliable and cost-effective vehicle to maintain.

The full ranking numbers are inclusive of vans, but we’ve omitted these to focus specifically on cars in the above release.

The data was collected on 4th August, all data was correct at the time of collection.