Car Brands Ranked by Maintenance and Repair Costs Over Time
According to our exclusive analysis, Buick and Lincoln cost the least to own, and European brands cost the most
The cost of owning a car goes far beyond what you pay to buy it. A key question is whether you can afford the drip, drip, drip of the maintenance and repairs for as long as you own it.
To help determine how costs increase over time and vary by brand, our 2025 Annual Auto Surveys asked CR members how much they paid out of pocket for total maintenance (oil changes, tires, etc.) and repairs during the last 12 months. (We did not include costs associated with collision repair or price uncertainty based on inflation or tariffs).
Maintenance and Repair Cost by Brand
“The difference to maintain a car, on average, between some brands can be thousands of dollars over a 10-year time frame,” says Steven Elek, who oversees auto data analytics at Consumer Reports. “In particular, expensive luxury vehicles are often quite expensive to maintain over time.”
When comparing cumulative costs by brand for years one through five and six through 10, we found that Buick had the lowest maintenance costs among all automakers, followed closely by Lincoln.
“This is a key takeaway for shoppers drawn to luxury vehicles: There are two domestic brands with lower maintenance and repair costs than every other brand—mainstream or luxury,” says Elek. "This is no surprise. We do notice that domestic automakers tend to have cheaper parts when repairs are necessary. And these savings translate to these upscale brands, as well.”
At the bottom of the rankings, several European luxury marques are clustered as the most expensive brands, namely Audi, BMW, Land Rover, Mercedes-Benz, Porsche, and Volvo. Even among those prestige brands, there is a substantial difference, with the costs reported for Audi and BMW being thousands of dollars less over a decade than Mercedes-Benz, Porsche, and Land Rover. By contrast, the 10-year costs for Buick and Lincoln are each one quarter that of Land Rover.
Understanding how those costs differ by brand can inform how you budget for expenses with your current car and steer your next purchase decision. “Just be sure to check predicted reliability to know how the models you’re considering are likely to hold up in future years," Elek says. And it doesn’t hurt to check the car insurance premiums before buying, either.
