OK, I think I figured this out. For those of you tooo lazy to build your own spreadsheet I have attached my excel spreadsheet to share with you where I track mileage and operating costs. I do this in hope of three years from now to be able to show the true cost to own the TCH after tax credits. Ignore the operating costs for now because so far it shows the government paying me to drive this car. That's because tax credits, which I've already shown, are more then the payments and I thus have a negative cost of ownership. I'll figure all this out before I trade in 3 years but so far I've included an estimate "salvage" value with my down payment (trade equity) already in the equation. As the years go by the number will become positive, but I'm guessing the total cost of ownership will be a lot less than the $0.45 to $0.75 / mile that some of my other vehicles have cost me.

Enjoy.

 

Yup, you're only SLIGHTLY fanatical for writing this spreadsheet...

 

You're not leaving us in three years, are you?

 

I guess I'm just as fanatical because I have a similar spreadsheet and another one that tracks my calculated and TCH provided mileage.

 

You're not leaving us in three years, are you?

I've never kept a car more than 18 months so this is a real strech for me. However I'm committed to the tax credit recovery (I have additional $3750 in WV over 3 years). I'll have 75,000 to 100,000 miles in three years so I'm really counting on some really neat hybrids being available in three years. Perhaps a Lexus ES 350H?

I can't even imagine what will be available then

 

That is some spread sheet...I just haven't had the time to work this all out, but I did a similar sort of thing before I committed to the TCH. I compared costs between keeping my Concorde, getting a Prius and getting the Camry...also compared to banking the payment and then buying in 3 years (no tax credit) along with gas costs for using the Concorde vs getting the Camry. It was really fun to do! I think I will strip yours and fill in my own stuff! Fortunately I have only had it a month so I don't have much to fill in yet!

Barb

 

Why aim so low? I'm already itching to pull the trigger on a Lexus GS450h and give the TCH to my wife!

 

Why aim so low? I'm already itching to pull the trigger on a Lexus GS450h and give the TCH to my wife!

I want better milage!

Now if the GS450H had the GM cylinder deactivation along with the battery that would be interesting. I can't see me ever happy now with less than 35 mpg average and it's up to the manufacturers to give me a little more luxury with my FE to make me happy next time.

 

I think I will strip yours and fill in my own stuff!

That's why I offered it.

Since you've only had it a month you may be able to use the column on the right of my spreadsheet that I added (but didn't "pretty up"). It's where I take the indicated FE number and convert it to theoritical gallons used so that I can keep my "indicated" lifetime average to compare to the actual lifetime average. You will need to keep track of the indicated tank average to do that. I simply keep my gas receipts and write the milage and indicated FE on it when I fill up. Nice thing about the TCH is that you don't have to do it very often!

I used to do an economic analysis in my younger days on all my trades. I found that just like in business I could still justify almost anything I wanted to so now I "Just Do It".

 

Joe,

When I originally looked at your spreadsheet it opened to page two so I only saw the loan amortization. I just reopened it and saw the first page. Very impressive. I think I'll modify it to use to compute the total cost of ownership and cost per mile to drive.