How much money should I be spending per year on car maintenance on a Toyota camry?

Accurate if you use the dealer for all work and drive 15,000 miles per year. Still, it gives us a good way to compare vehicles for maintenance and repair costs. Since you do most of your work, your costs won’t come close to the ones quoted by Edmunds. I also think that after ten years or so, there are no repairs, just maintenance. But that’s just me.

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Edmunds used dealer prices for all its calculations, including the $376 and $413 figures for maintenance and repair.

Yup, mine would be a lot cheaper. But, as I said, I don’t even bother to keep track of mine. I’ve not used my costs to estimate anything at all.

Thanks guys! Very helpful website ( Edmunds.com)

Glad I came here for help.

I also appreciate your personal experience with car maintenance. I found myself an independent shop… They charged me 380 dollars for OEM brake pads and rotors for the front. The dealer wanted 560 dollars. Do you think $380 is still high? Reasonable?

I live in NewYork.

if you go to https://repairpal.com/ and put in your zip code plus work being done they can give you an estimate. I haven’t actually taken a car in to get a brake job done in well over 8 years since I’ve been doing them myself so I have no idea what they run in my area :smiley:

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$380 is reasonable.
And the $560 is what I’d expect from a dealer. They’re typically 1-1/2 to 2 times the cost of an independent shop. The reasons are myriad, but that’s usually the bottom line.

I spoke with the Eibach company for lowering springs and they assured me that their springs were specifically made for my car and no modifications were required to install them. The drop is mild ( 1.2’ in the back and 1.5" in the front) and after installing them, the car had a slight drop. Barely noticeable. And the equality of the car ride remains the same. The wheel gap ( wall) is still there, but not as ugly as before.

Did you get it aligned? If not, I’d recommend doing so.

I wish you only the best. And I mean that sincerely.

Yes it was aligned after

Adding to the list of things I don’t understand - 1. Worrying about cost of maintenance of a vehicle but spending money to lower it.

Remember it was offered to me for free.

$380 where I live would be high (east TN) but not excessively so.

If you’ve already gotten at least two estimates for your repair in your area, you’ve done well. My opinion or anyone else’s may be interesting to hear but is irrelevant.

Using mileage to predict maintenance costs is probably more accurate then using time. I’ve had 2 Camrys. The last was a 1999 4 cylinder that had 172,000 miles when I sold it. If routine maintenance is performed the engine and transmission should last at least 200,000 miles. I changed my engine oil every 3000 miles. The car used “regular” not synthetic oil. Even with synthetic oil I would go no more then 5,000 miles between oil changes. The reason is obvious if you look at old oil - it is black which indicates that contaminates are in the oil. They may or may not harm the motor (depending on who you talk to), but my experience has been that changing the oil 3-5000 miles is the best preventative measure you can take to avoid engine failure. I changed the timing belt and water pump at 80,000 miles. This is routine maintenance. The water pump does not necessarily have to be replaced if it is not bad but because of the cost of replacing the water pump if it does go bad, it is recommended the water pump be replaced when the timing belt (which drives the water pump) is changed. I also changed the transmission fluid at 80,000 miles.Brakes had been an issue with Camrys, and my car went through front pads every 30-40000 miles. I strongly recommend using dealer pads only. They are softer and therefore wear faster than “harder” longer lasting pads but they brake better and rotors last longer. I changed the rear shoes once, at about 75,000 miles but they showed little wear. The majority of braking is done by the front brakes. Other expenses I incurred were a bad radiator at about 130,000 miles - the top radiator mount cracked. The cost of a new radiator was $100.00 and it took about 45 minutes to replace. The starter solenoid went at about 150,000 miles. The parts to repair it cost less than ten dollars. A bad starter would have been about $150.00. That is about it - except for air filter every 20-25000 miles and fuel filter 50,000 miles (should be 20-25000). I believe they were about $12 for the air and $15 for the fuel. Also I changed the spark plugs at 75,000 miles. when I took them out they looked perfect and really did not need to be changed (check at 75 change at 100,000). Costs will also depend on where you live - weather, road conditions, etc.

Thanks for the information here, I have now the idea in budgeting for my toyota camry.

One is a routine variable cost and the other is a onetime fixed cost. Does that help?