Cheap Transportation

[Jon Wehrenberg]

This is almost like a JPJ post. It doesn't mean anything significant but it may be of interest.

Summarizing the expenses for taxes this year I started digging a little deeper to see if I could get a better understanding of what things really cost.

Not counting depreciation or loss of earnings on invested capital (or interest) my bus costs me $1.21 per mile.

So I did the same research on the plane. It makes the bus look like a bargain. My plane costs me $2.26 per mile.

Obviously these numbers can be manipulated a little if I wanted to capitalize some repairs, but over several years of expense history the numbers hold up pretty well.

My numbers are unlikely to equal anybody else's numbers because of certain factors. I do all my own work. Bus and plane (except avionics). For the plane I do not do my annual inspections and I have to have mechanics look at and sign off my work. That is not true of the bus, and I do almost 100% of my work on the bus. Offsetting my use of my own labor on the bus may be the fact I may do more maintenance. My normal interval is 5000 miles, and I do things like change air bags or brake chambers when they are still working perfectly well.

I reset my Pro Driver with each 5000 mile service interval and I have recorded mileage of 8.12 down to my current of 7.25. I'm sure the new fuel has had an impact.

As stated previously these numbers can be altered by amortizing the cost of such things as tires, air bags, batteries, etc. but my calculations are based on expensing things when they are incurred.

Just thought I would throw this stuff out there since I have never seen any cost per mile information.

[Jerry Winchester]

My math must be off.

If my calculations are close, my coach roughly costs me $.84 / mile while my airplane cost me $1.20 per mile. The annual mileage was 11,000 for the coach and +/- 21,000 miles (according to the GPS) for the Bonanza @ about 120 hours per year.

I calculated diesel fuel at $2.50/gal and AV gas at $3.30/gal.

I was told that a simple estimate of the hourly cost for a single engine non turbo is 3x the hourly cost of fuel or around $158/hr for the V35 (plus the actual fuel cost). And this number would include insurance, annual inspection expense, engine / prop overhaul expense (prorated) and misc. maintenance. (This could be total BS)

16 GPH x $3.30 x 3 = $158.40/hr x 120 = $19,008 + $6,336 (fuel) = $25,344
$25,344 / 21,000 = $1.20 mile

The bus 11,000 miles / 5.5mpg = 2,000 gal x $2.50 = $5,000 then add oil change ($400 yr), maintenance (+/-1,500 yr), tires ($960 / yr), insurance ($600) overhaul ($.07 mile= $770)= $.84 per mile (I SWAG'ed the overhaul cost based on major components with a 500,000 mile life which given this kind of use may be way high)

Also, it costs $50 to have the coach washed and it cost me a fingernail today to wash the plane

Okay, what did I do wrong? Oh, I did forget you have a Liberty

[Jon Wehrenberg]

If I didn't pay for it (such as an overhaul) It wasn't included. It did include on both all fuel, all maintenance expense, insurance, charts and subscriptions (as in the case of the plane).

The bus for example used almost $4000 worth of fuel. I noticed that until the end of the year fuel costs were between 2.65 and 2.75.

The plane has huge expenses before I put on the first hour. Insurance for a pressurized plane is not for the faint of heart. Add hangar rent, charts and subscriptions such as GPS, XM WX, etc. and I'm already at $10,000. At todays cost of fuel a cheap fill up is still costing me around $50 and hour with a typical fill up around $60 at 15 GPH and $4.00 a gallon. This year I installed a complete new turbo system and the plane ate an HSI and Strikefinder.

The bus this year got treated to new air bags, coolant and transmission oil changes, some tires and had a refrigerator that ate a few bucks, but I finally got it working.

My point is that when I do this exercise and review broad time periods the ratios are similar to the above. The only way to drop the operating costs is to put a lot more use on both. Spreading the age related items among greater miles or hours on the bus such as insurance, tires, air bags, and coolant will bring my cost to the same or lower than yours. Next year I only have four tires so unless something pukes the bus cost per mile should drop.

The plane hours aren't going up because I am no longer flying the hell out of it for business so I accept the penalty to have the convenience of it. I think your plane is an NA, and your insurance on a four place non-pressurized is likely half mine so if I were to eliminate the expense of my turbo system, and cut my insurance in half we would be getting close.

I used to do the spread sheets with engine hours and other items amortized and after 20 years of ownership, I eat the expense when it is incurred and that year looks like hell, but then I usually get some fairly cheap years to average things out. This isn't for taxes so I don't waste my time on the depreciation of major items.

[lewpopp]

Jerry

You had the insurance on the bus at $600. How do you do that and have any insurance?

Lew

[Jerry Winchester]

Because I don't have to carry a nuke powered defibulator and a bulk tank of Metamucil around with me.

[Joe Cannarozzi]

I was wondering the same thing and will be pricing around come Monday.

I know geographic location matters but how much I don't know.

[Alan__]

Jerry - What kind of coverage due you have for $600? Liability, comprehensive, collision, UIM ....??

[Jon Wehrenberg]

Be careful on that insurance Jerry. Mine is $1900 and I know if I have a problem it will be taken care of correctly. For $600 you may end up having a conventional RV dealer working on your Prevost.

[Joe Cannarozzi]

I'm currently paying 1100 for St. Farm in the Chicago region for an 86. I was thinking that was decent?

[JIM CHALOUPKA]

Jon /Jerry, Where did either of you address batteries. They seem to be a large expense, such as tires. Were they left out because in that year you did not replace them? JIM