Despite July’s interest rate cut, the cost of motoring continues to rise steadily, says WesBank.
WesBank’s Mobility Calculator, a tool used to track and calculate motoring expense, has risen to R7 851.39 a month.
This number is 3% higher than last year, and 28% higher than five years ago, when mobility costs reached R6 144.22 a month.
The basket of costs in the calculator includes vehicle installments, fuel, insurance and maintenance fees.
These expenses are regularly updated to reflect inflation, interest rates and other fluctuating costs, and are based on an average entry-level vehicle that travels around 2 500 km a month.
Vehicle installments and fuel spend remain the biggest portions of the monthly mobility basket, accounting for 80% of monthly mobility spend.
However, when viewed as a portion of the monthly motoring budget, fuel spend is significantly less in 2019 compared with five years ago.
Fuel spend accounts for 35% of the total this year, while vehicle installments are at 45% of the total.
Vehicle installments and insurance premiums account for the highest increases over the past five years, mainly as a result of vehicle price inflation.
From 2014 to 2019, vehicle installments have increased by 43%, while insurance premiums jumped by 40%.
In comparison, fuel spend and maintenance fees grew by 11% and 8%, respectively, over the same period.
WesBank’s data indicates favourable vehicle price inflation over the past year, with consumers spending only marginally more on new and used vehicles.
In June, the average new vehicle financed through WesBank cost R321 715, while the average used vehicle cost R215 848.
This reflects only a 3% and 2% year-on-year change for new and used vehicles respectively.