Owning a Porsche: the real costs of maintenance, insurance, and daily driving

Ever wondered how much it costs to keep a high-end Porsche on the road?

When it comes to running a Porsche – like any vehicle – there are more costs involved than the original purchase price. 

But how does a Porsche’s running costs stack up against your average vehicle or even against other exotic cars?

Here’s a quick rundown of exactly how much it can cost to keep your Porsche up and running.

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Maintenance

The average sales price of a new Porsche is a whopping $128,000 – a lot more than the average price of a new car that sits at around $48,401 in the US.

And, of course, if you’re willing to part with all that cash, you’ll want to make sure your vehicle is well cared for.

That’s where regular servicing and maintenance come in and can save you money in the long run by avoiding more costly repairs.

Porsche owners typically spend around $1,629 each year on maintenance and repairs – again this puts it a lot higher than the industry average cost of $891, according to Consumer Affairs.

For customers who purchase a new Porsche, the carmaker offers the first scheduled maintenance visit for free, but once that’s done, you’ll need to pay for the rest yourself – and it might be a bit more than you’d expect.

How much you’ll pay depends on what services your Porsche may need, for example, a simple oil change will cost as little as $273, while replacing the brake pads might go up to $2,460 

The price is also dependent on what model of Porsche you have – date from RepairPal suggests that a Porsche Boxster is generally a little cheaper to maintain ($952 per year) compared to a Porsche Cayenne (at $1,231 a year).

Insurance

How much you’ll pay for insurance is dependent on a bunch of different factors, such as which model of Porsche you’re driving and how old it is; insurers will also consider your age and driving history, how often you use the car, and where you live.

But to give a bit of a ballpark, price comparison site Car Edge says that a ’40 year old good driver with full coverage and good credit, that drives around 13,000 miles per year’ will be expected to part with $4,170 per year to insure a Porsche.

This is around $1,275 more than other luxury marques and more than double the average car insurance costs which sit at around $2,068. 

And if you happen to be younger, with a less solid credit score, then you can expect that figure to shoot up a lot, and we do mean a lot. 

For an 18-year-old with a poor credit rating, you’d be looking at paying an average of $22,612 per year to insure a Porsche.

At 25 – and still holding a poor credit rating – this drops to $10,209 and drops again to $7,952 at 30.

On the other end of the spectrum, a 55-year-old good driver with a good credit rating would pay an average of $3,721. 

As a side note, specialty insurers tend to offer customers with exotic and high-end cars – like Porsches – a better deal, so it definitely pays to shop around, particularly if you’re a younger driver.

Daily driving and fuel

Fuel costs for Porsche models can run higher than other vehicles, because their powerful engines are built for performance, not fuel efficiency. 

Having said that, how many miles you’ll get between top ups depends on a number of factors, including the model and engine size, how fast you drive, how much you use the car, and even where you live. 

According to the US Department of Energy’s handy fuel-cost tracking tool, a 2020 Porsche Boxster or a 2020 Porsche Cayman will cost around $4.26 per 25 miles – this works out at around $2,550 annually. 

This means that over five years, the owner of a 2020 Porsche Boxster or a 2020 Cayman will spend around $4,250 more than the owner of an average new vehicle.

Meanwhile, a 2025 Porsche 911 Carrera will set you back a little bit more – it will cost about $4.87 per 25 miles, or $2,900 annually. 

Across five years, the 911 owner will hand over $6,000 more in fuel costs than the average new vehicle owner. 

If you’re looking for something cheaper to run, then the hybrid Porsche Taycan offers 25 miles for just $1.83 and has an annual fuel cost of just $1,100 – but it still adds up to around $3,000 more in fuel costs over five years than your average motor.

In terms of daily driving, Porsche vehicles have varying degrees of reliability depending on what model you opt for. 

However, in general you can expect repairs to be more expensive than over marques because their components and the specialist expertise and knowledge to fix them costs more.

Depending on what goes wrong with the car, you could be looking at anything between a few hundred dollars and more than $20,000.

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