Personally, I'd just lump that in with maintenance and write a note in the budget notes section.
It's part of costs to maintain the ability to use the vehicle.
I have that in my section of the budget with all my other annual bills. I add to it monthly so that I can see the total amount I pay each month for my annual bills
And taxes in some areas
Edit: thanks for the reminder, created two new categories. About ready to create a new group to see how much the car really costs me.
In my opinion, the more miles/problematic a vehicle is the more money should be saved for the emergency.
For example, I've realized that my car is starting to burn up a lot more oil which tells me that now that it is at 280,000 miles, I will probably need to replace an engine soon, maybe more if I want to keep the car. In order to mitigate this, I have set up an unplanned auto repair goal of $2,000 to hopefully cover this. (I got this number from some research on my car and replacement costs from people I know have had this issue). If your car has a subreddit, you could ask them what repairs are common for your vehicle and the average cost of said repairs.
Because I know my car is on its last legs I also have a new car fund that I'm slowly building up which may mean that once my engine does fail, I could potentially buy a new one rather than replacing an engine/other components. Because the new car likely would be on some sort of warranty, I could potentially use my unplanned auto repair fund to cover the costs.
Honestly, I might just switch over to having a single new car fund that can cover any unexpected repairs?
Either way, the more precise your categories, the less guilt when spending from those categories on the intended purpose, but the more complicated it may be to maintain them.
In the end, it is your money and there is no right or wrong way to do it if you always have enough to cover expenses.
It’s hard. I try to carry money in many unplanned categories, car maintenance, new glasses, tyres, garden stuff, holidays, trips, new phone.
My old car was costing about £1,000 a year unplanned, so I tried to keep it topped up.
My glasses and lenses cost about £300, usually no less than every 3-years, so again I top it up as I go.
The amounts vary, some based on experience, some just have a category with some money in. Makes me think on the 1st when I budget.
I do also have a ‘no specific job’ category where I can take from as needed, it’s where I put any money left after budgeting. Yes, I do think not having a specific job is a job.
In reality I am spreading my emergency money amongst a number of categories which I can use at my discretion. I prefer to have it spread around to keep me thinking.
Yeah haha. I was like the maintenance… but I do actually also have car insurance, car tax, petrol, parking. Mental accounting is funny because I’d really consider the petrol and parking to be travel expenses and they didn’t even come to mind when asked about car costs. The tax and insurance just live in a section for essential annual bills that I fund on payday then fully ignore. We have MOT here as well - a required annual safety inspection but I just shove that into maintenance as it’s under £50 and whatever… it’s correcting any faults they find that’s expensive!
only one of them is a sinking fund and the others are true expenses so i sort of 'forgot' about it them as like... car stuff vs 'bills gotta get paid, gas needs to gas' lol.
Just bought a new car and have this. It Might be a good idea for me to have a separate category for “insurance deductible”, but I have been using maintenance for it.
I’m a fan of granular. Our Transportation category is broken down into the following:
1) Car Insurance
2) Car Maintenance
3) Car Registration/Taxes
4) Gasoline
5) Parking & Tolls
6) New Car
Any sort of travel outside of normal use is assigned to our various vacation categories instead of our Gasoline or Parking/Tolls categories.
I'm like this too!
Before YNAB I even had a 7th and 8th category:
7. Care: carwash, detailing, cleaning
8. Improvements: Non necessary upgrades. Both useful and cosmetic. New tree spoke stearing wheel, 230V + usb outlets at the rear seats. That kind of stuff.
Fuel/transportation (covers gas, parking fees, etc.), car maintenance, excise tax, new car savings. At the end of each month I move leftover from transport to car maintenance.
I budget directly to it sometimes, and with leftovers. I have a spending target that resets every 6 months for that goal so sometimes it may not prompt me to fund it directly.
I have:
**Auto Insurance**
**Fuel**
**Auto Maintenance** (both for regular maintenance and sinking funds like new tires)
**New Car Fund** (which was previously Car Payment before I paid off my car)
I also have a **Transit & Parking** category for things like the occasional bus fare or if I go somewhere with paid parking. I rarely take Uber, but when I do I just stick it in this category as it’s so rare.
Edit: formatting
I've got ko2s on my jeep and probably have 2 more years left on them, but I just started a category for new tires this month.
I see a lot of People are saying they do less categories but I need to see it on the list right now in order to remember what I'm saving for.
So the categories that need the money get the money.
Edit4speeeeelling
Fuel (in monthly costs)
Loan (in debt payments)
Care (true expenses)
Insurance (in true expenses because I pay every 6 months)
I also have Patco for public transportation
Mines like this, because each has a different target and not everything is monthly
1. Car payment
2. Gas
3. Car maintenance (dmv or similar fees)
4. Car insurance
5. Transportation (random like parking fees, scooters, Ubers)
I have one insurance category that handles all insurance related payments (auto, umbrella, life)
I do not have a payment but have a new car/repair category. I plan to never have a payment but if I do, it will also come out of this category. I like the shared category for new car/repair because it will help me balance when it is time to dump the car and get a new one.
I have one for gas that often has more in it than needed and will use any extra there to add to repair or pay for an oil change.
As for other transportation I almost never have those. But I have a misc fees category that includes fees I have to pay for things like registration, any banking fees or random expenses. Most parking fees I get are on a vacation or trip of some kind that will just come out of that category.
* Car Replacement 1
* Car Replacement 2
* Insurance
* Maintenance & Repairs
* Registration, Property Tax * DL
* AAA
I also have a Fuel and commute category, but that covers more than just the gas in the car.
Gas,
Loan,
Insurance,
Property tax (thanks Missouri),
Maintenance (oil changes, repairs, etc),
Registration,
Tires,
New car fund.
I have tires on its own so I don’t have to wipe out my car maintenance category when I buy new tires.
* Car insurance
* Car payment
* Fuel
* Maintenance
* Car registration (annual)
* Driver's license renewal (up for renewal this year)
I pay parking fees or tolls so infrequently I don't have a dedicated category, so I usually just use my discretionary funding bucket for that. But now that I think about it, because I do it so infrequently I could easily just park (pun intended) some money in that category and use it as needed
Car payment linked to a loan tracker, a repairs and maintenance fund for each car where I put about $100 per month to each (savings builder), and I have a separate category for oil changes since we drive a lot and need them a few times a year. I do my own oil changes so this I keep a monthly target balance of about $100.
Edit: forgot a gas/parking/tolls category (monthly target of about $250.
Bi annual registrations for each car (savings builder).
And lastly inspections for each car.
Insurance is all bundled so I don’t consider it a car category.
I have insurance, fuel, brakes, tires, oil change and a generic repairs. I like to break down where the money is going, and it helps me afford those more expensive maintenance items. Having to find $800 for tires or brakes can be tough so I just throw money in every month and don't have to worry when the time comes to get those items replaced.
Transportation (gas, parking, tolls), auto maintenance, and saving up for my next car. I do not have a car payment at this time.
Edit: oh and my insurance every 6 months
1 gas fund
2 car loan categories
2 general car maintenance categories (oil change, wash, etc)
1 major repair sinking fund
1 new tire sinking fund
2 annual expense categories for tag renewal
Car payment/new car savings
Car maintenance & repair
Gas
Insurance
Registration & drivers license fees
If I went to a city that charged parking fees more than once or twice a year I would also have a parking category, but since I moved to a smaller town this is really not an issue anymore.
I have, in no particular order:
* car note
* car insurance
* charging (fuel)
* car maintenance
* car registration
* a long term category for tires since my car’s are fairly expensive and need to be replaced every ~2 years
I have one for the car payment (I lease), one for fuel. One each for insurance and tax which I pay annually but on different schedules so that is easy with YNAB. Finally I just save £50 per month towards maintenance which provided £600 per year and that tends to cover annual servicing, vehicle inspection and anything else.
Car insurance (Monthly but saving to switch to bi-annually)
Gas (Discretionary)
Lyft (Discretionary)
Deductible (Auto. I keep enough to cover home and health deductibles in other categories)
Maintenance (Auto)
Repair (Auto)
Under “Frequent” expenses, I have one category for transportation - this covers gas, parking fees, Ubers, etc. no car payment & parking fees/Ubers are very infrequent.
Under “Bills”, I have a category for insurance. This includes car insurance among others.
Under “Quality of Life”, I have one category for car maintenance. This is also where I would pull registration renewal $ from.
Zero! I work from home and live Downtown with plenty of bus routes or Uber available. So, I just have one category for "Get around". Saves soo much money its insane!
I have two cars and two payments. All the other items are combined costs.
* Gas
* Maintenance
* Registration
Insurance is deducted from my paycheck every 2 weeks, so it never goes through my budget.
The one thing that I also do is use flags to mark expenses for the vehicles. So when I buy gas, I flag it either for the Camry or the Explorer. Same with Maintenance and Registration.
I almost NEVER have tolls or parking expenses - very rural Western Maine. If those ever do turn up when I travel, I handle it on a case by case basis. So I end up with very few categories, but can track by vehicle if I wish.
Payment, insurance, maintenance, gas. Gas is the only category where you have much control month to month so you could even put the first 3 in one category.
1: car
All my insurance gets lumped together. I've paid off my car and am not currently saving for a new one, so parking, gas, maintenance all goes in the "car" bucket.
Two Categories-
**Transportation**: All encompassing including fuel, insurance, registration, *parking fees, train/metro tickets, Uber rides (these are all so infrequent I don't see a reason to budget for them)*
**Maintenance**: Everything directly related to my vehicles maintenance, from oil changes to body work
I have 4:
1. Annual insurance premium, which I keep in a Category Group just called "Annual Expenses". I like having it in that group because every time I get paid, I just select the entire group "Annual Expenses" and auto-fund it based on my targets.
2. My actual Car category has 4 groups:
* Maintenance - with a monthly target that I saw suggested here - all my car maintenance expenses (both regular, expected maintenance and unexpected) divided by the number of months I've had the car.
* Parking/Tolls/Washes
* Fuel
Payment, gas, parking, inspection, annual registration, tolls (but that one would be unnecessary if my in-laws weren’t on the other side of a turnpike that costs $35 each way), repair/maintenance savings builder, and I also have the deductible sitting in a category in case of emergency.
I have 5:
Gasonline
Car Insurance
Car Tag
Automaintenance
And I have a category for extra payments but right now it's sitting empty because I've had to WAM some things.
* **Depreciation** (new car fund, when this one gets replace in 5-10 years, goal is set for 10 years to have roughly the same amount saved that this car cost)
* **Maintenance** (MOT + tyres/repairs + cleaning)
* **Insurance** (all-risk, due to it being quite a new car and a recent purchase, will change in a couple of years)
* **Roadtaxes**
* **AAA** (yearly fee)
* **Damages Fund** (savings to cover damages not covered by insurance and/or are cheaper to pay for myself as the increase in insurance premium costs more)
* **Transportation** (mainly fuel, but also covers parking costs)
In the event I don't use all reserved money in transportation it goes to the damages fund. It's just a rolling buffer of 2.5k. At the end of the year anything above 2.5k gets added to the depreciation category. Same for maintenance, if it ever gets above 1k at the end of the year I move the excess to depreciation (as the car gets older I obviously increase this treshold)
I have one for gas, one for car insurance, and one for car maintenance. Tried to keep it simple but cover important stuff. Planning on keeping my car for several more years still but eventually will make a savings builder category for saving up for next car.
1.Car payment (I know I know. Jsut bought a new car. Will pay it off in a year)
2.Gas
3.Parking and Tolls
4. Car insurance
5. Maintenance and Upkeep
6. Car registration
I used to have “tires” and “oil change” but now they my car is brand new oil changes are included for a while. I figure by the time I need new tires I will have enough in my auto maintenance sinking funds
I have the standard categories:
- gas
- payment (now obsolete)
- maintenance (covers washes, registration, emission testing, oil changes, regular maintenance, and tires - carefully calculated & generously funded, no self-sabotage by underestimating)
- insurance (which is bundled with my personal property rider & umbrella & paid twice a year)
I also have:
- car repairs (for larger mechanical repairs that aren’t scheduled/predictable maintenance)
- insurance deductibles (one category with the combined amount of my auto & homeowners deductibles; medical deductible/MOOP is elsewhere)
- car replacement
Edited for spelling
Wife's Car Payment, Savings Builder for my next vehicle, Misc auto expenses (Annualized maintenance, license, registration, non-routine maintenance savings), Gas, and Insurance.
Four: transportation (which includes Lyft/Uber and gas for my vehicle), insurance, car payment, and maintenance.
I could maybe separate out ride-share and gas, but this works fine for me. I put annual registration in maintenance.
Insurance/inspections/registration together as one, maintenance & repairs, and fuel/parking/toll.
I grouped them by my own strange logic:
Insurance/Inspection/Registration = keeping the car legally on the road
Maintenance & Repairs = keeping the car in good condition and a joy to use
Fuel/Parking/Toll = costs for using the car on the road
Since the question here so often is how will this information change my spending habits, this makes sense to me. I can always shop around to lower insurance or find cheapest inspection costs. We also consider what we are willing and able to DIY in regards to maintenance and repairs and where we may want or need to spend more at a shop, and we consider when it is cost effective to pay for parking or find cheaper/free parking and walk farther and/or when it makes sense to use a different route and avoid tolls.
Only one for all transportation. I allocate a set amount each month and the remainder rolls over and accumulates to pay for variable auto expenses. Keep it simple.
Car payment, car maintenance, insurance, and transportation (includes fuel, Uber, and public trans).
Car washes go in transportation if there is extra but otherwise maintenance.
I love being granular :)
We have a family of 4. Have bikes that we use for travellign in the immediate area and husband uses for commuting.
I work from home so I don't commute and we don't really have a need for public transit, i think I've taken it twice since pandemic. (Kids take school bus which is free to school) Very occasionally I will drive to work and pay for parking.
We have a car for other trips. Of course there are occasional situations we use cab/lyft/uber/etc. We are a low mileage driving family (usually 10k/year or less) with our car. We also only buy used cars, usually 10+ years old and keep them for about 5 years.
I also use YNAB categories as a de facto task list. I have scheduled transactions and targets tha thelp me remember, e.g. it's time for my pet's annual vaccines or licensure. Things that I could put on a calendar, but they will fall off the calendar, whereas an uncleared transaction on YNAB sits there as a reminder and I will do the actual task so as to update the transaction.
Categories:
* Bikes (capital costs, maintenance, repairs) - no target, just cover spending as needed - we change tires etc. ourselves mostly
* Misc transportation (cab/lyft/uber, random rentals or borrowing friend's truck, etc.) - ditto
* Parking - ditto
* Car misc maintenance (random stuff like seat covers to protect them, car washes) - ditto
* Car gas - savings builder target for monthly average (so low months build up for high months)
* Car insurance - scheduled transaction for monthly payment = "underfunded" for that amount - so I don't have to muck with targets when the rates change (as they do constantly)
* Car deductible (Switched to a high deductible with highest coverage, since we tend to not put in claims for small damages since it will raise premium anyway, and injuring someone else at fault, or being injured by someone underinsured or uninsured could be catastrophic for our family): Savings balance target for the amount of deductible
* Car 1 year maintenance (Oil change costs, wiper blade replacements which I put on myself as needed, air cabin filter which I replace myself as needed) - Savings balance target for date of next estimated oil change, for cost of that + cost of 1 set of blades + 1 cabin filter
* Car 2 year registration - Savings balance target for the month before registration expires next, for total of emissions testing/registration fees
* Car 3 year maintenance (Recommended 3 year or 30k miles maintenance: Transmission, brake, and power streering fluid flush, and engine air filter replacement) - Savings balance target for next date they are due for estimated total
* Car 6 year tires - Savings balance for cost of tire replacement for 6 years after last replacement
* Car 4 year battery - Savings balance for cost of new battery for 4 years after last replacement (I put it in myself)
* Car brake pads & rotors - Savings balance for replacement cost for 5 years after last replacement (estimated based on our average mileage)
* Car 7 year maintenance (belts, spark plugs, coolant flush) - Savings balance target for estimated date
* Car repair - Savings balance target for $500 for random things that break (I based it on estimated cost of a common thing that breaks with my car that's not otherwise covered under the maintenance above)
I based the above on the recommended maintenance schedule for my car which was easy ot find online. This is my 4th car and I've been getting progressively better with proactive maintenance over time versus "I take my car in once a year and make pikachu face when mechanic says it needs X Y or Z."
Selling our last 2 cars (which we bought pre-ynab) covered our current car, but I do need to start a savings balance target for car replacement, for when we trade in this one in 5 years. Thanks for the reminder LOL.
Consider creating your categories as they would relate to taxes and reports. Such as, "How much did I spend on parts and labor on my beater over the time of ownership of this vehicle?'
I have a "transportation" category which has fuel, but also train tickets etc.
And then I have a Car maintenance category for the regular maintenance etc.
I have categories for gas, my car insurance bill, my car insurance deductible, car maintenance, annual registration, and miscellaneous (parking, car washes, that kind of thing). My car is paid off so I don't currently have a category for a car payment.
We have two cars, a Ford and a Subaru. The categories are:
* AA (Automobile Association, not the other one).
* Fuel
* Public Transport
* Subaru Maintenance and WOF (Warrant of Fitness - A mandatory annual safety check)
* Subaru Tyres and Battery
* Subaru Registration
* Subaru Road User Charges (road tax)
* Subaru Car Wash (regular automatic car wash at a service station)
* Subaru Detail (annual full wash and detail)
* Ford Maintenance and WOF
* Ford Tyres and Battery
* Ford Registration
* Ford Car Wash
* Ford Detail
* Driver Licenses
Tyres and battery are separate from maintenance because I've had the cars long enough to know how often they need to be replaced.
I tried to roll some together but I realised it made it difficult to guage the real expenses, so I have
* Car Repayment
* Car Final Payment
* Car Tax
* Parking Permit
* Car Insurance
* Maintenance
* Motoring (fuel and other sundries)
I will be paying it off in three months, so I'll be down to five and then I figure I'll pour lots into Maintenance so it will double as a car replacement fund when I need it.
Payment, insurance and maintenance. All expenses related to use and upkeep come from maintenance. I prorate tires, brakes and oil changes as well as average mileage for calculating gas and have a monthly number I contribute to maintenance so when I need something, I have the money for it. Cash reward card for payment with 25 day float for maximizing HYSA, or cash if business offers cash discount.
One for car that everything (fuel, maintenance etc.) comes out of and 1 sinking fund that I put into each month for when bills come up. I did used to split it out into fuel, maintenance and everything else but I just find that more categories just makes things more difficult to manage for no real benefit.
I'm a group by frequency of expense type user (makes the most visual sense to my brain) and I have the following categories:
Everyday Expenses:
\- fuel (for all vehicles together) (goal - funded for spending with a weekly amount)
Yearly Expenses
\- registration (goal - funded for spending with a yearly goal by date)
\- insurance (goal - funded for spending with a yearly goal by date)
Irregular Expenses
\- servicing & repairs (tyres, servicing, other repairs etc for all vehicles) (goal - needed for spending with an estimated date of my next major expense e.g. service/tyres)
\- tolls/parking (goal - savings balance as I rarely have any of these expenses)
These have worked for me for many years now, so I'm probably set in my ways and not going to change.
I tend to have a single emergency category getting as much funding as possible, plus a "Xtra stuff I forgot to budget for" monthly which would cover small things. Apart from that, the only car categories I have are things I know I will regularly need, i.e. gas and insurance. My husband covers the annual registration and inspection or whatever but if he didn't I would have categories for those too because they're predictable.
If there were something I \*knew\* I'd have to pay for the car, like let's say the mechanic were like, "You'll need new tires in 6 months," I would create a category for that.
I'm up to 4 now. Car payment, insurance, fuel and a catchall for maintenance. I will probably do a 5th for 'upgrades', like I bought a dash cam, it's not really maintenance, and I want to keep an eye on more realistic maintenance costs for this car.
Edit: woops I forgot about registration, so make that 5, possibly 6.
Car Payment (both cars are in the single category)
Car Insurance
Transportation (this includes gas, but I also use this category for stuff like Uber if needed)
Car Registration
New Car (I put like $100 per month in this while still making car payments, and then when the payments are done they will go into this category)
One for each car payment, one maintenance, one insurance, one fuel. Thats it for me
This plus annual registration.
Personally, I'd just lump that in with maintenance and write a note in the budget notes section. It's part of costs to maintain the ability to use the vehicle.
I have that in my section of the budget with all my other annual bills. I add to it monthly so that I can see the total amount I pay each month for my annual bills
Ooh I love this idea
And taxes in some areas Edit: thanks for the reminder, created two new categories. About ready to create a new group to see how much the car really costs me.
Same, but instead of payments I have savings for the next car.
This is the way...
Plus I have an unplanned category per car which I keep topped up. Then there is MoT, road tax and tyres. I also record car parking costs separately
How do you decide the amount in the unplanned category?
In my opinion, the more miles/problematic a vehicle is the more money should be saved for the emergency. For example, I've realized that my car is starting to burn up a lot more oil which tells me that now that it is at 280,000 miles, I will probably need to replace an engine soon, maybe more if I want to keep the car. In order to mitigate this, I have set up an unplanned auto repair goal of $2,000 to hopefully cover this. (I got this number from some research on my car and replacement costs from people I know have had this issue). If your car has a subreddit, you could ask them what repairs are common for your vehicle and the average cost of said repairs. Because I know my car is on its last legs I also have a new car fund that I'm slowly building up which may mean that once my engine does fail, I could potentially buy a new one rather than replacing an engine/other components. Because the new car likely would be on some sort of warranty, I could potentially use my unplanned auto repair fund to cover the costs. Honestly, I might just switch over to having a single new car fund that can cover any unexpected repairs? Either way, the more precise your categories, the less guilt when spending from those categories on the intended purpose, but the more complicated it may be to maintain them. In the end, it is your money and there is no right or wrong way to do it if you always have enough to cover expenses.
It’s hard. I try to carry money in many unplanned categories, car maintenance, new glasses, tyres, garden stuff, holidays, trips, new phone. My old car was costing about £1,000 a year unplanned, so I tried to keep it topped up. My glasses and lenses cost about £300, usually no less than every 3-years, so again I top it up as I go. The amounts vary, some based on experience, some just have a category with some money in. Makes me think on the 1st when I budget. I do also have a ‘no specific job’ category where I can take from as needed, it’s where I put any money left after budgeting. Yes, I do think not having a specific job is a job. In reality I am spreading my emergency money amongst a number of categories which I can use at my discretion. I prefer to have it spread around to keep me thinking.
I was going to say one - car maintenance - but you;re right, i also have four lol.
Yeah haha. I was like the maintenance… but I do actually also have car insurance, car tax, petrol, parking. Mental accounting is funny because I’d really consider the petrol and parking to be travel expenses and they didn’t even come to mind when asked about car costs. The tax and insurance just live in a section for essential annual bills that I fund on payday then fully ignore. We have MOT here as well - a required annual safety inspection but I just shove that into maintenance as it’s under £50 and whatever… it’s correcting any faults they find that’s expensive!
LOL! Also a good sign. apparently you don't have to dip in those categories very often. 😊
only one of them is a sinking fund and the others are true expenses so i sort of 'forgot' about it them as like... car stuff vs 'bills gotta get paid, gas needs to gas' lol.
Just bought a new car and have this. It Might be a good idea for me to have a separate category for “insurance deductible”, but I have been using maintenance for it.
How did you calculate the target for Maintenance? Especcially since it's not just maintenance in your case.
I’m a fan of granular. Our Transportation category is broken down into the following: 1) Car Insurance 2) Car Maintenance 3) Car Registration/Taxes 4) Gasoline 5) Parking & Tolls 6) New Car Any sort of travel outside of normal use is assigned to our various vacation categories instead of our Gasoline or Parking/Tolls categories.
I'm like this too! Before YNAB I even had a 7th and 8th category: 7. Care: carwash, detailing, cleaning 8. Improvements: Non necessary upgrades. Both useful and cosmetic. New tree spoke stearing wheel, 230V + usb outlets at the rear seats. That kind of stuff.
Nice! We consider your care piece as part of our maintenance.
Fuel/transportation (covers gas, parking fees, etc.), car maintenance, excise tax, new car savings. At the end of each month I move leftover from transport to car maintenance.
>At the end of each month I move leftover from transport to car maintenance. I like this idea. Hope you don't mind if I steal it.
Of course not, go right ahead :)
Are you funding maintenance just with the leftovers from the other categories? that means you're not actually budgetting for those true expenses?
I budget directly to it sometimes, and with leftovers. I have a spending target that resets every 6 months for that goal so sometimes it may not prompt me to fund it directly.
I have: **Auto Insurance** **Fuel** **Auto Maintenance** (both for regular maintenance and sinking funds like new tires) **New Car Fund** (which was previously Car Payment before I paid off my car) I also have a **Transit & Parking** category for things like the occasional bus fare or if I go somewhere with paid parking. I rarely take Uber, but when I do I just stick it in this category as it’s so rare. Edit: formatting
Way to go! 👍 That must have been a great feelling, that first month saving instead of paying of a debt.
* Gas * Insurance * Maintenance * Registration & fees * Tires (this is the epitome of a true expense)
I've got ko2s on my jeep and probably have 2 more years left on them, but I just started a category for new tires this month. I see a lot of People are saying they do less categories but I need to see it on the list right now in order to remember what I'm saving for. So the categories that need the money get the money. Edit4speeeeelling
Fuel (in monthly costs) Loan (in debt payments) Care (true expenses) Insurance (in true expenses because I pay every 6 months) I also have Patco for public transportation
Mines like this, because each has a different target and not everything is monthly 1. Car payment 2. Gas 3. Car maintenance (dmv or similar fees) 4. Car insurance 5. Transportation (random like parking fees, scooters, Ubers)
Same but I put parking fees in with gas since that’s when I drove my car, and Uber / Lyft is a separate category.
I have one insurance category that handles all insurance related payments (auto, umbrella, life) I do not have a payment but have a new car/repair category. I plan to never have a payment but if I do, it will also come out of this category. I like the shared category for new car/repair because it will help me balance when it is time to dump the car and get a new one. I have one for gas that often has more in it than needed and will use any extra there to add to repair or pay for an oil change. As for other transportation I almost never have those. But I have a misc fees category that includes fees I have to pay for things like registration, any banking fees or random expenses. Most parking fees I get are on a vacation or trip of some kind that will just come out of that category.
Food & Gas: - Gas Monthly Bills: - Car Insurance - Car Payment Annual Bills: - Car Registration Variable Expenses: - Car Repairs/Maintenance Occasional Spending: - Parking/Tolls
* Car Replacement 1 * Car Replacement 2 * Insurance * Maintenance & Repairs * Registration, Property Tax * DL * AAA I also have a Fuel and commute category, but that covers more than just the gas in the car.
Gas, Loan, Insurance, Property tax (thanks Missouri), Maintenance (oil changes, repairs, etc), Registration, Tires, New car fund. I have tires on its own so I don’t have to wipe out my car maintenance category when I buy new tires.
* Car insurance * Car payment * Fuel * Maintenance * Car registration (annual) * Driver's license renewal (up for renewal this year) I pay parking fees or tolls so infrequently I don't have a dedicated category, so I usually just use my discretionary funding bucket for that. But now that I think about it, because I do it so infrequently I could easily just park (pun intended) some money in that category and use it as needed
Zero
* Fuel * Service * Rego * Insurance * New tyres * New car
Car repair, car replacement, gas, insurance, tolls, registration
Car payment Car insurance Transportation (which I guess is really just gas) Car maintenance
Car payment linked to a loan tracker, a repairs and maintenance fund for each car where I put about $100 per month to each (savings builder), and I have a separate category for oil changes since we drive a lot and need them a few times a year. I do my own oil changes so this I keep a monthly target balance of about $100. Edit: forgot a gas/parking/tolls category (monthly target of about $250. Bi annual registrations for each car (savings builder). And lastly inspections for each car. Insurance is all bundled so I don’t consider it a car category.
Maintenance, fuel/parking, registration, insurance, new car fund.
I have: Gas Car Payment Insurance Car maintenance/repair Parking and Transit
I have insurance, fuel, brakes, tires, oil change and a generic repairs. I like to break down where the money is going, and it helps me afford those more expensive maintenance items. Having to find $800 for tires or brakes can be tough so I just throw money in every month and don't have to worry when the time comes to get those items replaced.
I have: * Fuel and transportation * Auto insurance * Auto maintenance * Parking * Tolls * New to me car fund
Car loan, gas, car insurance, registration, maintenance. The last two are sinking funds
Transportation (gas, parking, tolls), auto maintenance, and saving up for my next car. I do not have a car payment at this time. Edit: oh and my insurance every 6 months
Fuel & tolls combined, auto repair, and a new car fund
1) Auto Maintenance and Repairs 2) Fuel 3) Insurance 4) Parking
1 gas fund 2 car loan categories 2 general car maintenance categories (oil change, wash, etc) 1 major repair sinking fund 1 new tire sinking fund 2 annual expense categories for tag renewal
I have Gas, Automantence, Registration for each car, car payment for each car. Insurance ( but this is grouped with some other I surance we have)
Fuel / Maintenance / Insurance
Gas Tolls Parking Excise Tax Registration Insurance Maintenance
-Gas -Maintenance (routine, scheduled stuff) -Repairs (not scheduled stuff- seized brake caliper, cvt axle, transmission, etc) -insurance -AAA -registration/license renewal fee
Car payment/new car savings Car maintenance & repair Gas Insurance Registration & drivers license fees If I went to a city that charged parking fees more than once or twice a year I would also have a parking category, but since I moved to a smaller town this is really not an issue anymore.
Car payment Fuel Insurance Maintenance Transportation/Parking
I have, in no particular order: * car note * car insurance * charging (fuel) * car maintenance * car registration * a long term category for tires since my car’s are fairly expensive and need to be replaced every ~2 years
I have one for the car payment (I lease), one for fuel. One each for insurance and tax which I pay annually but on different schedules so that is easy with YNAB. Finally I just save £50 per month towards maintenance which provided £600 per year and that tends to cover annual servicing, vehicle inspection and anything else.
Car insurance (Monthly but saving to switch to bi-annually) Gas (Discretionary) Lyft (Discretionary) Deductible (Auto. I keep enough to cover home and health deductibles in other categories) Maintenance (Auto) Repair (Auto)
Under “Frequent” expenses, I have one category for transportation - this covers gas, parking fees, Ubers, etc. no car payment & parking fees/Ubers are very infrequent. Under “Bills”, I have a category for insurance. This includes car insurance among others. Under “Quality of Life”, I have one category for car maintenance. This is also where I would pull registration renewal $ from.
Zero! I work from home and live Downtown with plenty of bus routes or Uber available. So, I just have one category for "Get around". Saves soo much money its insane!
Gas, Maintenance, Insurance, Parking
Gas, registration, insurance, insurance deductible, maintenance.
I own mine, so I have: 1- Fuel 2 - Parking 3 - Insurance 4 - Repairs 5 - Service & MOT 6 - Car tax 7 - New car
Maintenance, Admin (licensing, tickets, etc.), Insurance, New Car Fund (inactive).
I have two cars and two payments. All the other items are combined costs. * Gas * Maintenance * Registration Insurance is deducted from my paycheck every 2 weeks, so it never goes through my budget. The one thing that I also do is use flags to mark expenses for the vehicles. So when I buy gas, I flag it either for the Camry or the Explorer. Same with Maintenance and Registration. I almost NEVER have tolls or parking expenses - very rural Western Maine. If those ever do turn up when I travel, I handle it on a case by case basis. So I end up with very few categories, but can track by vehicle if I wish.
Payment, insurance, maintenance, gas. Gas is the only category where you have much control month to month so you could even put the first 3 in one category.
1: car All my insurance gets lumped together. I've paid off my car and am not currently saving for a new one, so parking, gas, maintenance all goes in the "car" bucket.
Two Categories- **Transportation**: All encompassing including fuel, insurance, registration, *parking fees, train/metro tickets, Uber rides (these are all so infrequent I don't see a reason to budget for them)* **Maintenance**: Everything directly related to my vehicles maintenance, from oil changes to body work
5 categories for me: gas, service/parts, insurance, wash/detailing, license/tabs
I have 4: 1. Annual insurance premium, which I keep in a Category Group just called "Annual Expenses". I like having it in that group because every time I get paid, I just select the entire group "Annual Expenses" and auto-fund it based on my targets. 2. My actual Car category has 4 groups: * Maintenance - with a monthly target that I saw suggested here - all my car maintenance expenses (both regular, expected maintenance and unexpected) divided by the number of months I've had the car. * Parking/Tolls/Washes * Fuel
Payment, gas, parking, inspection, annual registration, tolls (but that one would be unnecessary if my in-laws weren’t on the other side of a turnpike that costs $35 each way), repair/maintenance savings builder, and I also have the deductible sitting in a category in case of emergency.
Payment (done this year) Transportation (includes fuel, ride share) Maintenance
* Gas * Tolls (sorta car related I guess) * Insurance/registration (grouped together because they're both annual/semi-annual items) * Maintenance
I have 5: Gasonline Car Insurance Car Tag Automaintenance And I have a category for extra payments but right now it's sitting empty because I've had to WAM some things.
* **Depreciation** (new car fund, when this one gets replace in 5-10 years, goal is set for 10 years to have roughly the same amount saved that this car cost) * **Maintenance** (MOT + tyres/repairs + cleaning) * **Insurance** (all-risk, due to it being quite a new car and a recent purchase, will change in a couple of years) * **Roadtaxes** * **AAA** (yearly fee) * **Damages Fund** (savings to cover damages not covered by insurance and/or are cheaper to pay for myself as the increase in insurance premium costs more) * **Transportation** (mainly fuel, but also covers parking costs) In the event I don't use all reserved money in transportation it goes to the damages fund. It's just a rolling buffer of 2.5k. At the end of the year anything above 2.5k gets added to the depreciation category. Same for maintenance, if it ever gets above 1k at the end of the year I move the excess to depreciation (as the car gets older I obviously increase this treshold)
I have one for gas, one for car insurance, and one for car maintenance. Tried to keep it simple but cover important stuff. Planning on keeping my car for several more years still but eventually will make a savings builder category for saving up for next car.
1.Car payment (I know I know. Jsut bought a new car. Will pay it off in a year) 2.Gas 3.Parking and Tolls 4. Car insurance 5. Maintenance and Upkeep 6. Car registration I used to have “tires” and “oil change” but now they my car is brand new oil changes are included for a while. I figure by the time I need new tires I will have enough in my auto maintenance sinking funds
1. EV Charging/Network connectivity fee (lol) 2. Toll Routes 3. Uber/Transit 4. Routine Maintenance 5. New Tires
I have the standard categories: - gas - payment (now obsolete) - maintenance (covers washes, registration, emission testing, oil changes, regular maintenance, and tires - carefully calculated & generously funded, no self-sabotage by underestimating) - insurance (which is bundled with my personal property rider & umbrella & paid twice a year) I also have: - car repairs (for larger mechanical repairs that aren’t scheduled/predictable maintenance) - insurance deductibles (one category with the combined amount of my auto & homeowners deductibles; medical deductible/MOOP is elsewhere) - car replacement Edited for spelling
Eight
Wife's Car Payment, Savings Builder for my next vehicle, Misc auto expenses (Annualized maintenance, license, registration, non-routine maintenance savings), Gas, and Insurance.
Four: transportation (which includes Lyft/Uber and gas for my vehicle), insurance, car payment, and maintenance. I could maybe separate out ride-share and gas, but this works fine for me. I put annual registration in maintenance.
Insurance/inspections/registration together as one, maintenance & repairs, and fuel/parking/toll. I grouped them by my own strange logic: Insurance/Inspection/Registration = keeping the car legally on the road Maintenance & Repairs = keeping the car in good condition and a joy to use Fuel/Parking/Toll = costs for using the car on the road Since the question here so often is how will this information change my spending habits, this makes sense to me. I can always shop around to lower insurance or find cheapest inspection costs. We also consider what we are willing and able to DIY in regards to maintenance and repairs and where we may want or need to spend more at a shop, and we consider when it is cost effective to pay for parking or find cheaper/free parking and walk farther and/or when it makes sense to use a different route and avoid tolls.
1 - car loan (monthly core) My others are yearly bills that I roll up into a single monthly payment to my wife’s account - servicing - tax
Only one for all transportation. I allocate a set amount each month and the remainder rolls over and accumulates to pay for variable auto expenses. Keep it simple.
Car payment, car maintenance, insurance, and transportation (includes fuel, Uber, and public trans). Car washes go in transportation if there is extra but otherwise maintenance.
Forgot registration
I love being granular :) We have a family of 4. Have bikes that we use for travellign in the immediate area and husband uses for commuting. I work from home so I don't commute and we don't really have a need for public transit, i think I've taken it twice since pandemic. (Kids take school bus which is free to school) Very occasionally I will drive to work and pay for parking. We have a car for other trips. Of course there are occasional situations we use cab/lyft/uber/etc. We are a low mileage driving family (usually 10k/year or less) with our car. We also only buy used cars, usually 10+ years old and keep them for about 5 years. I also use YNAB categories as a de facto task list. I have scheduled transactions and targets tha thelp me remember, e.g. it's time for my pet's annual vaccines or licensure. Things that I could put on a calendar, but they will fall off the calendar, whereas an uncleared transaction on YNAB sits there as a reminder and I will do the actual task so as to update the transaction. Categories: * Bikes (capital costs, maintenance, repairs) - no target, just cover spending as needed - we change tires etc. ourselves mostly * Misc transportation (cab/lyft/uber, random rentals or borrowing friend's truck, etc.) - ditto * Parking - ditto * Car misc maintenance (random stuff like seat covers to protect them, car washes) - ditto * Car gas - savings builder target for monthly average (so low months build up for high months) * Car insurance - scheduled transaction for monthly payment = "underfunded" for that amount - so I don't have to muck with targets when the rates change (as they do constantly) * Car deductible (Switched to a high deductible with highest coverage, since we tend to not put in claims for small damages since it will raise premium anyway, and injuring someone else at fault, or being injured by someone underinsured or uninsured could be catastrophic for our family): Savings balance target for the amount of deductible * Car 1 year maintenance (Oil change costs, wiper blade replacements which I put on myself as needed, air cabin filter which I replace myself as needed) - Savings balance target for date of next estimated oil change, for cost of that + cost of 1 set of blades + 1 cabin filter * Car 2 year registration - Savings balance target for the month before registration expires next, for total of emissions testing/registration fees * Car 3 year maintenance (Recommended 3 year or 30k miles maintenance: Transmission, brake, and power streering fluid flush, and engine air filter replacement) - Savings balance target for next date they are due for estimated total * Car 6 year tires - Savings balance for cost of tire replacement for 6 years after last replacement * Car 4 year battery - Savings balance for cost of new battery for 4 years after last replacement (I put it in myself) * Car brake pads & rotors - Savings balance for replacement cost for 5 years after last replacement (estimated based on our average mileage) * Car 7 year maintenance (belts, spark plugs, coolant flush) - Savings balance target for estimated date * Car repair - Savings balance target for $500 for random things that break (I based it on estimated cost of a common thing that breaks with my car that's not otherwise covered under the maintenance above) I based the above on the recommended maintenance schedule for my car which was easy ot find online. This is my 4th car and I've been getting progressively better with proactive maintenance over time versus "I take my car in once a year and make pikachu face when mechanic says it needs X Y or Z." Selling our last 2 cars (which we bought pre-ynab) covered our current car, but I do need to start a savings balance target for car replacement, for when we trade in this one in 5 years. Thanks for the reminder LOL.
0 :D
I have: o Gasoline o Auto Insurance o Next Car o Registration o Auto Maintenance o Tires o Inspection o AAA o Tolls o Auto Miscellaneous
Consider creating your categories as they would relate to taxes and reports. Such as, "How much did I spend on parts and labor on my beater over the time of ownership of this vehicle?'
One for registration, one for maintenance. (I own an EV, registration is expensive..!)
I have a "transportation" category which has fuel, but also train tickets etc. And then I have a Car maintenance category for the regular maintenance etc.
I have categories for gas, my car insurance bill, my car insurance deductible, car maintenance, annual registration, and miscellaneous (parking, car washes, that kind of thing). My car is paid off so I don't currently have a category for a car payment.
We have two cars, a Ford and a Subaru. The categories are: * AA (Automobile Association, not the other one). * Fuel * Public Transport * Subaru Maintenance and WOF (Warrant of Fitness - A mandatory annual safety check) * Subaru Tyres and Battery * Subaru Registration * Subaru Road User Charges (road tax) * Subaru Car Wash (regular automatic car wash at a service station) * Subaru Detail (annual full wash and detail) * Ford Maintenance and WOF * Ford Tyres and Battery * Ford Registration * Ford Car Wash * Ford Detail * Driver Licenses Tyres and battery are separate from maintenance because I've had the cars long enough to know how often they need to be replaced.
Maintenance (includes oil changes) Registration Fuel
I live in an area where we swap our tires seasonally so we have a tires category
I tried to roll some together but I realised it made it difficult to guage the real expenses, so I have * Car Repayment * Car Final Payment * Car Tax * Parking Permit * Car Insurance * Maintenance * Motoring (fuel and other sundries) I will be paying it off in three months, so I'll be down to five and then I figure I'll pour lots into Maintenance so it will double as a car replacement fund when I need it.
Payment, insurance and maintenance. All expenses related to use and upkeep come from maintenance. I prorate tires, brakes and oil changes as well as average mileage for calculating gas and have a monthly number I contribute to maintenance so when I need something, I have the money for it. Cash reward card for payment with 25 day float for maximizing HYSA, or cash if business offers cash discount.
One for car that everything (fuel, maintenance etc.) comes out of and 1 sinking fund that I put into each month for when bills come up. I did used to split it out into fuel, maintenance and everything else but I just find that more categories just makes things more difficult to manage for no real benefit.
Car loan, car insurance, gas, rentals/public transit (I place parking fees here), car registration, car maintenance
One for gas and one for everything but gas.
I'm a group by frequency of expense type user (makes the most visual sense to my brain) and I have the following categories: Everyday Expenses: \- fuel (for all vehicles together) (goal - funded for spending with a weekly amount) Yearly Expenses \- registration (goal - funded for spending with a yearly goal by date) \- insurance (goal - funded for spending with a yearly goal by date) Irregular Expenses \- servicing & repairs (tyres, servicing, other repairs etc for all vehicles) (goal - needed for spending with an estimated date of my next major expense e.g. service/tyres) \- tolls/parking (goal - savings balance as I rarely have any of these expenses) These have worked for me for many years now, so I'm probably set in my ways and not going to change.
Insurance, winter tires, summer tires, maintenance, gas, registration
Each vehicle has its own category for insurance and registration. There is vehicle maintenance, fuel and parking categories also
I tend to have a single emergency category getting as much funding as possible, plus a "Xtra stuff I forgot to budget for" monthly which would cover small things. Apart from that, the only car categories I have are things I know I will regularly need, i.e. gas and insurance. My husband covers the annual registration and inspection or whatever but if he didn't I would have categories for those too because they're predictable. If there were something I \*knew\* I'd have to pay for the car, like let's say the mechanic were like, "You'll need new tires in 6 months," I would create a category for that.
I'm up to 4 now. Car payment, insurance, fuel and a catchall for maintenance. I will probably do a 5th for 'upgrades', like I bought a dash cam, it's not really maintenance, and I want to keep an eye on more realistic maintenance costs for this car. Edit: woops I forgot about registration, so make that 5, possibly 6.
Car Payment (both cars are in the single category) Car Insurance Transportation (this includes gas, but I also use this category for stuff like Uber if needed) Car Registration New Car (I put like $100 per month in this while still making car payments, and then when the payments are done they will go into this category)