Why Is the Car You Barely Use Still Straining Your Budget?

Ownership and Costs
Creation: 19 October 2026

Even if the car's odometer stops, insurance, motor vehicle tax (MTV), and depreciation keep accruing without interruption; the less you drive, the higher the cost per kilometer.

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Leaving the car in the garage doesn't stop it from wearing you down. Insurance, taxes, depreciation, the aging of tires and battery - expenses that keep running non-stop even when the odometer stands still. What's more, the less you use it, the more you pay per kilometer; in other words, the less you use your car, the more expensive it becomes. In this article, I'll explain which items operate independently of usage and how to calculate the real cost.

Key Takeaways

Motor vehicle tax and insurance are fixed annual expenses regardless of whether the car is on the road
Engine oil oxidizes independently of mileage; even a car driven 6,000 km a year needs annual maintenance
The average lifespan of a well-maintained battery is 4-5 years, and it can be even shorter in an unused vehicle
Fixed expenses rapidly raise the per-kilometer cost at low mileage

Which Expenses Doesn't a Rarely Used Car Stop?

In the old days, there were few cars in the neighborhood, and those who had them actually used them. Now, households with a second, even a third car just sitting idle are the majority; they either work remotely, are fed up with city traffic, or have little left of the life they imagined when buying the car. The common misconception is this: if the car stops, so do the expenses. In reality, most of the cost table doesn't care whether the vehicle moves at all.

Annual tax and insurance: the bill that arrives with the calendar

The Motor Vehicle Tax is a tax collected annually in Türkiye from vehicles used on highways, and its amount is determined by the vehicle's characteristics. Even if your car never runs all year, payment remains legally due; only the tiered structure, which gradually decreases as the vehicle ages, can offer some relief - vehicles 16 years and older fall into the lowest tier.

Traffic insurance is also an unavoidable item due to being mandatory. Let's just remember that it only covers the other party's damages in an accident; while the vehicle is parked this protection is of no use, but the premium is still paid. Comprehensive insurance (kasko) is optional; still, considering risks like collisions, fire, theft, and accidents while parked, most owners don't give it up. The total of these two policies comes out of your budget entirely independent of whether the car is in the garage or on the road. Even if your mileage is zero, these two items become bills again at the start of the year.

Depreciation: the invisible but largest item

The least visible cost of vehicle ownership begins the moment you buy: depreciation. An average new vehicle can lose a significant portion of its value within five years; the role of the model, brand, and market demand in this period is greater than your mileage. So whether you take the car out once a week or never take it out, the annual depreciation item weighs the same in the table.

Let's note an important distinction of concepts here. Depreciation in legal language is the compensation item claimed for the drop in a vehicle's second-hand market value after an accident, and the payment conditions of comprehensive and traffic insurance differ from each other. The depreciation that is the subject of this article is broader: the vehicle losing its market value over time. The two are not the same thing; you negotiate the latter not with the insurance company, but with the calendar.

Why Does a Car Sitting in the Garage Continue to Age?

Although a car that isn't driven is thought to be repairing itself, on the contrary, time-based wear is waiting for it. Having been in this business for thirty years, one of the sentences I hear most often is "the car is hardly ever used, it's spotless." It may be spotless; but for oil, battery, and tires, cleanliness is not a criterion - the calendar is.

The periodic maintenance schedule doesn't ask about mileage

Manufacturers generally recommend having maintenance done every 10,000-15,000 km or once a year ; the critical word is "or." A car driven 6,000 km a year also needs maintenance at the end of the year, because engine oil oxidizes and absorbs moisture independently of mileage; with little use, the oil's chemical life runs out before the kilometers do. There are other time-based items as well: brake fluid should be renewed every two years, antifreeze around every five years or 100,000 km. The diesel filter is based on mileage, but if your vehicle is gradually wearing out, these intervals are getting shorter.

If the vehicle has been stationary for a long time, changing the oil before resuming regular driving is also recommended. Don't forget that leaves and dust accumulated under the windshield can clog the drains over time; the problems of a car left idle don't always come from under the engine.

The battery waits for time, not the car

The battery is the most sensitive part of an unused car. Even if the vehicle isn't running, consumers like the alarm system, the clock, and the electronic brain drain the battery on their own; modern vehicles' smart systems increase this consumption even further. The battery can wait up to 15-30 days, but brief idle charging doesn't work and can even cause harm. The average life of a regularly maintained battery is 4-5 years; climate conditions, storage conditions, and the number of starts shorten this period. For a vehicle that won't be used for a long time, removing the battery terminals or connecting it to a battery charger are the most sensible precautions.

Tires age even when stationary

A tire's life isn't only about tread wear; rubber hardens over time and loses its performance. In a parked car, the tires remain under pressure at a single point, and even if tread depth doesn't decrease, the safety margin erodes. In other words, a car that isn't driven can't escape the tire budget either; it just pays later.

How Is the Real Cost Per Kilometer Calculated?

Aracınızın gerçek maliyeti kilometrede değil takvimde gizlidir; sigortadan değer kaybına giderlerin büyük kısmı garajda dururken de kesmeye devam eder.

If we want to see the total cost of ownership, that is, what a car actually costs you per year, two formulas are enough: The annual fuel expense comes from multiplying the annual mileage by the vehicle's consumption per 100 km and evaluating it with the fuel price. The cost per kilometer is found by dividing the total annual expense by the annual mileage.

Here's where the crucial point begins: as the mileage in the denominator shrinks, the share of fixed costs per km grows. Comparisons made at low mileage based on fuel consumption are misleading; insurance, depreciation, and financing items behave as if they were all piled onto a single kilometer.

The following example is a hypothetical table fabricated to show how the method works; the figures in it are not current prices but an illustration of the calculation logic:

Expense item	Sample annual amount	Affected by usage?
Fuel	51,840 TL	Yes, directly
Depreciation	70,000 TL	No, calendar-based
Insurance	30,000 TL	No
Motor vehicle tax (MTV)	8,000 TL	No
Financing	25,000 TL	No
Maintenance and tires	20,000 TL	Partially, calendar-based
Parking, HGS tolls, washing	12,000 TL	Partially
Total	216,840 TL	-

In this hypothetical scenario, for a vehicle driven 15,000 km per year, the cost per kilometer is approximately 14.46 TL, and the monthly average comes out to around 18,070 TL. For someone driving the same vehicle only 5,000 km a year, the fuel expense drops to a third, but the insurance, taxes, financing, and depreciation stay right where they are; the cost per kilometer hardly ever drops below the roughly 14 liras it approaches, because most of the table is already fixed. With an electric vehicle the method is the same, only the unit changes: it is enough to multiply the kilowatt-hours of energy consumed per 100 km by the energy price.

Should You Sell the Car, or Is Keeping It at Low Mileage More Economical?

There is no single numerical answer to this question; the answer is hidden in the reader's own table. But there is a calculation framework you can apply. First, build the table above for your own vehicle using your own items. Then run the same calculation with two mileage scenarios: your current usage, and selling the vehicle and meeting your transportation needs in other ways. The difference between them is the car's real annual cost to you.

The advantages of the keeping side must also be honestly factored in. Low mileage can provide a certain premium on the used market during the holding period; vehicles in the 0-50,000 km range and 1-3 years old are a category that finds buyers, because they offer new-car comfort at a lower price. In other words, the mileage of a vehicle you rarely use is an asset that returns to your wallet at the moment of sale. On the other hand, as the mileage threshold approaches the 70,000-100,000 km band, buyers start to become cautious; the vehicle's age and maintenance history also affect its valuation as much as mileage. Leaving the car sitting for too long can erode the low-mileage premium.

In recent years, there has been talk of subscription and flexible mobility models becoming widespread as an alternative to ownership; it is a path worth considering for those who want to escape the operational burden. Still, a sale decision made without calculating the composition of fixed expenses, depreciation, and the used-market premium would be an emotional decision.

Conclusion: Driving Your Car Less Is Not Free

An automobile is an asset that demands money not only when it runs but also when it sits. Insurance and taxes remind you of themselves once a year, depreciation seeps in without ever reminding you, and the oil and battery schedule keeps ticking. Even details like a diesel engine offering no advantage for a user who takes a few long trips a year are part of this picture. The healthiest approach is to think about your vehicle not when you buy it, but while it sits in the garage: write down the items, divide by the mileage, and look at the resulting number. That number will tell you what the car actually costs you - the car itself never will.