Budget template for buying a car

When buying a car, it's wise to use a budget template. It's easy to overspend, get carried away or underestimate the running costs of a car, so using a budget will ensure that your spending is kept in check. After all, there's nothing more unnerving than discovering expenses you hadn't taken into account after you have taken delivery of your new vehicle.

This car budget planner takes the pain out of working out whether you can afford a new car. By entering a few details you will soon get a clear picture of the complete costs involved and from there you can easily decide whether you can afford it. As we all know, the purchase price of the car is just the start, you need to factor in all the ongoing expenses that are involved before you can come to a conclusion.

One of the best things about this budget template is that you can use it to review and compare the costs between your existing car and up to three new-car possibilities before making your final decision. This is the only way you can make a rational decision about which car is best for you by making sure it fits comfortably into your budget.

Let's look at some of the details.

Purchase cost

This is where you can compare the costs of three possible new cars versus your existing vehicle. You can enter not only the value of the car but also the servicing costs, MOT if necessary and any tax payable. Then you simply enter any discounts you may be able to negotiate on the new cars and the sale price of your existing car or any part exchange values.

The planner will then automatically calculate the actual cost of the car so you can easily compare the bottom line values.

Running costs per year

If you don't accurately assess the ongoing running costs of your vehicle, your budget can come seriously unstuck. Luckily, the budget template allows you to anticipate the total running costs by prompting you to calculate the petrol costs you can expect for each vehicle over the coming year. You can then place your estimates for MOT, tax, insurance, servicing and cleaning costs that apply to each vehicle.

Petrol costs can be calculated by using the manufacturer’s estimates or you can use car review sites to give you an accurate picture as to the fuel efficiency of any vehicle. Simply use a factor of your existing car's efficiency by the new car's efficiency to estimate petrol costs. For example if your existing car gets 35 miles per gallon, and your proposed new car runs at 40 miles per gallon, then the petrol costs will be 87.5% of your existing car. Our budget template is a great way to calculate these comparative costs. Car reviews, which you can find on many websites, also often include estimates of servicing and insurance costs.

Remember, you only need to include the items that apply to your circumstances. If you do not use a car cleaning service, simply leave the field blank.

The total value will be automatically calculated for you to make an easy comparison.

How to download the car budget planner

Car Budget Worksheet (zip / xls)

Instructions to Download

Click on the link and save the zip file to your computer. Saving it to the desktop may be easiest for you but if you want to save it somewhere else do take note of where you saved it so that you can find it again.

Once saved, find it on your computer, double click on the zip folder to open it and you will either have an option to ‘extract all files’, or you will be able to double click on the actual xls file to open it. The worksheet file has been created as a Microsoft Excel 2003 worksheet.

More free budget worksheets

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Budget Spreadsheet - How to create a budget spreadsheet with excel.

More tips...

Insurance is sensible for many personal and household items including car insurance. If you are looking for additional advice about home and automobile insurance, check out this insurance guide.