The Cost of Owning Pepe: My Trusty Vespa
I bought Pepe for fun. Something to toodle back and forth from work on. My commute is only about 4 miles each way through neighborhoods. It definitely wasn't for cost savings. To show that there probably isn't any cost savings, thought I'd track the cost of ownership.
Running Tally
| Item | Date | Cost | Vendor, Location | Comments |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Basic Motorcycle,Safety course | 12/26/2014 | $200 | Total Rider, Austin, TX |
Class also consumed a Friday evening, Saturday & Sunday morning |
| Motorcycle License | 12/31/2014 | $17 | Texas DPS, Austin, TX | Multiple choice exam - includes questions on 3 wheeled vehicles. |
| Helmet | 1/3/2015 | $473 | Cycle Gear, Austin, TX | |
| 2013 Vespa LX150ie, incl TT&L | 1/10/2015 | $3,882 | AF1 Racing, Austin, TX | Miles: 4552. Base cost: 3499. Include rear storage, battery tender, & delivery |
| Annual insurance | 1/12/2015 | $249 | Geico | |
| Motor cycle gloves | 2/6/2015 | $27 | Cycle Gear, Austin, TX | Probably better to have real gloves witharmor than general purpose winter gloves. |
| Cool Ass seat cover | 2/7/2015 | $41 | AF1 Racing, Austin, TX | Not that we hit summer yet, but thought I should plan ahead |
| Bike jacket with armor, including back plate | 2/14/2015 | $378.77 | Moto-Austin-Ducati, Austin, TX | Got a summer jacket - really hope that it isn't too hot for Austin Summers |
| AXO ST-X Gloves | 7/14/2015 | $40 | Some web site | Replacement gloves as first pair fell apart. Went with a pair that was mentioned in WSJ. |
| Vehicle Inspection | 12/26/2015 | $7.00 | Arbor Car Wash, Austin, TX | A whopping $7 for inspection |
| Vehicle Registration | 12/26/2015 | $44.50 | Travis County Vehicle Registration, TX | |
| Annual insurance | 1/15/2016 | $249 | Geico | |
| Fuel cost | 5/10/2016 | $70.39 | Misc gas stations, Austin, TX | Used Gas Tracker to track fill ups. Spent $70 over 1914 miles. See link below for live mpg stats. On that web site Pepe goes by "Andiamo" |
| Sale Price | 5/10/2016 | ($2800) | Craigslist | Sold Pepe via Craigslist. Originally was going to sell for $3500 but hinge on back compartment broke. Couldn't repair. Although new compartments can be had for under $150, a color-matched compartment goes for $400. So set sell price for $3000. Settled on $2800. New owner is extremely nice. |
| Auto insurance refund | 5/10/2016 | ($181.07) | Geico | |
| Total | $2697.59 | Total cost before sale was $5678.66. |