Hi,
Well, it's all a matter of perspective. If that's all the repair cost you've racked up in 90k mi., that works out to a very reasonable $0.011/mi.
Then, you look at whom has benefitted from such low-maintenance cars. Toyota certainly benefits from greater reliability by increasing Market Share. The Buyer benefits from low costs. But, the Dealer's Service Dept. suffers because they have a much lower potential R&R revenue from each unit sold, while their overhead remains stagnant or actually increases what with annually increased Labor Costs, etc.
In order to maintain a quality Facility and Staff, they have to meet these costs somewhere. Either they Service a lot of cars (with stiff competition from Independents doing everything from Tune-ups, Oil changes, Brakes, Exhaust, Tires and more), or they increase their mark-up on the parts and services they provide. It's actually a combination of both.
But, costs are increasing despite greater reliability in cars. An '03 SUV costs on average $0.651/mi. to operate (based upon 10k mi./yr.), up from $0.63 in '02 according to AAA (and they were using a $1.46/gal fuel calculator) -
http://www.pimall.com/nais/nl/n.costpermile.html . In the end, the Buyer doesn't really save as much money as the increase in Reliability and extended Maintenance Schedules might suggest, especially when dealing with a Dealer...
Happy Motoring!... Jim'99
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