The cost of a car represents on average 15% of a household's budget. And it is at the time of purchase that you should think about it. Fuel, maintenance, use, everything is to be taken into consideration to make the best choice.

What is CPM?

Under its barbaric acronym, CPM is none other than the cost price per mile. That is, how much your vehicle costs you for each mile driven. And the first data to be taken into account is obviously the type of fuel to be chosen in correlation with the number of miles driven each year. Indeed, if diesel seems to be less and less advantageous, it is not necessarily to be set aside for large rollers. On the other hand, some models are penalised for being in diesel versions at the time of resale, and in particular the most urban vehicles. However, CPM does not only take the price of fuel as a reference. To make an exhaustive calculation, it takes into account:
  • the purchase price of the vehicle (with registration fees and a possible bonus-malus)
  • the cost of financing
  • insurance
  • the discount for the subsequent sale
  • routine maintenance
  • consumption

Diesel is seen as the devil

And if diesel is less and less attractive for those who drive less than 10,000 km per year, it is because of the DTCEP (Domestic Tax on the Consumption of Energy Products) which aims to reduce the price gap per litre. Indeed, historically, diesel was cheaper than gasoline per litre. But governments tend to reduce this gap by not applying the same increases to both fuels. On 1 January 2018, DTCEP increased by 3.8 cents per litre for petrol, while diesel surged by 7.6 cents. The objective is clearly to eliminate the "demonic" diesel (since it is necessary to have someone guilty of pollution) from the fleet of vehicles on the road. On the other hand, manufacturers are offering us more and more efficient gasoline blocks that contribute more to the loss of interest in diesel. It is a very relative truth that still has difficulty in imposing itself on heavy and therefore energy-intensive vehicles.