Questions: After purchasing a car, Eleanor adjusts her budget to cover most car-related expenses that may occur. The monthly payment for her loan is 297.76, the cost of car insurance for 6 months is 618.58, the estimated fuel cost per month is 160, and she wants to set aside 950 per year for repairs and other maintenance. How much should Eleanor budget per month for car expenses? Round your answer to the nearest cent.

Solution Steps

To determine Eleanor's monthly car expenses, we need to calculate the monthly cost for each of the car-related expenses and then sum them up. The monthly loan payment and estimated fuel cost are already given on a monthly basis. For the insurance and maintenance costs, we need to convert them to monthly amounts by dividing the total cost by the number of months they cover.

The total cost of car insurance for 6 months is given as \( 618.58 \). To find the monthly insurance cost, we divide this amount by 6:

\[ \text{Monthly Insurance Cost} = \frac{618.58}{6} \approx 103.10 \]

Eleanor wants to set aside \( 950 \) per year for repairs and maintenance. To find the monthly maintenance cost, we divide this amount by 12:

\[ \text{Monthly Maintenance Cost} = \frac{950}{12} \approx 79.17 \]

Now, we sum all the monthly expenses:

\[ \text{Total Monthly Expenses} = \text{Monthly Loan Payment} + \text{Monthly Insurance Cost} + \text{Monthly Fuel Cost} + \text{Monthly Maintenance Cost} \]

Substituting the values:

\[ \text{Total Monthly Expenses} = 297.76 + 103.10 + 160 + 79.17 \approx 640.02 \]

Final Answer