Melissamustang
Aquarium Advice Addict
By Harriet Johnson Brackey
South Florida Sun-Sentinel
Posted March 29 2006
Here's an item you might have left out of your personal budget: The average cost of driving a car is now $7,834 a year.
AAA released its annual survey Tuesday about the average costs of owning passenger cars that are driven 15,000 miles a year.
LocalLinks
The average driving cost -- a mix of expenses for small, medium and large passenger cars -- works out to $150 a week. And that's not just because the price of gasoline is hovering around $2.50 in the nation and upward of $2.60 a gallon in South Florida. The AAA survey factors in gasoline at 9.5 cents a mile based on a $2.40 a gallon average price nationwide at the end of 2005. Then, it adds other out-of-pocket costs like tires, insurance, maintenance, licenses and financing. The biggest cost, however, is one many drivers don't actually see: depreciation, or how much less your car is worth every year.
Maintenance runs $735, tires are $105 and insurance averages $926 a year. The AAA survey pegs license fees, taxes and registration at $535, finance charges at $716 and depreciation at $3,392.
Gasoline added $1,425 to the total.
AAA has been conducting the cost-of-driving surveys since 1950.
Because the group overhauled its methods last year, it's impossible to say whether the costs of driving went up or down in the most recent survey -- even though you know the price of gas went up.
In 2005, AAA looked at driving costs for three American-made cars. In 2006, it averaged the operating costs for five top-selling cars in the small, middle and large categories. The best sellers were both American and foreign models, along with SUVs and minivans.
Your personal costs of driving will vary greatly depending upon which model you drove, said Michael Calkins, AAA's manager for approved auto repairs.
"SUVs are far and away the most expensive to operate," he said. The per-mile costs to operate a 4-wheel drive SUV is 20.1 cents, compared with 15.5 cents for a medium-size sedan such as a Honda Accord, or 17 cents for a minivan.
For South Floridians, not only is the cost of getting there growing, but the cost of not getting there, or being stuck in traffic, is rising sharply as well.
South Floridians who travel at rush hours spend 51 hours a year stuck in traffic, said the Urban Mobility Study from the Texas Transportation Institute. The latest figures available, released last summer, are for 2003. You can just guess that today's number is higher.
Being stuck in traffic every day for a week can be costly. The institute reported that commuters say they would be willing to spend $13.75 an hour to avoid traffic congestion. .
Multiply that times 51 hours lost per South Florida traveler per year due to traffic congestion, and you get a little more than $700.
To be sure, driving costs will continue to go up, because that's where gasoline is headed.
Prices today are 43 cents a gallon higher in Fort Lauderdale, West Palm Beach and Boca Raton than they were a year ago.
Consumers are headed into the summer driving season, which begins to kick in when daylight-saving time begins this coming Sunday. And Memorial Day, the traditional start of summer, is just one month away.
"I think we'll see gas prices rise earlier than usual and faster," said Mark Vitner, Wachovia Securities senior economist.
The economy is strong, demand for gasoline is robust and supplies are tight. Almost 23 percent of the production capacity in the Gulf of Mexico region remains shut down, due to Hurricane Katrina.
Storm season this year will determine where gasoline prices head after their usual spring jump, Vitner said.
"Let's just hope that hurricanes steer clear of the Gulf and steer clear of your area this season," he said.
South Florida Sun-Sentinel
Posted March 29 2006
Here's an item you might have left out of your personal budget: The average cost of driving a car is now $7,834 a year.
AAA released its annual survey Tuesday about the average costs of owning passenger cars that are driven 15,000 miles a year.
LocalLinks
The average driving cost -- a mix of expenses for small, medium and large passenger cars -- works out to $150 a week. And that's not just because the price of gasoline is hovering around $2.50 in the nation and upward of $2.60 a gallon in South Florida. The AAA survey factors in gasoline at 9.5 cents a mile based on a $2.40 a gallon average price nationwide at the end of 2005. Then, it adds other out-of-pocket costs like tires, insurance, maintenance, licenses and financing. The biggest cost, however, is one many drivers don't actually see: depreciation, or how much less your car is worth every year.
Maintenance runs $735, tires are $105 and insurance averages $926 a year. The AAA survey pegs license fees, taxes and registration at $535, finance charges at $716 and depreciation at $3,392.
Gasoline added $1,425 to the total.
AAA has been conducting the cost-of-driving surveys since 1950.
Because the group overhauled its methods last year, it's impossible to say whether the costs of driving went up or down in the most recent survey -- even though you know the price of gas went up.
In 2005, AAA looked at driving costs for three American-made cars. In 2006, it averaged the operating costs for five top-selling cars in the small, middle and large categories. The best sellers were both American and foreign models, along with SUVs and minivans.
Your personal costs of driving will vary greatly depending upon which model you drove, said Michael Calkins, AAA's manager for approved auto repairs.
"SUVs are far and away the most expensive to operate," he said. The per-mile costs to operate a 4-wheel drive SUV is 20.1 cents, compared with 15.5 cents for a medium-size sedan such as a Honda Accord, or 17 cents for a minivan.
For South Floridians, not only is the cost of getting there growing, but the cost of not getting there, or being stuck in traffic, is rising sharply as well.
South Floridians who travel at rush hours spend 51 hours a year stuck in traffic, said the Urban Mobility Study from the Texas Transportation Institute. The latest figures available, released last summer, are for 2003. You can just guess that today's number is higher.
Being stuck in traffic every day for a week can be costly. The institute reported that commuters say they would be willing to spend $13.75 an hour to avoid traffic congestion. .
Multiply that times 51 hours lost per South Florida traveler per year due to traffic congestion, and you get a little more than $700.
To be sure, driving costs will continue to go up, because that's where gasoline is headed.
Prices today are 43 cents a gallon higher in Fort Lauderdale, West Palm Beach and Boca Raton than they were a year ago.
Consumers are headed into the summer driving season, which begins to kick in when daylight-saving time begins this coming Sunday. And Memorial Day, the traditional start of summer, is just one month away.
"I think we'll see gas prices rise earlier than usual and faster," said Mark Vitner, Wachovia Securities senior economist.
The economy is strong, demand for gasoline is robust and supplies are tight. Almost 23 percent of the production capacity in the Gulf of Mexico region remains shut down, due to Hurricane Katrina.
Storm season this year will determine where gasoline prices head after their usual spring jump, Vitner said.
"Let's just hope that hurricanes steer clear of the Gulf and steer clear of your area this season," he said.
And the first 16,000 were put on it while communting.
