Yearly Driving Costs Rise 3.4 Percent
By AutoWeek
This won't be a surprise to anyone--it's costing more to own and drive a car.
Higher prices for fuel and tires, and a larger drop in the resale value of cars, pushed the average cost of owning a sedan to $8,776 a year, according to AAA of Heathrow, Fla. That's up 3.4 percent from a year ago.
The rise in fuel, tire and depreciation costs more than offset declines in maintenance and insurance costs for the year, AAA said. Based on 15,000 miles a year, AAA said it costs 58.5 cents per mile to operate the average sedan.
AAA published operating cost survey results for several categories:
-- Small sedan: $6,758 per year, 45.1 cents per mile
-- Medium sedan: $8,588 per year, 57.3 cents per mile
-- Large sedan: $10,982 per year, 73.2 cents per mile
-- Minivan: $9,489 per year, 63.3 cents per mile
-- Four-wheel-drive SUV: $11,239 per year, 74.9 cents per mile.
And those costs are growing. AAA conducted its study in December, when unleaded gasoline prices averaged $2.88 a gallon. That average now stands at about $3.69 a gallon, AAA said.
The cost of tires rose 15.7 percent from a year ago, AAA said. That was caused by a combination of higher tire prices and automakers equipping vehicles with more expensive premium tires as standard.
AAA said average insurance costs fell 6.1 percent to $968 a year--but it uses a low-risk driver with a clean record to make that calculation.
For the study, AAA cost five top-selling models for each vehicle category--and no European vehicles were in the mix. The vehicles used were:
-- Small sedan: Chevrolet Cobalt, Ford Focus, Honda Civic, Nissan Sentra, Toyota Corolla.
-- Medium sedan: Chevrolet Impala, Ford Fusion, Honda Accord, Nissan Altima, Toyota Camry.
-- Large sedan: Buick Lucerne, Chrysler 300, Ford Taurus, Nissan Maxima, Toyota Avalon.
-- Minivan: Dodge Grand Caravan, Kia Sedona, Honda Odyssey, Toyota Sienna.
-- SUV: Chevrolet Traverse, Ford Explorer, Jeep Grand Cherokee, Nissan Pathfinder, Toyota 4Runner.
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I realize this is not a particularly popular topic, but --
I find it interesting that Medicare recipients received a letter earlier informing them that again this year they would not receive a Cost Of Living Adjustment, because the cost of living has not increased since 2008. This is getting laughable. When will the "powers that be" realize that the increases in the cost of basics like food, electricity, gas, etc. affect low income people much more than the cost of luxury items, real estate, etc. It's really pretty hard to defend the position that the cost of living has not gone up for lower and middle income Americans.
Gas has got to be very expensive because the micro obamamobiles from GM(government motors) and Fiat (used to be chrysler) are coming out this summer. Nobody would drive these tiny coffins if fuel wasn't $5.00-$8.00 per gallon. If Saudi Arabia's monarchy falls, get ready to pay $10.00 per gallon.
What a foreign policy this administration has, the entire middle east is in chaos, and now we've started another two wars in Africa. "YES WE CAN!"
Is funny math.
Gasoline price up over 30 %. so where is the 3.4% come from?
Like unemployment # we have 25 Million Unemployed in US.
This 8.8% so 100% employment is according this fuzy math 284 million LOL.
Of 300 Million population. Other government lie.
Only 3-4% Inflation if you don't drive and eat. LOL.
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