AAA: The average cost of your car per year: $9100

[Deberg_1990]

http://www.usatoday.com/story/news/n...costs/2070397/


The average owner of a sedan has to shell out nearly $10,000 a year to own and operate that car, according to auto club AAA.

A new AAA reports shows, on average, the cost of driving 15,000 miles a year rose 1.17 cents to 60.8 cents per mile, or $9,122 per year. Overall, that's a roughly 2% increase on the cost of operating a car last year.

Auto club AAA studies five cost categories – maintenance, fuel, tires, insurance and depreciation – for its annual "Your Driving Costs" study.

The biggest percentage increase this year was in maintenance costs, which grew by 11.26% to 4.97 cents per mile, on average, for sedan owners. Average costs in all categories are lower for smaller vehicles and higher for bigger ones.

The maintenance cost estimates are based on the cost to maintain a vehicle and perform needed repairs for five years and 75,000 miles, including labor expenses, replacement part prices and the purchase of an extended warranty.

"As a vehicle gets older you tend to encounter more significant repair costs," says Michael Calkins, AAA's manager of technical services.

Since last year's study, there were substantial increases in labor and parts costs for some models, and a significant rise in the price of extended warranties. "People are keeping cars longer," Calkins says. "Extended warranties are seeing a bit of an increase in claims. That's where the costs have gone up."

The second biggest increase: Insurance costs, which rose 2.76%, or $28, to an annual average of $1,029. AAA's insurance cost estimates are based on a low-risk driver with a clean driving record.

Fuel costs rose 1.93% to 14.45 cents per mile for the average sedan owner. The actual average cost of regular gas went up 3.84% to $3.49 per gallon; but several of the vehicles in the AAA study had small improvements in fuel efficiency, which partially offset the fuel cost increase.

Depreciation costs, which had dropped in last year's study, ticked upward slightly, by .78% to $3,571 a year. That might be because, as new vehicle sales recover, more used cars are available, which has softened the resale value of clean older models, Calkins says.

"The length of time people keep cars has been going up for the past several years, since the real estate crash," he says. "The average age of the vehicle on the road now is 11.1 years. It's not just for financial reasons that people are keeping cars long. The quality of the cars is also improving."

Tire costs did not change from last year, remaining at about one cent per mile, on average, for sedan owners.

AAA has published "Your Driving Costs" since 1950. That year, gas cost 27 cents a gallon, and it cost about 9 cents a mile to drive 10,000 miles a year


AAA report:


http://newsroom.aaa.com/wp-content/u...gCosts2013.pdf

[Bugeater]

And that's why I don't buy new cars. It's like lighting your money on fire.

[Dayze]

wut?

[Dayze]

Originally Posted by Bugeater

And that's why I don't buy new cars. It's like lighting your money on fire.

yeah; i bought my Rabbit 2 years old with 41k miles basically mint; for $10k.
love the car.

[ThaVirus]

Originally Posted by Bugeater

And that's why I don't buy new cars. It's like lighting your money on fire.

Seriously. How much does a car's value depreciate the second you drive it off the lot? I'm sure the warranties would give me some nice peace of mind though.

[alnorth]

I bought my current car new, JUST because I wanted to at least go through the process of buying a new car and losing a bunch of money on depreciation once in my life. Every car I get from now on will probably be a couple years used.

[Dayze]

Originally Posted by ThaVirus

Seriously. How much does a car's value depreciate the second you drive it off the lot? I'm sure the warranties would give me some nice peace of mind though.

I think between 20-30%?

might be off though. it's significant I know that.

[ThaVirus]

Originally Posted by Dayze

I think between 20-30%?

might be off though. it's significant I know that.

That's pretty incredible. I'll likely never buy a completely brand new car for that reason. Unless I was planning on riding it until the wheels fell off...

I think the best way to go is let someone else eat that and pick it up at a cheaper price 2 or 3 years down the line.

[Demonpenz]

Happiness is a new car smell /Don Draper

[Dayze]

Originally Posted by ThaVirus

That's pretty incredible. I'll likely never buy a completely brand new car for that reason. Unless I was planning on riding it until the wheels fell off...

I think the best way to go is let someone else eat that and pick it up at a cheaper price 2 or 3 years down the line.

that's what I did with mine. I think my Rabbit new was like $18k or there abouts. maybe around $20k.

got it for 10k 3 years later

[MIAdragon]

Originally Posted by ThaVirus

Seriously. How much does a car's value depreciate the second you drive it off the lot? I'm sure the warranties would give me some nice peace of mind though.

That's why you buy a car a year or two old.

[Bugeater]

Originally Posted by Dayze

that's what I did with mine. I think my Rabbit new was like $18k or there abouts. maybe around $20k.

got it for 10k 3 years later

The wife's Camry was 5 yrs old when we bought it for $10k. It listed at $25k new. No way in hell was it $15,000 better when it was brand new.

[tecumseh]

I've never bought new. Years back when I was considering a brand new vehicle, a buddy bought a brand new ford escort. It was nice , for a while, then began to have frequent mechanical problems. i bought a beater toyota corolla for $600.00 and it outlasted the escort by two years with no real problems. Not a slap against U.S. autos, I drive a Ford Windstar now. But I decided brand new was not worth it.

[Bugeater]

Let's see here, 4 years ago we bought that Camry for $10,200.

In that time we've paid $2880 for insurance, roughly $3500 for fuel, $600 in repairs, and around $1200 in licensing/taxes for a total of $18,380, which averages out to $4595/yr so far.

And that is going to go down every additional year we have the car. If we keep it another 4 years with no major repair costs we're looking at $3320/yr.




Even better was my Caravan I just retired. I paid $2000 for it, drove it nearly four years, probably spent around $5,000 in gas over that time, around $3000 for licensing/insurance and $400 in repairs. Total operating costs=$2600/yr.

[Frosty]

Originally Posted by Bugeater

In that time we've paid $2880 for insurance, roughly $3500 for fuel, $600 in repairs, and around $1200 in licensing/taxes for a total of $18,380, which averages out to $4595/yr so far.

And that is going to go down every additional year we have the car. If we keep it another 4 years with no major repair costs we're looking at $3320/yr.

Just curious - what goes down every year? The tax? Fuel and insurance aren't likely to change (hard to tell with fuel prices) and the chances of repair go up with age.