A surprising article I read
in S.Club magazine says the costs vary widely, but you should consider liability
insurance, property damage insurance, property taxes, license tags, routine oil
changes, wiper blades, other inspection costs. Plus depreciation, tires, windshield
washer fluid, radiator flush, cabin and other air filters. Repairs from minor
scrapes you don’t report to insurance companies. Longer term things like fan
belts, and timing belts, brake repairs. Car washes and
waxes could figure in as well. Of course
gasoline. Not to mention garage space rental (at work, perhaps?). Or the costs
to the environment of your carbon exhaust (who pays for the clean up?). Road
tolls?
The best guess for a
reasonably new economy car, small type, driven 20,000 miles a year is $ .369 a
mile. So that 3 mile trip to save a
dollar? It costs you a dollar. A large
sedan or SUV driven only 10,000 miles a year costs a staggering $ .931 per
mile. That 150 mile trip to visit mom (round trip) costs you about $279. So air fare doesn't look all that out of line.
The above website is an
interesting explanation of costs to own a car by AAA.
Note that, due in part to big
boxes, we now travel (on average) double what we did 35 years ago to get food
and other items from stores.
Noting the shocking $ .93 a
mile cost to drive a car, I notice that an UBER ride in South Florida that I
was pricing (on line) before calling the car was going to charge me $37 to $43
for the trip of 31 miles from airport to hotel.
That’s about what it costs for a larger vehicle, driven only 10,000
miles a year. So, if that’s your option, the cost of UBER and your car would be
about the same. But we all know the
fixed costs of car ownership (depreciation and all that) run on even if you don’t
drive it. So it’s not a fair comparison.
But, suppose the UBER driver
had to dead-head back to the airport to get his/her next fare? Then they break even or lose money, perhaps.
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