AAA: Overall cost of driving per mile goes up...again

In 2007, AAA did a study of what the overall cost was to drive a passenger car per mile; this research calculates the average costs of owning and operating five top-selling models in three popular size classes: small, medium and large sedans. In 2007, 52.2 cents was the average; in 2008, the average will be 54.1.

"While the cost of some driving expenses declined since the start of 2007, higher gasoline prices have more than offset these savings and pushed the overall cost of vehicle ownership and operation higher this year," said John Nielsen, director of AAA's Approved Auto Repair network.

The costs that went down were actually a little surprising on a mass scale--Costs for maintenance, full-coverage insurance and depreciation. But the costs for fuel, tires, financing, license, registration and taxes showed increases--not a surprise at all. In fact, the costs overall for fuel may have had the biggest effect--just last week the United States set the overall record for average per gallon at 3.28, and there is no end in sight.

The cars, as mentioned above, that were used as the top cars in each category:
-- Small sedan - Chevrolet Cobalt, Ford Focus, Honda Civic, Nissan Sentra and Toyota Corolla.

-- Medium Sedan - Chevrolet Impala, Ford Fusion, Honda Accord, Nissan Altima and Toyota Camry.

-- Large Sedan - Buick Lucerne, Chrysler 300, Ford Five Hundred (renamed Taurus for 2008), Nissan Maxima and Toyota Avalon.

( Add your comments )

Recent Entries:
· 2011 Ford Explorer
· Honda Announces Mileage Marathon Winner
· Cadillac Converj is GM's next electric car

[ READER COMMENTS ]

AAA: Overall cost of driving per mile goes up...again

Add your comments...

We kindly ask that you keep your comments relevant to this blog entry. Abusive or inappropriate comments or comments that are specifically promotional in nature may be removed.