Annual Vehicle Ownership Costs on The Rise

ZANESVILLE, Oh – The cost of everything from groceries to homes has continued to soar and now AAA says the annual cost of vehicle ownership is on the rise as well!

The most significant factor in these increasing costs is, of course, gas prices, which averaged nearly four dollars per gallon throughout the first half of 2022.

AAA Spokesperson Kimberly Schwind says the price of car ownership has seen significant increases of over $1,000 since just last year!

“The average cost to own and operate a vehicle in 2022 in the United States is over $10,000. So, $10,729. And that’s up considerably from last year when the cost was about 96 hundred dollars. We are seeing costs higher. We’ve seen fuel prices higher. And that’s the main factor that’s pushing the cost to own and operate a vehicle higher,” she said.

Gas prices aren’t the only factor though, AAA says that while fuel economy is an important consideration, you should also take into account how much it may cost to insure a particular car, the licensing and registration fees, maintenance schedule, and even how accessible parts may be and how that could affect repair costs.

Schwind says it’s important to not just factor in your monthly payments and fuel prices as many tend to do.

“It costs nearly 11 thousand dollars a year to own and operate a new car and that’s a lot of money! If you just look at that monthly payment, it’s gonna be a lot less. Or maybe you don’t have a monthly payment anymore. But there’s still other costs at play when it comes to owning and operating a vehicle, so it’s really important to factor all of those things in so that you really understand the full scope and budget appropriately,” Schwind said.

She also adds that small sedans and electric vehicles typically tend to have the lowest ownership costs, especially with lower fuel costs and rebates offered for electric cars.

AAA offers a variety of different tools to help when purchasing new or used vehicles including their car guide and even a new calculator to estimate just how much you might pay for a particular vehicle. Those tools can be found at http://aaa.com/autobuying