WASHINGTON – The cost to own and operate a car is up just over a penny per mile over last year, according to AAA.
According to the automotive club, it cost, on average, $9,122 a year to drive a car. That’s almost 61 cents a mile, based on driving 15,000 miles a year.
AAA’s 2013 Your Driving Costs survey concludes a driver typically pays 60.8 cents per mile, up 1.17 cents over last year.
The cost is even more expensive for SUVs. AAA estimates the per-mile cost to be just over 77 cents a mile to drive an SUV and just over 65 cents for a minivan.
| Based on Driving 15,000 miles annually | Small Sedan | Medium Sedan | Large Sedan | Sedan Average | SUV 4WD | Minivan |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Cost Per Year | 46.4 cents | 61 cents | 75 cents | 60.8 cents | 77.3 cents | 65.3 cents |
| Cost Per Year | $6,967 | $9,151 | $11,248 | $9,122 | $11,599 | $9,795 |
To arrive at its conclusions, AAA factored in costs, such as tires, oil changes and routine maintenance.
AAA found maintenance costs grew by 11.26 percent to 4.97 cents per mile for the average sedan. Labor and parts cost more, and AAA says there was a major hike in the price of extended warranty policies.
Tire costs remained unchanged, but fuel costs rose 1.93 percent.
Insurance, on average, rose $28 for sedans, an increase of 2.76 percent.
Last year it cost just $8,900 per year to drive.
Just in case you’re one of those people who longs for the better days, it turns out they were better.
In 1950 the average cost per mile mile was less than 10 cents. Gas was less than 27 cents a gallon.
