How much do you spend each year on gas?

[AlexandriaVA]

I keep detailed records of the cost of owning my car, including how much gas I purchase in terms of money spent. I'd be interested in further categorizing the manner in which you drive (see below).

Money Spent: $575

Car Type: Compact sedan

Driving environment: Urban/suburban

Driving types: Commuting, errands, local

[Brandon]

I keep a log of every time I refuel with the station, city, date, cost/gallon, gallons purchased, mileage, total cost of fuel, and mpg.  For me, it's typically over $3,000 for a compact hatchback.  A lot of highway miles, but the driving is for personal, commuting, and work, with the lion's share being for work.  Much of that $3,000+ is reimbursed (about 95%) by my workplace.

[RobbieL2415]

I couldn't tell you how much I spend a year in gas but I can tell you the most ($70, 16.5 gal, 2012) and least ($16, 12gal, 2016) I've spent on a single fill-up.

[Max Rockatansky]

Probably between $2,500 to $3,500 a year depending on gas prices.  This might surprise some people given who have read my road trip albums I do but between my two cars and rentals I typically only do about 30,000-35,000 miles a year.  My two cars a 2014 Chevy Sonic that averages 35 MPG while the other is a 2016 Dodge Challenger R/T Scat Pack that gets anywhere from 14 to 27 MPG depending on how I drive it.  Suffice to say that 95% of those miles are on the Sonic. 

As a rule of thumb I don't count provided cars which I get reimbursed for otherwise we we would still be talking the 50,000-65,000 range.  I do a crap ton of work travel on work vehicles that general get 30-35 MPG which are almost exclusively freeway/expressway.  Back during the gas crunch with $4 dollar plus gas I was spending 60,000 to 80,000 miles on the road which would have been a solid 6k-8k a year.  Granted those heavy years were probably 75% work travel in a POV so I ultimately did get reimbursed for much of it.  I had a Ford Fiesta back in those days that netted 42.4 MPG over 143,000 miles, that thing was the most thrifty car on gas I've ever had.

[slorydn1]

in 2016 it was:

2012 Mustang GT: $1873.90  for 713.52 gallons of 93 octane fuel (14,104 miles) 19.8 MPG (wife's car)
2014 Mustang GT: $1667.58  for 640.91 gallons of 93 octane fuel (14,210 miles) 22.2 MPG (my car)

My wife's car spent more time idling in traffic and parking lots (etc) than mine that's where most of the disparity in fuel used for pretty much the same amount of miles comes from.  My car had a few more road trips this year than hers, too.

[briantroutman]

I can't give a full year's total yet since I took delivery of my 2016 Volkswagen Golf wagon on 15 January 2016. But for 51 weeks:

$1,172.68 - 570.373 gal - 18,192.9 mi - 31.896 MPG - $2.05 avg price

I'd guess that this represents mostly suburban driving in terms of engine hours, although most miles are likely highway.

With fuel prices having generally declined over the past five years, my annual fuel expenditure has also tended to decrease year-over-year. These numbers are for my previous car, a 2006 Toyota Matrix:

2015: $1,512.95 - 555.369 gal - 19,261.5 mi - 34.68 MPG - $2.75 avg price
2014: $1,220.52 - 324.34 gal - 10,704.6 mi - 33.004 MPG - $3.79 avg price
2013: $1,977.47 - 507.89 gal - 17,285.8 mi - 34.034 MPG - $3.89 avg price
2012: $2,989.29 - 735.705 gal - 25,632.2 mi - 34.008 MPG - $3.96 avg price

[corco]

I don't have my 2016 year end details available yet, but in 2015 I spent $2,323 on fuel.

That was broken between a 2015 VW Golf, a 2002 Jeep Liberty, a 2001 Honda Accord, and several rental cars.

[Otto Yamamoto]

$0


QTASUN1

[jakeroot]

Interesting idea for a thread. I also don't keep detailed records, but I can do some maths and maybe come up with an answer.

My car, a 2015 Golf, has roughly 26,850 miles. My average MPG is right around 40 (47 to 53 on the freeway, only about 35 urban, but I drive in an urban environment most often). My tank size is 13.2 gallons. Assuming a roughly $2.20/gal average fuel price (diesel was less than $2/gal for the first ten months of ownership (June '15 to March '16), but has fluctuated radically all over the board since then; this is my best guess), an empty-to-full fill-up would cost me about $29. At 40 mpg average, the TDI goes about 528 miles on a tank.

So,

26850 miles / 528 miles per tank = 50.85 fill-ups (let's say 51)

51 fill ups * $29 per fill up = $1479 since day 1 (about 19 months)

That's ~$78/month. 78 * 12 = $936/year

Anything wrong with my math? I haven't had a math class for a while.

[AlexandriaVA]

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QTASUN1

We should probably also start "how much do you spend each year on your transit pass". 

[Rothman]

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QTASUN1

We should probably also start "how much do you spend each year on your transit pass". 

Might get reimbursed by an employer as well.

[Max Rockatansky]

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QTASUN1

We should probably also start "how much do you spend each year on your transit pass". 

Might get reimbursed by an employer as well.

I got an Uncle out in Alexandria, he has a car but 95% of his commute probably involves taking a train or other mass transit.  I don't know if I could handle that kind of thing with all those people and complete lack of mobility anymore.  Chicago was bad enough when I had my license when I was living in downtown with my Dad as a kid.

[Otto Yamamoto]

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QTASUN1

We should probably also start "how much do you spend each year on your transit pass". 

That's up in the air right now, depends on when MTA inflicts it's next fare rise.

XT1254

[AlexandriaVA]

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QTASUN1

We should probably also start "how much do you spend each year on your transit pass". 

Might get reimbursed by an employer as well.

I got an Uncle out in Alexandria, he has a car but 95% of his commute probably involves taking a train or other mass transit.  I don't know if I could handle that kind of thing with all those people and complete lack of mobility anymore.  Chicago was bad enough when I had my license when I was living in downtown with my Dad as a kid.

You would handle it fine once you realize that thousands of people in the DC area do it without issue for years on end (entire careers even).

[bzakharin]

I don't keep record, but due to my general schedule (weekly fill-up) and this past years fill-up range ($20-$35), I would estimate $1430. That mostly comes from a 50-60 mile in each direction (depending on the route I take) commute 3 times a week. In the summer a fourth trip of similar distance is often added on Sundays

[froggie]

^^ Fairly easily done in the DC area.  I have a friend who lives in DC with a wife and baby daughter.  He and his wife have been car-free for years.  Get around DC via a combination of Metro, bus, bike, and good-ol-fashioned walking.  For the occasional need where they need to head out to the burbs or beyond, there's ZipCar, Car2Go, or a more traditional car rental company.

As for me...

Money Spent:  Approximately $2500.

Mileage:  Approximately 23,000 miles.

Car Type: Small SUV with AWD (effectively a requirement where we live)

Driving environment: Several, but mostly rural & mountainous

Driving types:  All, but most frequently commuting/errands/home life.

[Max Rockatansky]

$0


QTASUN1

We should probably also start "how much do you spend each year on your transit pass". 

Might get reimbursed by an employer as well.

I got an Uncle out in Alexandria, he has a car but 95% of his commute probably involves taking a train or other mass transit.  I don't know if I could handle that kind of thing with all those people and complete lack of mobility anymore.  Chicago was bad enough when I had my license when I was living in downtown with my Dad as a kid.

You would handle it fine once you realize that thousands of people in the DC area do it without issue for years on end (entire careers even).

Perhaps, I'm just finding myself less tolerant of urbanized living in the two almost three decades since.  I've gone from cities like Chicago, Detroit, Los Angeles, New York, and Miami down to stuff like Orlando or Bakersfield the last decade.  Really if I can get the next move to an even smaller metro area I'd be even more happy.  I guess that all comes down to personal preference though. 

[jeffandnicole]

A real quick estimate would be about $4,000 between 2 cars, each being driven about 20,000 miles each, getting approx. 20 miles/gallon, at about $2.00/gallon.

[hbelkins]

I've often wondered how those who don't own cars manage to drag home a crapload of groceries or other personal necessities via public transportation. It's bad enough cramming them into your own vehicle.

As for me, I have a 60-mile daily commute (30 miles one-way). My primary vehicle gets around 24 mpg. So that means I'm burning around 12.5 gallons of gas a week. So, at the current price of gas (around $2.40 here now) that means I can expect to spend $1,560 just to get to work in a year.

Given the recent OPEC production cutback, I fully expect gas prices to continue to rise until such time that the incoming administration can reverse some of the outgoing administration's policies to increase domestic production.

I tend not to go anywhere on weekends if I can keep from it. Unless I'm going roadgeeking somewhere, or have to run an errand on Saturday (veterinarian visits, usually), I'm often not back in my car from the time I get home on Friday until I head back to work on Monday.

[tradephoric]

How are you guys tracking your car expenses?  Excel spreadsheet, smartphone app?

[AlexandriaVA]

How are you guys tracking your car expenses?  Excel spreadsheet, smartphone app?

Spreadsheet.

I break out my costs into overhead/fixed-costs (inspection, tax, etc) and variable costs (gas, maintenence, repairs, etc). Then I drill-down into categories for each of those.

One thing I've discovered with my data is that most of my costs are overhead costs...that the cost of owning the car is significantly more than the cost of using the car.

[AlexandriaVA]

I've often wondered how those who don't own cars manage to drag home a crapload of groceries or other personal necessities via public transportation. It's bad enough cramming them into your own vehicle.

As for me, I have a 60-mile daily commute (30 miles one-way). My primary vehicle gets around 24 mpg. So that means I'm burning around 12.5 gallons of gas a week. So, at the current price of gas (around $2.40 here now) that means I can expect to spend $1,560 just to get to work in a year.

Given the recent OPEC production cutback, I fully expect gas prices to continue to rise until such time that the incoming administration can reverse some of the outgoing administration's policies to increase domestic production.

I tend not to go anywhere on weekends if I can keep from it. Unless I'm going roadgeeking somewhere, or have to run an errand on Saturday (veterinarian visits, usually), I'm often not back in my car from the time I get home on Friday until I head back to work on Monday.

Delivery, taxi, or just buying smaller quantities on a more frequent basis.

[jakeroot]

I've often wondered how those who don't own cars manage to drag home a crapload of groceries or other personal necessities via public transportation. It's bad enough cramming them into your own vehicle.

It's a different lifestyle. A "crapload of groceries" doesn't really exist for someone who rides public transit every day. A typical day ends with a trip to the grocers (i.e. one or two bags each day, rather than 10 or 15 bags every five or six days). I drive a car, but I stop at the grocery store pretty much every other day. I haven't needed a cart in a very long time (a hand carry basket is sufficient most of the time). Backpacks and grocery bags are common sights on public transit.

Many personal necessity items can be ordered online and delivered for a relatively low amount of money. Some cities (like here in Seattle, via Amazon) offer grocery delivery. You don't even need to go to the grocery store anymore.

[Rothman]

In 2016, spent $2,215.20 on two cars' worth of gas.  Went on a couple of shorter trips to DC and Florida from here, so I thought it'd be higher, but that's what it is.  Go figure.

[Max Rockatansky]

How are you guys tracking your car expenses?  Excel spreadsheet, smartphone app?

For me I do my business expenses on a spreadsheet for mileage reimbursement when I use a POV.  Considering the majority of my mileage on my POV (personally owned vehicle) used to be for business reasons it could lead to a decent deduction when you factor that 60,000-80,000 a year for miles driven.  Considering I was making anywhere from $0.49 to $0.56 on the mile during the peak of the gas crunch that was a pretty nice return when you factor in the car I was using averaged 42.4 MPG over the usage life I had it.  Funny thing was I was able to put a purposal together showing my employer they would save money at 30-35k miles driven a year with a company car versus paying mileage out.  Plus at the time they were asking for site visits to every location I had once a month which could lead to some huge mileage checks in the neighborhood of $800-$900 dollars.  I guess the logic they were going off of my area in addition to two others was just like the east coast.  Most of the people who did what I do on the east coast had most of their sites in a 60 radius, I had them from Ventura County California to Lubbock Texas.