Chart: Car-ownership costs by state

[cpzilliacus]

Bankrate.com: Chart: Car-ownership costs by state

[corco]

I love that- Wyoming has some of the cheapest fuel costs in the country, but the average VMT is far and away the highest in the country, so the "gasoline" costs go way up.

[xonhulu]

I'm very surprised by my state of Oregon's position at 50.  While vehicle registration costs here are very low, gasoline is always more than the national average, so it just seems like we'd be more towards the middle, but evidently not.

[corco]

I think per registration VMT is factored into this, which would potentially explain Oregon's low score (dense population centers, biggest city has an anti-car culture)- otherwise some of those figures don't make any sense. It doesn't cost much to own a car you don't drive if registration and insurance are cheap.

[J N Winkler]

I think per registration VMT is factored into this, which would potentially explain Oregon's low score (dense population centers, biggest city has an anti-car culture)- otherwise some of those figures don't make any sense. It doesn't cost much to own a car you don't drive if registration and insurance are cheap.

If they are in fact making that adjustment, then Oregon's ranking could be artificially low as a result of failure to include parking charges.

Edit:  I also don't understand how Nebraska and Kansas place so far apart.  Both are similar in economic base, degree of development of their highway networks, population distribution, etc., but Nebraska is #10 while Kansas is #37.  The difference is about $700, nearly all of which is taxes.  Nebraska and Kansas have almost the same marginal fuel tax, so the difference seems to be either vehicle property taxes--which is strange since it is Kansas, not Nebraska, that has traditionally had a reputation for high rates in that category--or erroneous inclusion of trucking-related taxes.

[Revive 755]

Given how far down on the list Illinois is, I really have doubts about its accuracy. 

I wonder if tolls are included in the fees?

[Duke87]

The problem I always have with analyses such as these is that they inevitably fail to distinguish between costs of car ownership (costs which are incurred on a per time basis) and costs of car use (costs which are incurred on a per mile basis or can be said to be equivalent to such).

The following are costs of car ownership:
- insurance
- registration/testing fees
- lease payments (if car is leased)
- parking at home
- property tax

The following are costs of car use:
- gasoline
- repairs/maintenance
- purchase price of car minus selling price of car (if car is owned)
- dealer mileage fees (if car is leased and you're going over your cap)
- parking at destinations
- tolls


So why is this important? Well, if you are in a situation where you are choosing between taking your car and using some other form of transportation, it is only the latter category of costs which you should consider in the economic analysis. The former category of costs will be incurred the same regardless of how much you use your car and cannot be avoided unless you forgo having one entirely - if, however, you are deciding whether to have a car, or which car to have, or where to live, then those costs should be considered.

[Alps]

NJ has expensive insurance but makes up for it, besides relatively cheap gas, with low costs for license and registration.

[Duke87]

Local cost of gas matters considerably less when most of your driving is road trips.

[vdeane]

NY, surprisingly, also has low registration costs.  Normally we're the state of taxes and fees, but NY's registration costs are several orders of magnitude lower than many other states ($130 first time, $22 renewal for two years).

I'd like to know what's included in the fees category.  I don't pay nearly that much in fees each year, even including tolls.  My repair costs are often a LOT higher, but I'll give them the benefit of the doubt and say that's because my car is 17 years old.

[Duke87]

I'd like to know what's included in the fees category.

If you read through the blurbs it appears they're including sales tax on the purchase of the car in there. But they must have messed up the math because it's a one time fee but they've lumped it in there as though it's an annual cost. And it's not that they're including the purchase price of the vehicle as well (for that matter, why aren't they?) since then the numbers would be higher.

The whole article is kind of a crock. Clearly compiled by someone who doesn't understand finance.