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HOW A CAR COSTS YOU £5,600 A YEAR

Wednesday June 6,2007
By Graham Hiscott Have your say(0)
THE cost of running a family car has leapt by almost £80 in the past year.

Owners have been hammered on everything from tax and insurance to replacement parts and petrol prices.

To make matters worse, bargain deals on new cars have seen used vehicles depreciate in value faster.

It meant the overall annual bill for running a mid-range, petrol car for 10,000 miles was £5,611 in April, up from £5,534 last year. That works out at 56.11p a mile.

The cost has increased even more in recent weeks, not least because of the rising price of fuel. The nationwide average for unleaded petrol has reached a 10-month high of 97p a litre, according to figures from the AA.

Road tax on a petrol-powered car worth between £13,000 and £20,000 when new, rose from £150 to £165. Insuring the same car went from £541 to £572, while depreciation increased from £2,343 to £2,349.

The study also took into account the “cost of capital” – how much owners would have earned if the money their vehicle is worth were in the bank. This figure rose from £467 to £545 because of interest rates rises.

The fuel bill for a mid-range car worked out at 11.5p a mile in April this year, up almost half a penny from last year.

Owners of luxury cars worth more than £30,000 saw their petrol bill rise 1p a mile to 18p. They also paid more for road tax and insurance, bringing the overall cost of a top-end car to £1.11 a mile or £11,188 a year.

Superminis – cars worth £10,000 or less – were the only group for which running costs fell. However, increases in petrol prices and interest rates since April have raised their annual running costs from £4,336 to £4,401 a year.

AA spokesperson Vanessa Guyll said: “Insurance, depreciation and fuel are the main elements in the cost of motoring and, on average, all are costing more and wiping out savings from longer tyre life and servicing intervals. The motoring bill for most car owners is more expensive than last year’s – undermining claims that cars are getting cheaper to run.”

I'd be interested to know how this compares to other European countries.