Terra Extraneus

Charles Hill at Dustbury does the math to establish that it cost him 59 cents/mile to drive a new car for six years. (Dustbury fans know that Hill recently said a tearful goodbye to his old car, after an auto-deer highway collision, and is now tooling around town in a newer model).

Hill’s calculations are based on his expenses from 2000-2006, during which he estimated that gasoline cost an average of $2/gallon, and he got 24 miles/gallon. Today, of course, gasoline is right around $3/gallon. So that’s going to up the ante even more, right? Well, actually, in Hill’s formula, the extra dollar per gallon would increase his cost only 4 cents/mile. That’s based on about 9300 miles/year.

One conclusion from above: The higher cost of gas is not as big a deal in the whole scheme of things as it may seem. Most of our driving expense is tied up in the cost of the car. Here’s how it breaks down in Hill’s numbers: 52%: automobile, 22%: insurance, 14%: gasoline, 12%: tax, tag, repairs, miscellaneous.

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Try: www.zillow.com. (Hat tip: Dustbury).

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