That $12,297 can’t be in any way reflective of most peoples cars, it is likely skewed massively by a bunch of rich people spending insane amounts on unnecessary bullshit. Not saying mass car ownership is the right choice for society just this stat is a bit out of context
And has to be rich people *leasing* these expensive cars, right? I just did some guesstimated math and having owned my (salvage, hybrid, but still) car for almost a year now, the only way to get anywhere near that number is to include the $15,000 purchase price. Otherwise it’s less than 2k.
It's for a new car at the average price. But the people buying new cars are not average. Way more used cars are sold every year than new. Like most of these articles, the numbers are junk and should be ignored (owning a car is expensive compared to bike, walking, but there are tradeoffs to all)
Yeah pretty much what I was getting at. I am for less cars and more transit bikes etc all around, but you don’t get there by misunderstanding the facts, particularly the strength and weaknesses of cars. Now thy enemy sorta thing
Absolutely agree. And if you have bad evidence it opens up new ways to be criticized. There is good evidence for biking/walking more/driving less. No need to use bad evidence!
*know
I’m also, obviously, pro-public transit, but I did the math when I recently got a job in my city (instead of a suburb where the bus ride would’ve been two hours) and paying two dollars each way every day would be more expensive than what I pay for gas on a 15 minute surface street commute.
Not doubting your maths at all but a lot of people drive a lot further than that each day, out of necessity. Many (if not most) also have much less efficient vehicles (but on that topic, that's their problem).
The purchase price obviously should be included, distributed over the time a person owns the car. That’s what AAA does
It’s gotta be a strongly bimodal, or even trimodal distribution. Rich people buy ridiculously expensive frequently. A lot of us buy used or hang on to solid cars forever. Finally some too poor or caught up in the culture frequently buy crappy new or used they can’t afford with repairs all the time
Regardless, the stat is flawed. I too want to see a society of trains and buses, but most peoples cars cost way less than that factoring in everything. I bought my first newish nice car ever last year (a 2018 Honda) for 15k, I’d say yearly max it’s $5k gas, insurance, repair, purchase amortized
Right, sorry, I meant to complete my thought about leasing being more expensive over time, which wealthier people do so that they can always be driving a new car. Compare to my mom buying a minivan in 2006 that my sister still drives today, at which point the purchase price is negligible.
Like, in six months, the purchase price of my car distributed out with the time I’ve owned it is not going to hit 12k. Obviously new cars cost more across the board, but I think it’s reasonable to assume the average here is impacted by people trading out new cars much more often than most of us do.