Driving to Work Costs 14k per year

[kmav23]

https://www.news.com.au/technology/i...c6f5854c8ba1c6


Surprising way Aussies stung $14k a year just to get to work

JUNE 11, 20194:05PM

Ditching your wheels could provide a surprise boost to your household budget.

Recent research from comparison website comparethemarket.com.au has shown that the average CBD worker who drives to the office spends up to $14,000 a year.

The study used a base Toyota Corolla priced from about $26,000 and worked out the yearly repayments, insurance, registration, servicing and roadside assistance costs. But the study also worked out the annual cost of petrol, tolls and parking associated with the use of the vehicle.

On average drivers in Sydney paid the most with a total yearly expense of $14,051. This was followed by Melbourne ($13,252), Brisbane ($12,442), Adelaide ($11,576) and Perth ($11,548).

A base Toyota Corolla costs about $26,000 on the road.

Comparethemarket’s money expert, Rod Attrill, believes that the cost of owning a car can exceed half its actual value in just one year.

“When you consider that a brand-new Toyota Corolla costs about $26,000, keeping your car running can siphon about half of that amount in just a year for those who regularly drive in the city,” says Attrill.

“Almost a quarter of our car expenses are in petrol and car insurance, so it’s crucial consumers take a good hard look at how they can save in these areas.”

Sydney and Melbourne both suffered from higher comprehensive insurance costs paying more than $1000 a year. The other capital cities paid about $400 less a year to insure their vehicle.

Sydney drivers are slugged the most for tolls with the average cost north of $2000 a year, or about $40 a week. And with new toll roads coming online in the next few years Sydney drivers will only pay more.

Adelaide and Perth drivers both benefited from a lack of toll roads in their cities.

However, Adelaide residents are hit with the highest on-street parking rates at close to $1000, while Sydney and Melbourne divers paid about $750. This is based on the driver parking for an average of two hours a week on the street in the CBD.

Perth motorists paid the most in registration with an average cost of $919. Melbourne was the next highest ($835), followed by Sydney ($822).

The Western capital was also the most expensive to maintain and service a car with an average cost of $837. The cheapest was Adelaide at only $599.

Petrol expenses were stable across the country with the average cost of about $1900 a year.

One area not analysed by the survey is depreciation, which can severely impact the value of a car in the first few years of ownership. Last year Queensland’s main motoring body (RACQ) revealed that depreciation could add up to $100 a week to the cost of owning a vehicle.

[Ben73]

If you bought a car just to drive to work and not use it for anything else, sure. But I don't know anyone who has done that.

[Ross 1]

Till there is a vast improvement in public transport, across all states, a lot of people have no choice. You cannot always get a job that puts food on the table within a short commute from the front door. All this article highlights is how they are being let down by the government and councils that should be putting together better infrastructure.

[au2000]

If you only needed it as a work runabout, I'd be buying smaller & cheaper than a corolla,

[BENT_8]

Originally Posted by au2000

If you only needed it as a work runabout, I'd be buying smaller & cheaper than a corolla,

Agreed, and whilst I don't commute to the city, my Picanto when factoring in all the included costs mentioned above to take me to work over a year is around $5.5k.

[au2000]

Originally Posted by BENT_8

Agreed, and whilst I don't commute to the city, my Picanto when factoring in all the included costs mentioned above to take me to work over a year is around $5.5k.

Horses for courses indeed, for into the city, the smaller the better, for my 80 ks a day at 100 on a freeway, I'd always pick a 6 or 8 cylinder, mate of mine once brought a Echo for ballarat to melbourne and it cost him a fortune in fuel compared to his 6 cylinder commodore

[5.8]

Originally Posted by au2000

Horses for courses indeed, for into the city, the smaller the better, for my 80 ks a day at 100 on a freeway, I'd always pick a 6 or 8 cylinder, mate of mine once brought a Echo for ballarat to melbourne and it cost him a fortune in fuel compared to his 6 cylinder commodore

I can’t see how an echo would use more fuel than a 6 cylinder commodore. The commodore must have been very economical

[ozpacman]

Originally Posted by au2000

Horses for courses indeed, for into the city, the smaller the better, for my 80 ks a day at 100 on a freeway, I'd always pick a 6 or 8 cylinder, mate of mine once brought a Echo for ballarat to melbourne and it cost him a fortune in fuel compared to his 6 cylinder commodore

Every now and then I start to get bored with life, and then I read crackers like this and just about pee my pants!

Fair dinkum, ya wouldn't be dead for quids!

Got any more?

[LeadFoot81]

Originally Posted by au2000

Horses for courses indeed, for into the city, the smaller the better, for my 80 ks a day at 100 on a freeway, I'd always pick a 6 or 8 cylinder, mate of mine once brought a Echo for ballarat to melbourne and it cost him a fortune in fuel compared to his 6 cylinder commodore

Must be stuck in third!

[jstanovic]

Originally Posted by au2000

Horses for courses indeed, for into the city, the smaller the better, for my 80 ks a day at 100 on a freeway, I'd always pick a 6 or 8 cylinder, mate of mine once brought a Echo for ballarat to melbourne and it cost him a fortune in fuel compared to his 6 cylinder commodore

My missus and I used to drive Adelaide-Melbourne-Adelaide about once a month in her 07 Honda Jazz. 3300rpm at 110kph, 41L fuel tank. Did the 765km one way trip on the one tank of fuel, averaged 5.3L/100km. Even had power to overtake! It was great fun, drove like a go kart and cost bugger all to run!!!

My car is my workplace, doing service work all over Perth. Driving to “work” costs me about $20k pa, it’s just the price you gotta pay to have a vehicle on the road.

[PG2]

It could cost $20,000 per year and I still wouldn't catch public transport.

[kmav23]

Originally Posted by PG2

It could cost $20,000 per year and I still wouldn't catch public transport.

2 hours on a train is much better then 3 hours in peak hour traffic per day. You can sleep, read, YouTube or do some work.

[hayseed]

Originally Posted by kmav23

2 hours on a train is much better then 3 hours in peak hour traffic per day. You can sleep, read, YouTube or do some work.

You're Slippin' there Buddy.......

You forgot to mention how an autonomous Tesla could pick you up & deliver you to & from Work.......

[asagaai]

My fgx xr8 is in for warranty rebuild rear end and new driveshaft- in for 2 days. So I get a ranger to drive.

The work drive feels literally like a 10 minute drive of fun in my v8 (is 25 minute by clock)

The ranger tonight driving home felt like 35 minutes of beh this is a chore.

Driving a craptiva felt like 50 minutes of slow death.

Einstein says time is relative - happy to pay the supercharged v8 for its time relative experience for me- is like a tonic to smooth the crappy stresses of the day- money well spent in my book.

[mike_nofx]

Originally Posted by asagaai

My fgx xr8 is in for warranty rebuild rear end and new driveshaft- in for 2 days. So I get a ranger to drive.

The work drive feels literally like a 10 minute drive of fun in my v8 (is 25 minute by clock)

The ranger tonight driving home felt like 35 minutes of beh this is a chore.

Driving a craptiva felt like 50 minutes of slow death.

Einstein says time is relative - happy to pay the supercharged v8 for its time relative experience for me- is like a tonic to smooth the crappy stresses of the day- money well spent in my book.

I’m with you on that one.

Why people choose to drive work Utes as passenger vehicles will always baffle me. Plenty never see a dirt road, or a decent load in the tray.

[Mechan1k]

Originally Posted by kmav23

2 hours on a train is much better then 3 hours in peak hour traffic per day. You can sleep, read, YouTube or do some work.

So for the times I travel.

public transport from Western Sydney to work is near on 2 hours (multiple changes needed)
In the car ... it is approximately 1 hour (mornings are 45min ... afternoons are just over an hour)

Cost for public transport is the same is what I'd pay for fuel over the week.

I'd rather be in my car and not have to share with the great unwashed
Especially in Winter ... and crap weather.

Where I park is free ... and a short walk into work.
And I avoid tolls ... as it us always slower anyway using them.

Saying that though .... if i had to work in the actual Sydney CBD or North Sydney ... public transport is really the only way to go though ... as there is NO parking ... unless you enjoy paying $80 a day for parking in some of the parking stations.

[kmav23]

Originally Posted by Mechan1k

So for the times I travel.

public transport from Western Sydney to work is near on 2 hours (multiple changes needed)
In the car ... it is approximately 1 hour (mornings are 45min ... afternoons are just over an hour)

Cost for public transport is the same is what I'd pay for fuel over the week.

I'd rather be in my car and not have to share with the great unwashed
Especially in Winter ... and crap weather.

Where I park is free ... and a short walk into work.
And I avoid tolls ... as it us always slower anyway using them.

Saying that though .... if i had to work in the actual Sydney CBD or North Sydney ... public transport is really the only way to go though ... as there is NO parking ... unless you enjoy paying $80 a day for parking in some of the parking stations.

If you work in the CBD or any busy city, public transport is the only option.
Driving into the city for work in peak hour is torture as you could take you 1 hour or 2 hours the next day.

[Itsme]

Originally Posted by kmav23

If you work in the CBD or any busy city, public transport is the only option.
Driving into the city for work in peak hour is torture as you could take you 1 hour or 2 hours the next day.

Obviously you have never traveled Melbourne train network, this is torture as most passengers must stand for the whole journey.
Trams not much better either.

With a car at least I get a chance having a rest in the car parks on our roads......

[GASWAGON]

Maybe ULP/Diesel should'nt have the 3 or 4 taxes on it that it 'STILL DOES' after all these years since they put on???

FFS we are just all recovering in Melbourne after last week 91 went up to $1.65 until the P.H finished yesterday.

Fkin Stupid Government!!!!

[GasoLane]

Originally Posted by QUIK6WGN

Maybe ULP/Diesel should'nt have the 3 or 4 taxes on it that it 'STILL DOES' after all these years since they put on???

FFS we are just all recovering in Melbourne after last week 91 went up to $1.65 until the P.H finished yesterday.

Fkin Stupid Government!!!!

The joys of living in the big city, our fuel around here went down by 3 cpl over the long weekend

[ute83]

Originally Posted by QUIK6WGN

Maybe ULP/Diesel should'nt have the 3 or 4 taxes on it that it 'STILL DOES' after all these years since they put on???

FFS we are just all recovering in Melbourne after last week 91 went up to $1.65 until the P.H finished yesterday.

Fkin Stupid Government!!!!

Got F all to do with the govmint. Fuel companies can charge whatever they like as long as there is no collusion. On a side note good to see the emojis are back.

[JGP]

Well that study assumes 'yearly repayments', Ive only bought cars I can afford with cash. I do however bike ride sometimes to the train station, plenty of my workmates have ditched the 2nd car to ride to the station and then train it to work. If I drove a corolla like the article mentions I would definitely ditch that and ride to work!!!

[LG17]

Thank goodness I'm too old to work.
Just saved myself 14 grand...

[Franco Cozzo]

Depends on what car I drive determines if I pay $50 a week for fuel or $350 a week at the current prices

If I'm wheeling my Caprice I use a bit over 200L/week of 98 so I tend to only use it on Fridays and weekends or when I feel like being anti social and annoying everyone.

When I was working locally and driving my Focus I'd only fill it every 3-4 weeks

I'm getting bent over and spending more than $2000 a year just on tolls, who cares about the price of juice thats the bigger bug bear for me.

[jpd80]

I catch two trains and a plane to get to and from work.
Our Mazda CX-7 is eight years old and has just rolled over 100,000 km.

In my previous roles, I've always been given a non-FBT company vehicle to do my job....

[MITCHAY]

You're still paying car loan(well not everyone), rego, insurance regardless whether you drive it to work or not.

Should be paying servicing costs too though I'd imagine some would not service it as much if you're using PT.

No tolls here so really it is fuel and parking. There is an obvious saving if I were to use PT but you have to factor in what your time is worth too because it easily takes longer.

Not enough incentive for me though lucky for me I do have a bus stop right out the front if I need it.

[Burnout]

Good to know if you are a city commuter, as long as you have access to public transport.

Where I live the is only one public transport service in each direction each working day and it still wouldn't get you to the city before 1030am. You would need to leave work by 2pm to catch the service to be home by 7.30pm.
The the handy thing about this service is I'm retired and don't work.......

[LTDHO]

Public transport is bad in Victoria.
I can't say I am pleased, but it is better to pay more and drive than catch the train.

[Dr Terry]

Yes, there are a lot of assumptions made here.

They assume that you are paying off a new car, along with full comprehensive insurance. Many drive an older car & just pay 3rd party insurance. They also factor in depreciation, an older car has little or none.

They also assume that you use toll roads & paid parking. Many don't use either.

Dr Terry

[Interceptor]

I live 40km out of town.... public transport isn't an option for me.....