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True cost of driving to work
One of the exercises in my Personal Marketing class is to calculate the cost of driving to work. I have decided to share this information with all my readers.
First let’s define some automotive expenses related to driving to work (Gas, Oil, Tires, Insurance, Vehicle Replacement, Vehicle Registration, Monthly Parking, Tolls, and Driving Time)
Gas
- Actual Hwy MPG = (Percentage of trip traveling 60 MPH) x Hwy MPG
- Miles Per Gallon = (Actual Hwy MPG + City MPG) / 2
- Miles Per Gallon x Cost Per Gallon
Your Hwy MPG only counts when you’re traveling at Hwy speeds.
Oil
- Oil change every 5,000 miles, since most of the miles are on the freeway
Tires
- 60,000 mile tires
- $125 / tire
Assuming a quality tire that’s made for commuting
Insurance
- Minimum Coverage
- Uninsured motorist
Tolls
- The fee you pay to get to the other side
Parking
- Garage Parking usually applies when you live or work in a large Metro area.
Vehicle Replacement
- Reliable miles
- I once had a neighbor that drove his car back & forth to work and did regular maintenance on his car. He had a policy of replacing his car after it hit 100,000 miles.
- My cars have been very good for me. With regular maintenance, they have served me over 200,000 miles without any major issues. So, I replace my cars at 200,000 miles.
- Let’s take the average and say a car should be replaced with another car at 150,000 miles.
- If you bought a slightly used car that has 30,000 miles on it, and drove it until it had 150,000 then you can expect 120,000 miles out of it.
Registration
- The fee you pay to the government for use of your car
Driving Time
- Driving Cost = Hours per day x Hourly Wages
Actual Commuting Costs
| Description | 30 miles | 60 miles | ||
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2 trips miles per day | 60 | miles | 120 | miles |
| 5 days miles per week | 300 | miles | 600 | miles |
| 50 weeks miles per year | 15,000 | miles | 30,000 | miles |
| Annual Gallons of Gas = miles/mpgs | 500 | gallons | 1,000 | gallons |
| Annual Oil changes at $20 per change | 3 | $60 | 6 | $120 |
| Annual Gas @ $3.50 per gallon | $1,750 | $3,500 | ||
| Annual Tire Wear at $125 per tire x 4 | 0.25 | $125 | 0.50 | $250 |
| Annual Insurance | $720 | $720 | ||
| Annual Registration | $120 | $120 | ||
| Annual Commuting Cost | $4,275 | $7,710 | ||
| Monthly Commuting Cost divided by 12 | $357 | $643 | ||
| Monthly Tolls | 0 | 0 | ||
| Monthly Parking | 0 | 0 | ||
| Total Monthly Commuting Cost | $357 | $643 | ||
The Actual Monthly Commuting cost pictured here doesn’t include the cost of Monthly Tolls or Parking. If you heed the warning signs and decide now that you will set aside that much each month then, when it comes time to maintain or replace your car, you won’t be surprised. You’ll be expecting it and you’ll be prepared.
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