Australians are dishing out more than $3800 a year per vehicle to keep their cars on the road. Fuel comes in as the predominant expense, but it also costs more than $100 a year to park the car and almost the same to clean it (yourself that is), and costs much more if you take it to a valet hand wash.
Commonwealth Bank card transaction data indicates that, nationally, motorists spend an average of $3,854 on running costs, before loan repayments and depreciation are taken into account.
Petrol makes up 40 per cent of Australia’s annual average car bill, with a total of $7.2 billion being spent at the bowser, while insurance costs average $407 for each car per year. Of course we are only looking at the average motorist; exotic and performance cars cost a lot more in all areas.