Auto Ownership Costs by State
The five most expensive cities for automobile insurance are Detroit, Philadelphia, Newark, Los Angeles and Hempstead (in New York state). Each of these five cities has struggled with various urban crimes (murder, robbery, theft, etc), which affect the rates in each of these cities. The ten most expensive states to own cars are listed below.
Highest Total Cost of Car Ownership
- Hawaii ($59,547)
- California ($59,347)
- Alaska ($58,052)
- Nevada ($57,763)
- West Virginia ($57,532)
- Connecticut ($57,303)
- Louisiana ($56,850)
- Washington ($56,736)
- New York ($56,147)
- Arizona ($56,080)
What makes up the total cost of ownership of a car in different states depends on factors including depreciation, finance costs and interest, fuel cost, insurance, maintenance, taxes and fees. In some cases, the cost of these factors do not vary too wildly across different states. For example, in each state the fuel cost does not cost less than $12,800 or more than $15,000. This variation is not too steep in terms of assessing that particular cost or noticing that difference. The same thing with the depreciation of the car; it is not less that $18,000 but no more than $19,150.
However, it is noticeably different when it comes to the taxes of the car. The taxes on a car for each state in the top ten most expensive states to own a car are posted below.
Highest Auto Taxes
- Hawaii ($1,847)
- California ($3,282)
- Alaska ($538)
- Nevada ($4,036)
- West Virginia ($2,068)
- Connecticut ($2,090)
- Louisiana ($2,715)
- Washington ($2,357)
- New York ($2,826)
- Arizona ($4,232).
As you can see, the taxes of owning a car vary wildly from state to state, unlike the other two factors mentioned previously.
So how come it costs so much more to own a car in a state such as Alaska than Arizona? The answer can be found in the insurance cost. In Arizona, it’s $9,275 for the insurance, while in Alaska it is $13,384. That is a difference of over $4,000.
February 15, 2010, Posted by Rainy Day Mitch