WASHINGTON — Does filling the gas tank leave your wallet empty and spirit sputtering? Get used to both because almost everything car-related is costing more.
From oil changes to parking lot fees, sticker shock will make this summer even stickier.
“Everything is more expensive,” said Raj Amber, a partner at AAA Limousine in Alexandria, Va., bemoaning the recent oil-change cost increase to $30, up from $25.
Amber’s frustration is common among consumers facing $4 a gallon for gasoline, $45 a day for car rentals that cost $31 last year, and bigger bills from mechanics, tire shops and parking garages.
Cost-fighting tactics are somewhat schizophrenic: vigilant tuneups to stave off car purchases or bare-minimum crucial fixes combined with a hope-for-the-best mentality.
Fuel remains the single biggest expense for car owners over the lifetime of a vehicle at about 30 percent of costs, followed closely by depreciation and insurance. But the prices for maintenance and repairs, which combined account for less than 10 percent of an automobile’s costs, are creeping up.
Travel agency AAA estimates that the average cost of owning and operating a car in 2008 will be $8,121, up from $7,823 last year.
The dollar’s decreased value, which makes imports more expensive, is an important factor driving up prices for oil, steel and other raw materials used in auto parts, said Harry Veryser, an economist at the University of Detroit Mercy and former chairman of an automotive parts supplier.
One spot of relief is auto insurance. Rates have remained steady or fallen in many states because insurers are losing less money on claims and face competitive and regulatory pressures to avoid rate increases, said Donald Light, senior analyst for Celent in San Francisco.
If high gasoline prices prompt less driving, accidents — and insurance rates — should drop further, Light said.
