What are the fixed running costs in your country or state?
 

Yesterday at home I was having a discussion on the expense of running the Carrera and we started wondering how it is in the U.S. (and other places). I was using as an argument that it was cheap in the U.S. (and -OT- that THE main reason for Arnold's California governorship had to be the Davis proposed car taxes).
I remember a license plate in Maryland in 1967 would cost $24, without any regard to engine size, power, vehicle weight, whatever...
So, what is the "system" in your country/state?
1) What is the cost of "road tax", is it "modulated" in any way (engine size, vehicle weight, whatever?)
2) What is the cost of "insurance" (I guess it's too complex to ask you what it covers?)
3) How much US$ per US gallon of "best" gas?
Ballpark figures are OK...

I'll start with myself. Country: Belgium (Euro = US$ 1.20)
Yearly "fixed" costs are:
1) All comprehensive road tax: US$ 1000 (depends on engine capacity and is growingly progressive, by the time it reaches 5 liters it may be something like $ 2500..no wonder there's no US cars over here!)
2) Insurance: US$ 800 (covers 3rd party risks and legal asssitance only, no theft cover, no fire cover, no own risk cover...it's really minimal)
3) US$ 4.60 per US Gallon (3.5 liters)
Anybody wanta move to Belgium ? :D

Dallas, TX

'73 911S targa
1. $52.80 licensing fee + ~$24.00 yearly inspection fee
2. Insurance.. shopping for new insurance-
3. $1.55 per gallon for super unleaded

Ohio:

Passenger
$ 34.25

House Vehicle/Moped
$ 24.25

Motorcycle
$ 28.25

Motor Home
$ 49.25

Light Non-Commercial (up to 3/4 ton capacity)
$ 49.25

Heavy Non-Commercial (over 3/4 -1 ton cap.)
$ 84.25

Commercial Trailer
$ 39.25

Why would we care what size engine a car has? A car is a car.

Insurance: Depends on your record (a fact which irritates most Porsche drivers), car you drive, age and sex. I pay around $600 twice a year for full coverage with $500 deductible on my 911.

Gas: About $1.60 - $2/gallon.

Here are the costs in Mississippi

1. Antique vehicle registration, $25 lifetime, pay 25 once the car is registered for life. car has to be older than 25 years. Pay $5 a year for vehicle inspection.

2. Insurance is less than $1000 a year, 3 cars total.

3. Gas is running about $1.25 for regular, $1.45 for 93 octane.

Don't talk about car taxes, it makes me sad. The bloodsuckers here are the worst in the world http://www.pelicanparts.com/support/smileys/devil.gif

A set of license plates: About 160,3 Euro.
Yearly weight tax (good thing the 911 is relatively light): 506,7 Euro.
A liter of 98 octane fuel: About 1,2 Euro (2 thirds of fuel price is tax).
Insurance (chaos and mayhem): I pay 2049 Euro per year. An average 993 will cost at least twice as much. Don't ask what a Turbo costs....


And then there's the insane "registration tax". It means that my 84 Carrera cost me about 54000 Euro. A brand new GT3 costs about 350404 Euro!!!

http://www.pelicanparts.com/support/smileys/pyth.gif

Costs in Providence, Rhode Island

1. Registration = $30/year/car City of Providence
automobile tax = percentage of retail value = about $200 for Porsche / year
2. insurance (full coverage) is about $1200/year for all three cars. Porsche is only about $200/ year (secondary car)
3. Gas is aroun $1.80/gal for premium (92 octane)

My Saab and Chevy pickup are relatively expensive to own in Providence. My Porsche is very cheap: $430/year plus gas + maintenance.
Property tax on automobiles will be eliminated in 2006!

Insurance, Full cover limited to 6ooo miles per year: £345.00
Annual Road Tax: £180.00
98 RON petrol: £0.88 per litre (approx. 75% of this is Tax)
Annual MOT/Inspection: £25.00

Current exchange rate £-$= 1.67

UK:

Road tax: £180 = $300
Insurance (unlimited mileage, business use included): £700 = $1,170
Petrol = £3.11 US Gallon = $5.20

Ben

Long Island NY checking in.

1. Registration $50 per year.

2. Insurance, $3500 per year, would be $1500 if the police left me alone or if I lost some weight in my right foot, might also help if my wife would stop trying to thin the local population with her SUV and getting the ambulance chasers all riled up.

3. $1.85 average for the area but my town does not allow self service gas stations so the price is a bit more, $1.95.

Scott

For my '78 SC in California:

Registration: I think around $100 total, part of that is tax deductible, so the net payment ends up being less.

Insurance: $340 year full coverage (collectors, limited use, policy).

That's it. If it was much more, I could not justify keeping the car, since I hardly ever drive it. I think this year, I put 200 miles on it.

Registration = $150.64 (bought tags today)
Insurance = $852/yr full coverage $500 deductable
Gas = $1.27/ gal

Since I've put 11026 miles on my 930 in 8yrs it figures to about 83 cents a mile. Not counting maintenance and repairs etc.
I pay alot to just look at the car and it's worth it.
jc930

Melbourne, VIC Australia

1. Registration - US$375/year
2. Insurance - US$380/year (for me)
3. Fuel - US$0.61/litre (98-Ron Premium)

Life is good when you look at it this way, despite there being a 66% tax built into the price of fuel.

I'm amazed at the extremely low vehicle registration fees in the states above. Oregon is also cheap. As a multi-car owner (now down to Porsches and an SUV) I like it, but as a citizen i know its bad for the state.

What is it in Calif.? I know Ahnuld is repealing the increase....

In Ca. my registration for my 1988 911.
Just purchased in june came due last month came to the amount of $240.00 bucks for the year.
Ouch!

So would that have been $750 or will it go down now to $80??

Either way it's a bargain compared to the cost of maintaining all the infrastructure for cars. Lookat whay you pay to register a 20 lb. bicycle, which generates no pollution and doesn't require periodic wars for fuel supplies....

Of course, the real cheap taxes are on semi-trucks -- tremendous damage to our wys, and accidents that halt entire freeways for hours.

If the repeal goes through then yes it would drop by a third or whatever. from the 240.00.
You are right it is fairly cheap overall, in my case at least for the infrastructure costs.
Register bicycles? ride one everyday, but have never registered it.

What do you mean "if"??

The triple car tax IS repealed.

Gosh.
Just checked out the DMV site you are so right.
I guess I will be getting a check in the mail.
- back to la la land.

This is a bit of apples & oranges comparison. Socialistic nations use car related taxes to fund programs unrelated to the car...in the USA most states claim to use such taxes for highway related purposes. (note that I said "claim") Hey, if you choose to live in a socialist state or nation, I guess you need to expect to pay for it.

pwd - Analyses of cars and their infrastructure show that the costs are huge and are heavily subsidized by other taxes. I'm not anti-car -- rather obviously since I own 2 purely fun cars (down from 3 Porsches), but it's hard to refute.

OTOH, we no longer have streets awash in horse crap and I often wonder if cars aren't safer than horse travel -- historical acconts show people in the in mid-1800s with frequent injuries from horse riding (esp. when drunk).

BTW, mandatory to register a bike in my town (and most others) -- cops only enforce if you wear a black T-shirt.

Maryland for 69 911e
Historic tag: $40 for two years
Insurance: $20/month (not primarly car)
Gas: $1.70/gallon

Monthly "investment" in parts/labor/restoration $500
Winding out third gear on a nice day: priceless :)

Oh, I'll give it a try...Randy, I suggest you look up a bit of info on ODOT's budget, number of employees, etc. Also where it's funding comes from..the gas tax and road use taxes. When I read info given to me by then Oregon State Rep Liz VanLeeuwen, ODOT had nearly as many employees as there are miles of State Highway...and it was totally funded by fuel and "road use" taxes imposed on commercial vehicles. I know that as a state employee you must uphold the #1 rule of the bureaucracy, which is to protect and expand the bureaucracy. However, I do question your unnamed "Analyses". BTW, when Liz gave me this material, she was trying to head off one of Oregon's many gasoline tax hikes, because she sincerely believed it was unneeded. Alas, the liberal Reps outnumbered the conservative ones.

Michigan

Plate Fee $130
Colector Ins. $480
Gas /Gal $1.70
Emission Insp. None.....Priceless

Uh... I'm not a state employee -- or is that what you meant?

But ODOT is just the tip of the iceberg -- don't fergit (or forget either) that the feds paid 90% of all the Interestates here, and a lot for all the US Hwys.

One named analysis: Alan Durning - The Car and the City. I guarantee you won't like it! But I've never seen anyone sucessfully refute his facts.

Anyway, if we are going to subsidize cars, I'm gonna buy another one.... waiting for that 300 hp; 2500 lb. Boxster...

I thought you were a UofO prof...if not, my apologies. But if you are? The last time I looked, the U of O was a state university. The car and the city? Hmmm, where I live it isn't a city by any stretch of the imagination. Want to talk heavily subsidized transportation? Oh gosh, let's not mention Portland's light rail...ridership numbers, how much each ride is subsidized by those poor ignorant slobs who insist on driving, through their property and income taxes. Sorry Randy, you won't change my mind, nor will I change yours. IMHO, Oregon does not have a funding problem, it has a spending problem. There is a reason why Clark County Washington is growing like crazy while just across the Columbia river, Multnomah County, Oregon isn't. There is a reason Oregon has one of the highest unemployment rates in the nation...and I believe that to be a climate unfriendly to business because of over taxation and over regulation. Me? Living on a retirement income with everything paid for? Oregon isn't that bad, despite it's current 9% income tax rate. Would I suggest this as a place to live to a younger person who chooses private industry employment over government? Nope. Poor government management here, better opportunities elsewhere. The new state slogan, adopted after the state paying a high priced Portland based ad agency an amount still not disclosed? "Oregon. We love dreamers." It's appropriate.
I wouldn't have charged 6 figures or more for mine tho: "Oregon. Porkbarrel spelled backwards."

1979 930

Houston, TX

Registration/License: ~$50/yr
Insurance (appraised value $24,500): $600/yr
Fuel this afternoon: $1.559/gal super-unleaded
Gas Mileage ~ 11 mpg (worse than my truck!)

Yearly Operating Costs.....
 

In the county that I live in (South Georgia) my operating costs are as follows:

License/registration fees $30.00/year
Insurance (full coverage) $240.00/6 months
fuel costs: $1.50 per US gallon @18-25mpg
synthetic oil: $3.50/US quart (change oil twice a year)
smiles per gallon: Priceless

Actually, my 1980 911SC has been relatively inexpensive to operate. I have spent some serious $$ repairing things the previous owners ignored and upgrading the interior, but the actual operating costs are reasonable.

Fred Cook

SmileWavy

No. I don't work for UofOh - never have. I _used_ to be a univ. prof, but never in Orygun (but have 2 degrees from here). In Wyoming most recently.

I also am not enamored with the dreamer slogan.

But we used to have more growth than we can handle -- until the tech bust. I'll take the social and economic situation here over Wyo. any day (but would like to import some powder snow).

Back to costs -- I am still surprised by the very low registration fees -- what are they in NY and Pa.?

Phoenix, AZ 1985 Carrera

1) Registration: $37/year

2) Insurance: ~$500/year, full coverage (collision, theft, etc); secondary vehicle on policy

3) Premium fuel: $1.65/gallon

At least you have the good beer in Belgium (the Disneyland of beers)! :D

you gotta visit NYC & metro to understand how road construction business is really accomplished.. just like the good ole days.

I guarantee you won't like it !

http://www.pelicanparts.com/support/smileys/munky2.gif

Hey guys, thanks a lot. It confirms what I suspected: the US is (on face level...) dirt cheap.

A few remarks:
1) I forgot to mention the Belgian compulsory yearly "technical control" (for all cars over 4 years old): US$ 45
2) I did not mention that we also have the "over 25 years old" classic car arrangement. Car tax is then abt. $30 per year, but you cannot stray beyond a 20-mile circle around your registered address (unless if you are invited to some "classic" gathering...so you send yourself an invitation email, I guess!)
Insurance (provided you have another "full rate" car!) is about $150 for a "classic car"...

At risk of straying into uncool OT territory, correcto: car and fuel taxes are siphoned off into other state management budgets. In Belgium, the tax on large displacement engines is based upon the hypothesis that large cars mean rich people (we don't traditionally drive barges over here), hence they can pay more taxes...c'mon now, let's be social! I'm not really going to discuss whether that's justified or not, it's been covered "ad nauseam" by (amateur) politicians and other assorted well-opinioned responsible citizens, to each his own. Right now I'm (cynically) quite pleased that there are tremendous taxes on cigarettes (a pack of 20 Marlboro lights cost exactly US$ 4.44, I just checked with a collegue :D ) because those taxes are poured into the "social security" fund to cover for part of my medical bills etcetera (yes, and to pay for the cement boots of having a massive administration...alas, alas...).

I drive my Carrera all of 4-6000 miles per year since I've had it. Man, has that car cost me money per mile!!!
:( but not more than YOUR Ferrari, Wayne :D THOU SHALT PAY FOR THY SINS !!!

Don't forget sales tax! Here in Michigan we have the privlege of paying 6% sales tax on all vehicle purchases. So if a vehicle is sold 5 times over its life time, the State cashes in 5 times on the same vehicle!!!!!!!!!!!!

V.A.T. - Value Added Tax - in Belgium is a whopping 21% of the LIST price. If you get, say, a 5 or 10% rebate, that is not granted on the tax part! Needless to say, there is NEVER any discount on a new Porsche...
(Yes, Mikkel, I know: you guys in Denmark are REALLY being...twistinserted...)

Oh so that's why you started this thread!!?? :D ;)


Every time I see a 993 I'm reminded what I could have been driving if things weren't so far out here :mad: The swedes are getting a lot of danish car interested immigrants these days ;) And I see more and more "swedish" Bmw's, Mercedes and Porsche's on danish roads.... The swedes must really love danish roads :D :D

Jefferson City Missouri:
'86 Carrera Vehicle Registration: $28.00 per year
Full coverage ins. ($1000 ded.): $420 per year
Gallon of 93 octane: $1.59

Here's NJ:

Premium Fuel: $1.50 - $2.00. This will go up by 15 cents if Gov. McGreedy gets his way.

Insurance is very variable but it's no secret that we're the highest in the country. Depends on county you live in, age, record, car etc etc. I pay approx $350 for limited use collectors insurance. I'll be looking at broader coverage alternatives in the spring.

Registration:

Note: The fees for senior citizens 65 and older and handicapped citizens are $7 less than those stated below in all passenger car categories.

Weight Class Model Weight Fee
1 1970 or older Under 2700 lbs. $32.50
2 1970 or older 2700 lbs--3800 lbs. $41.50
3 1970 or older Over 3800 lbs. $62.50
4 1971 – 1979 Under 2700 lbs. $35.50
5 1971 - 1979 2700 lbs--3800 lbs. $46.50
6 1971 - 1979 Over 3800 lbs. $69.50
7 1980 and newer Under 3500 lbs. Fewer than 2 years old $56.00
More than 2 years old $43.50

Hmmm, the idea of wt. classes makes sense to me, but with a difference that ranges from $32.50 to $69.50 -- why bother? Seems like it's more trouble than its worth.

I still think we should make all mass transit free and get everyone who doesn't _want_ to drive off the road.

Well the weight classes may inspire one to remove the A/C and rear seats from their 911.

I'm already inspired -- also need to remove about 15 lbs of spare tire from driver. Have already ditched hefty girfriend for a more svelte model.

So, will NJ send me a rebate? Not a resident but my state is the only other one to prohibit pumping your own gas....