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

[Paul Franssen]

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 ?

[Neilk]

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

[old_skul]

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.

[rhaas]

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

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!!!

[catuck]

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!

[Mark sP]

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

[ben@benlovejoy.]

UK:

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

Ben

[stomachmonkey]

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

[CarreraS2]

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.

[JC930]

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

[Adam]

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.

[Randy Webb]

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....

[goat]

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!

[Randy Webb]

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.

[goat]

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.

[CarreraS2]

Originally posted by goat
If the repeal goes through then yes it would drop by a third or whatever. from the 240.00.

What do you mean "if"??

The triple car tax IS repealed.

[goat]

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.

[pwd72s]

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.

[Randy Webb]

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.