The purchase price is just the beginning — here are
some typical operating costsChoosing the right vehicle involves using your head —
and perhaps a pocket calculator. Finding out what you can afford to drive is a lot more complex
than simply looking at the monthly cost of purchasing or leasing a
new vehicle. It also involves factoring in such things as
insurance, fuel, maintenance, and depreciation costs over your
period of ownership of the vehicle. Adding all this up can be
rather sobering. Figures compiled by transportation specialists Runzheimer
International (based on 24,000 km/year, gas at 52.4 cents a litre,
and the average Canadian driver) reveal how operating costs for a
4-cylinder compact break down at 5.59 cents a kilometre for fuel,
1.85 cents for maintenance, and 0.85 cents for tires. These
operating expenses contribute 8.40 cents per kilometre to the
total. Insurance adds $1,102 per year, snow tires $81, license and
registration $105, finance expenses $831 and depreciation $3,287.
The annual depreciation figure is based on trading in this 4
cylinder after four years, with 96,000 km on the odometer. This all
adds up to $14.74 per day. Obviously the size and type of car your choose (as well as the
level of equipment you purchase) has a dramatic impact on your
annual operating costs. So, does where you live in Canada. In
descending order, Quebec, Ontario, Newfoundland, New Brunswick,
Nova Scotia and British Columbia are the most expensive provinces.
Prince Edward Island, Saskatchewan, Yukon, Manitoba and Alberta are
the least expensive. Runzheimer's figures (for high cost provinces
and low cost provinces, and again based on 24,000 km per year) show
that a 4-cylinder sub-compact's cost varies between $13.30 and
$14.49 per day, and 26.9 and 29.7 cents per kilometre. That's a
total of $6,456 and $7,128 a year. The cost of driving a 4-cylinder compact works out to between
$13.72 and $14.95 per day and 28.3 and 31.3 cents per kilometre.
The annual cost is between $6,792 and $7,512. The average mid-size, 6-cylinder family car sold in Canada today
costs upwards of $20,000 and will cost between $16.27 and $17.78 a
day, or between 32.0 and 36.5 cents per kilometre. That works out
to $7,896 to $8,760 annually. A traditionally, full-size, North American car with V-8 engine
costs $17.39 to $19.03 cents a day or 35.5 to 39.5 cents per
kilometre - total of $8,520 to $9,480 per year. All these figures are Canadian averages. An individual's
insurance cost, for example, could vary dramatically depending on
his or her driving record. It's also obvious from these figures
that depreciation takes one of the biggest bites out of an owner's
bank account. Buying a one or two-year-old car will obviously
reduce annual costs considerably (remember, though, that added
maintenance costs may eat into this reduction). 
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