Driving is expensive

Image from Wall Street Journal and AAA

No kidding, right? In fact, it's one of the four primary themes in Why I Walk. The Wall Street Journal even acknowledges the reality:

If you're driving 15,000 miles a year—not uncommon for an American worker—in a midsize sedan such as a Toyota 7203.TO -0.23% Camry or Ford Fusion, you'll spend more than $760 a month on average, or $9,150 a year, on gas, maintenance, tires, full-coverage insurance, license and registration costs, depreciation and finance charges.

That's according to an annual report by AAA, the auto club, on driving costs in 2013, based on buying a new car and driving it for five years and 75,000 miles.

But your costs easily could be higher.

Got an SUV? It will cost you about $967 a month, or $11,600 a year, according to AAA.

And don't forget those one-time and infrequent costs not included in the AAA report—say, $10 a pop for a carwash every other month, an occasional parking ticket of, say, $40. Perhaps you're also shelling out for paid parking at the baseball game or a downtown garage. Add $300 a year for those types of charges. Let's just say you avoid budget-busting speeding tickets.

We could add in the square footage of your garage—say 400 square feet at $100 a square foot. That's $40,000 of your mortgage that's going to the car.

There's more good info in the piece as well. 

It ties well into one story I heard this weekend. One man I met who was visiting Savannah from New York told how he uses Uber every day in the city to get around. And, that the combination of using Uber plus subway fare is still cheaper than when he lived in Charlotte and owned a car.

It's no secret that driving is declining because more and more people are realizing one key aspect: it's expensive.