Study: California, Nevada, West Virginia among most expensive places to own a vehicle

Do you work on the West Coast? Or what about West Virginia? Chances are it’s costing you, and your customers, a lot more than other places to drive, let alone repair, the vehicles on the road today.

A new study by Edmunds.com shows that owning a vehicle in California or Hawaii costs $10,000 more than it does in New Hampshire over a five-year period.

This study employs data from Edmunds.com’s True Cost to Own tool, which projects model-specific, regional average vehicle ownership costs, consisting of depreciation, financing, taxes, fees, insurance premiums, fuel costs, maintenance and repairs. The tool is available at no charge to Web site visitors and provides ownership cost information for both new and used vehicles.

“Many consumers neglect to consider ownership costs when deciding which vehicle to buy,” says Philip Reed, senior consumer advice editor for Edmunds.com. “Every shopper should look beyond transaction price when determining how a vehicle purchase will fit into the household budget, especially since some expenses can differ dramatically for different types of vehicles. For example, luxury cars tend to have much higher maintenance costs, while sports cars often result in high insurance premiums.”

“This study showed that the cost of auto insurance is the biggest differentiator between states,” states Michelle Krebs, editor of Edmunds’ AutoObserver.com. “Despite regional fluctuations in gas prices and the public’s attention to the subject, fuel costs did not play a major role in the results of this study. The average household’s annual gasoline expense is just over $2,500 per car, and even a difference of a quarter per gallon simply does not add up to a tremendous amount of money over the course of a year.”

The study can be found at www.edmunds.com. The following states have the lowest average vehicle ownership costs in the country, according to information released by Edmunds.com:

The following the states have the highest average vehicle ownership costs in the country:

As of Jan. 17, 2008. Updates and 50-state data are available upon request.
The True Cost to OwnSM calculations use the following assumptions:
• Ownership expenses are for a five-year time span
• Vehicles are driven an average of 15,000 miles per year
• Vehicles are financed using traditional financing and not leased
• Buyers are paying 10 percent down on the vehicle
• Buyers are in the “Gold” credit tier for the purpose of determining the finance rate
• The loan term is 60 months
• Buyers represent the average demographic for insurance rates.