An Unpleasant Surprise:Your Annual Cost of Gas

How much do you spend on gas over a 12 month period? If you know, you are unusual. As the price of gas increases so has your yearly gasoline cost. Gasoline has become one of the major components of your family budget. In order to maintain a proper family budget you really need to know how much you are spending for gas during the year. Most drivers are familiar with the amount of money it costs to fill the car but few can state with certainty the total spent per year.

It is easy to figure out and only takes a few minutes. That being the case one would think that most drivers would take the time to work the calculations and determine their annual expense. But most don't. If they did they might realize how important it is to their financial health to do something about it.

There seems to be no end in sight to the daily increases to the price of gas. $3.00 per gallon, $3.29 per gallon, $3.49 per gallon are prices that we have seen this year. A while back $3.00 per gallon seemed really high. Now $3.00 seems like a good price!

The American Automobile Association generally figures 15,000 miles as an average amount of miles per vehicle per year.They use that figure when they do cost calculations. If you on average travel 15,000 miles a year in a auto that has a fuel economy of 20 miles to the gallon, you will purchase somewhere in the neighborhood of 750 gallons of fuel per year. If the price is $3.00/gallon that means an expense of $2250.00 per year.

If you are a two car family averaging 15,000 miles per car you will use 1500 gallons of gas per year. 1500 gallons at $3.00 per gallon equals $4500.00 per year.

If the price of gas is $3.49 per gallon of course the results are significantly higher. If you are a one car household utilizing 15,000 miles per year you will have an expense of over $2600.00 annually. If you are a two car family your yearly costs will be over $5200.00 annually. That equates to $437.00 monthly. You are likely spending more for fuel than you spend on a car payment.

Every time the price of fuel goes up at the pump by 10 cents, the yearly increase for your two car household is $150.00. When the price of fuel jumps 20 cents in a single day, understand that it will increase the cost to you by about $300.00 per year.

When you think about the annual cost of your gas it is very sobering. When you think about spending $5200.00 per year, you might want to serious look at ways to reduce that cost. When you realize that the 20 cent increase today will cost you $300.00 this year you might decide now is the time to do something about it.

By: Scott Siegel

Scott Siegel is the author of a 143 page book of automotive industry insider secrets on saving gas and money at the pump (beatthegaspump.com). Visit us to discover how you can get better gas mileage. Find out how to increase gas mileage.
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