automobile
ADAC: Expensive fuel is only a small part of the cost of a car
The increased fuel costs are currently hitting many drivers hard. Photo: Frank Rumpenhorst/dpa
© dpa-infocom GmbH
Fuel prices have increased extremely. But when it comes to the total cost of your own car, the relative increase is nowhere near as drastic as example calculations show.
The extreme increase in fuel prices makes some motorists wince at the gas station. Large detours to cheaper gas stations are being made more and more frequently, sometimes even abroad.
But that’s not always worth it. Because even if the fuel costs are felt particularly directly, they usually only make up a small part of the expenses per kilometer driven.
The ADAC has been calculating these real costs for a wide variety of vehicle models for years and publishes them on its website. In view of the current fuel prices, the traffic club has calculated for the German Press Agency for widespread vehicle models what the complete costs with current fuel prices or the values from March 2021 look like. And the differences – in relation to the total costs – are surprisingly small.
cost per kilometer
If one considers the most recently reported fuel prices of a good 2.20 euros per liter of Super E10, the costs for a typical new petrol engine in the compact class with 5.5 liters consumption and an annual mileage of 12,000 kilometers, which its owner keeps for four years, result in costs of a total of around 67.2 cents per kilometer. With the fuel prices of March 2021 – at that time E10 only cost 1.45 euros per liter – it would be 63.1 cents per kilometer. The fuel price explosion ultimately makes a difference of 4.1 cents or a good 6 percent per kilometer driven.
For a new typical lower mid-range diesel that drives 20,000 kilometers a year, is maintained for four years and consumes 4.5 liters per 100 kilometers, it is currently 69.1 cents per kilometer. With the prices of March 2021, it would be 64.5 cents – a difference of around 7 percent.
Loss of value pushes fuel costs into the background
The decisive reason is that in both cases the depreciation of the car pushes the fuel costs into the background. There are also fixed costs such as insurance, other operating costs from engine oil to washing the car, as well as workshop visits and tire wear.
With used cars, the depreciation is significantly lower, which also significantly reduces the costs per kilometer driven. However, the loss in value can only be roughly predicted here, emphasizes the ADAC. The model calculations still offer at least a good starting point: If you buy a four-year-old car and drive it for another four years, you will get 34.3 cents per kilometer for a similar diesel in the lower middle class with fuel prices from last March. It would currently be 39 cents – a difference of a good 13 percent. With the used version of the compact class petrol engine, it would still be 37.6 cents per kilometer at prices in March 2021 – now it is 41.2 cents or almost 10 percent more.
All of these values are of course only indicative. Also because the individual fuel consumption differs depending on the route and driver habits and of course other cars with different ages lead to different values. Nevertheless, even the currently exorbitant fuel prices make driving a car only gradually more expensive in the end. The drive to the gas station still hurts.