Do you need a car?

Few of us add up all the costs, but car ownership is one of the costliest things people do on an ongoing basis in life. While the day to day costs of petrol are significant, the annual costs of motor tax and insurance and servicing should also be factored in, while the depreciation associated with the capital outlay is the largest cost of all.

Other costs vary from person to person. The cost of parking, time, stress, fines and risk are significant.

When all costs are added up, the total cost is extremely large, just see for yourself.

CO2 Emission Bands	Band A	Band B	Band C	Band D	Band E	Band F	Band G
Car Value	10,000	12,500	15,625	19,531	24,414	30,518	38,147
Motor Tax	104	156	302	447	630	1,050	2,100
Insurance	500	575	661	760	875	1,006	1,157
Depreciation	1,250	1,563	1,953	2,441	3,052	3,815	4,768
Interest on Capital	500	625	781	977	1,221	1,526	1,907
Parking	300	300	300	300	300	3,909	3,909
NCT	25	25	25	25	25	25	25
Servicing and Replacements	250	313	391	488	610	763	954
Petrol/10,000km	980	1,120	1,260	1,400	1,540	1,680	1,820
Oil/10,000km	10	13	16	20	24	31	38
Tyres/10,000km	100	125	156	195	244	305	381
	4,019	4,814	5,845	7,054	8,521	14,109	17,060

The most common cars in Ireland are in Band C. At a running cost of €5,845 per year, how many buses, taxis, trains and car rentals would that pay for?

	Average Price	Trips for the same price
Train	30	195
Local Bus/train	2	2,923
Inter-city Bus	15	390
Car Rental/day	100	58
Taxi	20	292
Walks/Cycles	<1	1000s

Do you need a car?