September 26 — A report from AAA has shown how much costs have risen over three years.
The Your Driving Cost Study had costs at $9,200 in 2019. It’s now $12,000. That includes insurance, gas and maintenance.
Attorney Clint Barkdoll said, “Well and a lot of that is of course gas prices. But just the cost of maintaining the vehicle in general both maintenance wise and insurance. That maintenance piece might get worse. I was talking to a local car dealer yesterday, and he was pointing out that their inventory for cars has been fine. They have a lot of orders in the pipeline. Those cars have been manufactured for next year. He was most concerned about the impact this strike will have on parts. That you could get to a point if this strike goes on for too long, it’s going to be really difficult to get certain parts and if you can get them they’re going to be really expensive because there’s going to be a great scarcity of them. So that’s going to inflate that number that you’re referencing from AAA even more, the longer this UAW strike wears on.”
Michele Jansen of NewsTalk 103.7FM pointed out, “Can you imagine? There’s also reporting from the House Budget Office that families are spending just in the last few years because of inflation, about 2019, that the families are spending $1,000 or more a month for the things that they used to spend on and that would include all the car issues. So that jives with that number. I don’t know how we just keep going like this.”
Car expenses aren’t the only costs on the rise.
Barkdoll added, “Just looking at your household budget, whether it’s your utility bills, the cost to run your vehicle, food, I mean you name the expense, it has spiked significantly in the past few years. And even though inflation has cooled off some, it’s still at a very high level. It looks like it’s going to continue that way at least for quite some time.”
