 
|
|||||||||||||||||||||
              
|
Pittsburgh slips in economics of operating a car
Sunday, October 22, 2000 By Joe Grata, Post-Gazette Staff Writer
Cincinnati's consistently good ranking for comparative costs of owning a car perplexes Jack Haver, public affairs director for the East Liberty-based AAA Motor Club. v"I thought it was a misprint," he said of statistics provided for PG Benchmarks series by Runzheimer International, a Wisconsin-based consulting firm specializing in travel and living costs. "It just shocks me that Cincinnati is so much lower than Pittsburgh."
Click to graphic on the comparative costs of operating a car in the PG Benchmarks counties
The total annual cost of owning a car in No. 1 Cincinnati, is $5,652 -- $1,130 lower than Pittsburgh, which has dropped from No. 3 to No. 4 over the past year. The costs are based on a six-cylinder, four-door 2000 Ford Taurus with automatic transmission, air-conditioning and power package, and driven 15,000 miles a year within a 50-mile radius of each city in the survey.
"Their gas is somewhat cheaper, but that only accounts for $50 or so," Haver said. "It has to be the insurance."
It is.
That's why the "fixed costs" including insurance that total $3,777 in Cincinnati amount to $4,926 in Cleveland. "In that regard, you would think that the cost of insurance in Pittsburgh would be closer to Cincinnati than Cleveland," Haver said. "But, overall, we're still pretty well off."
Runzheimer statistics showed the total costs of owning a car in Pittsburgh increased $407 since last year, also based on driving the Ford Taurus. Besides fixed costs, the statistics incorporate "operating costs" including gas, tires, oil and routine maintenance.
Phoenix ended up in last place, again, as the most expensive place to own and operate a car, partly because of an annual tax based on $3.22 for every $100 of a vehicle's assessed value, which would be $322 to renew the license on a car worth $10,000 and $644 on a car worth $20,000.
The cost disparity that exists between Cincinnati and Cleveland also exists between Pittsburgh and Philadelphia, which isn't one of the PG's Benchmarks cities because of its larger size. Car owners in Philadelphia typically pay insurance premiums about $1,000 higher than those in Pittsburgh because of the high rate of car thefts and break-ins.
"My brother lives there and it's a mess," Haver said. "People come out to the suburbs, steal the registration renewal stickers off license plates and disappear" in one scheme to avoid the state's mandatory motor vehicle insurance laws.
|
||||||||||||||||||||
