Introducing... our Car Cost Calculator
Responding to an influx of Australians not sure what they were spending on their car each year - and finding out it is significantly more than they thought - Uber Carshare has just released a money saving car cost calculator which helps users track everything from registration, services and insurance to parking and depreciation.
The calculator works out what you actually spend on your car, comparing it to what else that money could have been used for.
Sam Ficek
When Nick Jungfer, 27, and his partner Maddie Rhodes, 26, moved from Adelaide to Sydney they realised they no longer needed their two cars and would instead get around on public transport, cycling and walking.
Through the calculator, the couple realised they had shelled out $70,679.86 in the four years Maddie had owned her car and the two Nick had owned during this time.
“Since we got rid of the cars we were able to purchase a new laptop, a trip to Europe and even saved enough for a deposit on a house,” says Nick.
“Selling our cars was the best decision we could make. It just feels like cars just bleed so much money, even if you don’t use it that much.
“When we moved to Sydney we were looking at paying almost double the rent we were previously paying and we needed to find different ways that we could save money. It just made sense to ditch the cars, which we couldn’t afford anyway.”
The couple purchased the two cars for $21,000 and calculated that they drove 27,000km a year. Combined, their services set them back $2500 a year, insurance and registration each $1400 a year, tyres $1200 a year and a whopping $3100 a year was spent on parking.
According to the car cost calculator, that $70,679.86 could also pay for:
- A flat white coffee, every day, for the next 48 years ☕️
- 2 Bachelor of Law degrees 👩🎓
- Nearly three years of professional childcare 👨👧👧
- 90 years of monthly mani-pedis 💅
- 215 return flights between Sydney and Byron Bay ✈️
- 163 years of Diamond Membership with the Sydney Rabbitohs 🏉
- The standard Netflix package for the next 3.5 decades 📺
Uber Carshare CEO and founder Will Davies says it’s been a real eye opener on how much money Australians spend on owning and running a car.
“Cars are one of the biggest expenses we have and when you look at all the outgoings like registration, fuel, insurance, tolls and depreciations, they quickly become a huge financial burden.
“The amount of money spent on cars that are parked 95 per cent of the time is just mind-blowing,” he says.
“We end up enslaving ourselves to these vehicles.
Uber Carshare has reported a 245 percent increase in customers during the pandemic, as Australians look for ways to save on their expenses. Currently there are more than 12,000 people joining the platform every month.
“Months of working from home and hybrid work situations along with rising costs of car ownership, financial pressure and economic uncertainty has been a big motivator for this change.”
