The cost of owning a car is up despite lower gas prices

(NewsNation) — The cost of owning a car has surged even as gas prices have fallen from recent inflation-era highs.

Car insurance premiums are up more than 20% compared to a year ago, according to the latest Consumer Price Index (CPI). Maintenance and repairs will also cost you about 7% more. Even parking and toll fees (+4.5%) have outpaced overall inflation (+3.2%) over the past year.

In total, the average annual cost of owning a new car reached $12,182 in 2023 — up 14% from the year prior, according to the American Automobile Association (AAA).

Several factors have pushed prices up, including more expensive car parts, increasingly complex vehicles and a tight labor market, explained Brian Moody, senior editor for Autotrader.com.

“Even a low-speed collision could be more expensive today than it ever was,” Moody said.

The Fed’s interest rate hikes have also led to higher financing costs. Last year’s average annual finance charge of $1,253 was 90% higher than the year before, AAA found.

Now, more Americans are feeling the strain. In the fourth quarter of 2023, 7.7% of auto loans transitioned into delinquency — the highest level since 2010, according to the New York Fed.

Like rising grocery prices, car inflation has hit consumers hard over multiple years, with the total cost of new car ownership 26% higher today than in 2021.

Here’s how the cost of getting behind the wheel has changed in recent years.

Car insurance costs more

Feb. 2023: +14.5% compared to a year earlier

Feb. 2024: +20.6% compared to a year earlier

Today, the average annual cost of full coverage car insurance in the U.S. is $2,543, up from $1,771 in 2022, according to Bankrate.com.

Prices are even higher in some parts of the country. Drivers in Florida ($3,945), New York ($3,840) and Louisiana ($3,618) pay the most, Bankrate found. Car owners in Detroit pay north of $5,500 per year for insurance, the most of any large metro in the country.

The rise in insurance costs is partially a result of cars getting safer, Moody noted. He pointed out that today’s cars are built to absorb the energy from a crash, which often leads to more damage.

“Does that ruin the car? Yes, but that preserves the person who’s inside the car,” he said.

More sophisticated technology has made those repairs more costly, which has led to higher insurance claims. In 2022, the average collision claim was $5,992, up from $3,709 in 2020, according to the Insurance Information Institute.

Another explanation for the insurance spike is that driving became more dangerous during the pandemic. Fatal accidents surged as did the severity of auto insurance claims.

Rates may continue to rise for the foreseeable future. The cost of auto insurance is expected to go up by an estimated 7% this year, according to Insurify.

Maintenance and repair costs add up

Feb. 2023: +12.5% compared to a year earlier

Feb. 2024: +6.7% compared to a year earlier

A trip to the mechanic will likely cost you more today than it did just a few years ago.

The average repair bill for a traditional vehicle is now $4,437, Bloomberg recently reported, citing data from auto insurance processing company CCC Intelligent Solutions. For an electric vehicle, the average fix is 49% higher, or $6,618.

Inflation has remained especially sticky in service sectors of the economy that rely on human labor, and auto repair shops are a prime example. Higher wages and a tight labor market have put upward pressure on prices.

Auto part shortages brought on by supply chain disruptions during the pandemic also drove up repair costs.

“It’s not that the shop is trying to gouge you; it’s that they need to pay their sources,” said Moody.

The rise of luxury cars — which now account for roughly 20% of new cars sold in the U.S. and tend to have more expensive parts — could further explain the rise in repair costs, Moody noted.

Financing costs skyrocket

2021: 3.9% (avg. new car loan rate per Experian)

2023: 7.2% (avg. new car loan rate per Experian)

Since the Federal Reserve began raising interest rates to cool inflation, the cost of borrowing money has gone up. That’s led to less favorable loan terms for car shoppers.

The average interest rate for a new car loan has almost doubled over the past two years, increasing from 3.9% in 2021 to 7.2% in 2023, according to Experian.

The average used car loan rate is even higher, reaching 11.9% in 2023, up from 8.2% in 2021.

Last year, the average auto loan balance increased to $23,792, and drivers owed more than $1.5 trillion on their vehicles, the Experian report found.

Moody says it’s worth comparing interest rates across automakers and car models because they can vary significantly.

“Even within one brand, you might have one car with a very high interest rate and another with zero; it just depends on the brand and the incentive,” he said.

Former U.S. Treasury Secretary Larry Summers and other top economists recently argued that understanding the true impact of rising interest rates, including car financing costs, could help explain the consumer sentiment gap that has frustrated the Biden administration.