What's The Lifetime Cost Of Owning A Car?

Decades ago, I made a promise to myself that I would never to buy a new car. Since then, I always bought used car. 

Prius I have now is 14 years old filled with joyful memories of Max and I clocking miles and miles. I am not sure if I will ever give away this car since I work remote plus that memory factor plus ecology factor. 

I made another promise few years ago. The next car I buy would be my last car. but I might break my first promise because of cost, EV, utility (Neo, Fluffy n Garph can fit comfortably) and "supposed" longevity - let's see how it goes. I would try my best to keep the promise. Buying car here in US is because of necessity and I don't give a flying fuck about signaling via make and model of the car. 

I just need a car which is reliable and gets me from x to y, period. I don't build a relationship with the car nor do I make love to my car :-) 

So that's my brief history of my relationship with cars as a necessity. But even I was astonished to read this...

Cars can be convenient, but they are also incredibly costly, both to owners and society in general. New academic research has calculated that the lifetime cost of a small car—such as an Opel Corsa—is about $689,000, of which society pays $275,000. (A Mercedes GLC costs $1+m over an owner's lifetime.)

The research focused on Germany, but lead author Stefan Gössling told me the guiding principles work for other countries, too. Writing in Ecological Economics, Gössling stated that “the car is one of the most expensive household consumer goods, yet there is a limited understanding of its private and social cost per vehicle-km, year, or lifetime of driving.”

Motorists, he added, underestimate the total private costs of car ownership, “while policymakers and planners underestimate social costs.”

Cars are expensive because of their high ticket price and depreciation and the additional costs incurred by insurance, repairs, and fuel purchases. Mass motoring’s social costs—known to transport wonks as negative externalities—include carbon emissions from burning petrol and diesel, congestion, noise, deaths and injuries from crashes, road damage, and costs to health systems from sloth.