The private car is more expensive than expected
In Germany, a private car is a luxury that many people would not want to do without, for others it is essential to have their own car in everyday life, for example to commute to work. In view of the importance that the car enjoys in Germany, the majority of car owners lose sight of the gross costs of their car.
A study by the RWI – Leibniz-Institute for Economic Research in cooperation with Yale University and the University of Mannheim.
The research, published in the scientific journal Nature, found that car owners largely underestimate the cost of taxes, repairs and insurance, but also disregard the decline in underlying value.
A lack of cost transparency increases the CO2 balance
The authors of the study criticize that “private cars are responsible for about 11 percent of the world’s total carbon dioxide emissions”, with the transport sector as a whole responsible for 24 percent of global CO2 emissions, with private cars making up the most significant part.
In view of these factors, the study argues that the lack of transparency regarding the costs to be borne by a car continues to tempt consumers to forgo alternative transport options and, conversely, encourage car purchases.
This means that as long as the costs are significantly underestimated by the consumer, there is no incentive to switch to more environmentally friendly modes of transport.
Cost factors of one’s own car are underestimated
In the course of the study, more than 6,000 people in Germany were interviewed to find out how accurately each individual assessed the real costs of a private car. As a result, the total cost of owning a car is underestimated by around 50 percent.
Expressed in concrete figures, car owners underestimated the monthly costs for their car by an average of 221 euros. Even those who took all possible costs into account in their estimate made an average error of 161 euros.
Extrapolated over the year, the consumer pays 2,652 or 1,932 euros more for their own car than actually assumed.
Most of the test subjects underestimated the loss in value to be calculated, followed by vehicle tax, insurance and workshop costs, while the costs for the respective fuel were mostly correctly estimated.
“We predict that an awareness of the real costs of owning a car could lead to a reduction of almost 17.6 million cars (37 percent) on German roads,” the authors write.
Henry Ely / Editor finanzen.net
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