Here is the Month to Date tally for work in the Geo Prizm:
Total Cost of Fuel: $134.71
Total Volume of Fuel: 72.11 gallons
Distance Driven: 2446 miles as of yesterday's fillup
Cost of fuel/mile $0.06
Avg cost of fuel/gallon $1.87
Avg Fuel Economy 33.92 MPG
Car allowance and expense reimbursements this month for mileage to date ~$700
Real cost to operate car/mile $0.16 as of yesterday's fillup.
Cost of fuel is only 37.5% of the total cost of operating this vehicle.
For a frame of reference, this is a $2500 car, that I've paid a grand total of $4800.94 in a hair over 13 months (ok, 57 weeks.) This is ALL costs, purchase, insurance, maintenance, repair, tax, tags, etc.
Big deal about gas prices. If gas is only 37.5% of a 2500 car that I drive over 26K miles/year, then those who are operating more expensive machines fewer miles are paying even less as the percentage of operating costs to drive.
So stop whining, if you want to save real money, buy a beater, stop making payments, and carry only liability insurance.
I'll bet a bunch of you will pay more in interest on your car loans than you pay in gas costs.
TB
Grumpy man with a spreadsheet, LOL
ps, I'm not a control freak, I can deduct my work related miles, so I track this sort of thing.
