Typical Murrican Family Spent Over $4000 on fuel in 2011

[Frank Lee]

How about you?

Squeeze at the gas pump: Typical family spent more than $4,000 in ‘11, adding to budget stress - The Washington Post

Haven't figured mine yet but it's closer to $400 than $4000.

the typical American household will have spent $4,155 filling up this year, a record. That is 8.4 percent of what the median family takes in, the highest share since 1981.

[...] Gas averaged more than $3.50 a gallon this year, another unfortunate record. And next year isn’t likely to bring relief.

[...] a buck spent on gas has less bang in the economy than, say, a dollar spent at a restaurant. The U.S. is an oil-importing country, so many of the dollars spent on gas ultimately leave the country instead of being invested here in new ventures and jobs.

James Hamilton, an economics professor at the University of California, San Diego, who studies energy prices, estimates that high gasoline prices reduced economic growth by about 0.5 percent for the year — a substantial hit for an economy only growing at an annual rate of about 2 percent.

[...] Hunter Collins ... commutes 40 miles each way to his job in Falmouth. He has started to carpool with a colleague and to take his wife’s more fuel-efficient car to work when it is his turn to drive.

It’s still not enough. He says he’s going to sell his beloved 8-cylinder Dodge Charger. “She’s my baby, but I’m going to have to switch to something more economical,” he says.

[Woodeden]

$3,149 this year for me going 32,439km.

[Old Tele man]

$1,529 in 2011 for 13,081 miles in two cars (so far).

[jakobnev]

You only use vehicles as lawn ornaments tho.

Edit: @Frank

[morphector]

We're right in the ballpark of 4000$ for both of us. We're also driving compact car, imagine driving suv !

[Frank Lee]

Originally Posted by jakobnev

You only use vehicles as lawn ornaments tho.

Edit: @Frank

LOL!

They sure are purdy tho'.

I actually did put a Tempo in the yard and string xmas lights on it... for a day. Shoulda took a pic of it before I undecorated and reparked it.

Started up the snowcat- just in case we get any snow this year. So add $7.50 to my tally for that.

[darcane]

I figure I'm at about $3900 for the year for over 25,000 miles (in all our vehicles).

That's pretty bad except that most of my commuting is in a full size truck...

Fortunately, my new motorcycle should cut that down quite a bit next year.

[JasonG]

Originally Posted by morphector

We're right in the ballpark of 4000$ for both of us. We're also driving compact car, imagine driving suv !

Same but at 40K+ miles, it could be worse. NOT counting the work van

Let's see, 40K on the brick/15MPG*$3.50=Aaaah, with oil changes call it $10K. Some years it does 50K, so around $12K. That's why getting one used to be considered a $2 raise. Now its closer to $3.

[Ryland]

My fuel cost and vehicle ownership costs come out to around $4,000 for the last three years and that includes buying the car.

[Old Mechanic]

Fuel cost is currently about $2400 per year. Wife averages 7-8 gallons a week and mine is about the same unless I ride the bike which cuts mine from 1.3 to .5 gallons a day as an average. Say 600 a year minimum up to maybe 800 depending on the trips we take.

About 3% of our gross income.

regards
Mech