- New data shows Australia is the seventh most expensive country for car ownership
- Australia had increases to average annual spending in 10 out of 11 categories
- The average annual cost to own a car is almost $8,000
New data from Compare the Market ranks 26 different countries for car ownership expenses. The rankings are based on nine different average annual expense factors, fuel costs at the time of writing and licensing fees.
Australia is the seventh most expensive country, with a score of 6.67/10. When comparing annual spending categories between 2023 and 2024, almost all had increased, reflecting the growing cost of living pressure on Australian motorists.
The biggest year-on-year increase in annual average spending for Australia was refuelling, which had an AU$211 increase to $2,685 a year. The nation was in the top ten highest average spending countries for a number of categories including insurance ($1,182), inspections ($233), maintenance and repairs ($1,001) and fuel ($2,684).
In 2023, Australia was ranked the 11th most expensive country for car ownership. In one year ‘the Lucky Country’ rose four places in the list of 26 countries.
The top three most expensive countries in 2024 are Norway, Germany and the USA. Norway replaced Denmark as the most expensive, while the USA replaced Finland in third. Germany maintained second place. Meanwhile, the cheapest three countries to own a car are Argentina, Russia and Colombia.
The table below shows the figures for the top 10 most expensive countries in the 2024 rankings.
|
COUNTRY |
Total Annual Cost |
Fuel $ per litre |
Licensing costs |
INDEX SCORE |
|
$14,237 |
$5.120 |
$461 |
9.20 |
|
|
$13,808 |
$4.551 |
$93 |
9.07 |
|
|
$13,316 |
$2.319 |
$110 |
8.00 |
|
|
$17,620 |
$5.235 |
$63 |
7.87 |
|
|
$12,935 |
$4.308 |
$101 |
7.73 |
|
|
$14,304 |
$3.096 |
$158 |
7.47 |
|
|
$12,219 |
$2.691 |
$208 |
6.67 |
|
|
$15,172 |
$4.401 |
$138 |
6.00 |
|
|
$13,612 |
$4.576 |
$70 |
6.53 |
|
|
$11,614 |
$5.071 |
$129 |
6.40 |
The data also revealed a significant decline in the average amount spent on car maintenance and repairs from 2023 to 2024. Twenty-two countries saw a decrease while only four saw an increase in average annual maintenance costs. Germany had the fifth biggest decrease, with average car maintenance spending dropping $2,132 in one year.
Rising costs in multiple aspects of maintenance and servicing has seen owners likely skip repairs altogether or spend less due to unaffordability. This has seen the average spend drop in most countries.