Lifetime Cost Of Small Car $689,000; Society Subsidizes This Ownership With $275,000

I found it hard to find where the cost comes from in this article.
I found this other article (in German) that gives more detail.

https://www.forschung-und-wissen.de/nachrichten/oekonomie/jedes-auto-kostet-die-allgemeinheit-5.000-euro-pro-jahr-13375828

They identified 23 factors, among them
* buying the car
* maintenance
* gas
* insurance
* public infrastructure
* pollution
* acceleration of climate change
* noise pollution
* drivers license
* public space
* impediments for non motorists

Good to know, that I should be rich, since I don’t own a car. 👍

They used the Opel Corsa which is a proper small car. I came here expecting they used a larger and more expensive car to inflate the cost. I wish I didn’t need a car but I do, I’m still not spending more than the equivalent of $15,000 on a new car.

It’s such bullshit. I’d rather just rent a car for an occasional weekend.

I really like that he included social costs but he used Present Value calculations to get that high private cost number- which is lowkey bullshit. Because it assumes you will use every Euro saved to invest money in the stock market and make consistent good returns on your money.

So it's not that the private cost is that high it's that if you saved money and the stock market is consistently good you'd have more money at the end of 50 years. The reason that's bullshit is that same present value calculation makes solar or almost any purchase look bad.

He should have focused on the social costs. That's real.