The release of Australia’s first Transport Affordability Index by the Australian Automobile Association (AAA) reveals the average Australian family is spending up to $22,000 every year to get around.
It costs around the same as top private school fees, a new car or a nice around-the-world holiday, but it’s rather more mundane: a new survey commissioned by the Australian Automobile Association (AAA) has found that the average Australian family is spending up to $22,000 every year just to get around.
AAA Chief Executive Michael Bradley said the index demonstrates just how much of the household budget is taken up by transport costs.
“The Index initially shows around 13 per cent of an average household budget in most capital cities is spent on transport, which is remarkable when you consider that electricity, water, and telecommunications costs account for only one to three per cent of income combined,” Mr Bradley said.
“Australians know transport is expensive, but they might be surprised to know just how expensive. The average household will spend fourteen thousand dollars a year on transport in Hobart, but up to twenty-two thousand dollars a year if they live in Western Sydney.”
The Transport Affordability Index is based on the incomes and transport costs of a hypothetical household in each capital city. The characteristics of the household reflect the most common or average characteristics of the population: a couple with children, living in a detached house in a middle/outer ring suburb and with two cars.
The Index includes a wide range of costs families face when they own a car. Broadly these fall into two categories: upfront costs and ongoing costs.
| Upfront costs include purchase costs for a new vehicle such as: | |
|---|---|
 |
car loan interest payments |
| registration | |
| stamp duty | |
| compulsory third party (CTP) insurance | |
| driver’s licences | |
| comprehensive car insurance | |
| Ongoing costs are those which increase the more the vehicle is driven, namely: | |
 |
fuel costs |
| tolls | |
| car maintenance | |
Public transport costs for an average commute to work are also captured as these are fixed costs to many families and make up a growing share of weekly expenses.
Weekly costs of car ownership
The AAA report puts the typical weekly costs of car ownership at the following levels on a state-by-state basis.
| City | Weekly Cost | Share of income |
|---|---|---|
| Sydney | $419 | 16.8% |
| Melbourne | $348 | 14.1% |
| Brisbane | $376 | 15.9% |
| Perth | $301 | 10.1% |
| Adelaide | $286 | 13.2% |
| Hobart | $271 | 14.2% |
| Darwin | $286 | 12.0% |
| Canberra | $300 | 10.5% |
| National | $323 | 13.3% |
Source: AAA Transport Affordability Index, 2016. Rounded to nearest dollar
The cost of petrol
When the weekly costs of car ownership are broken down, the two most expensive components of car ownership are the car loan repayments (if there is a loan attached to the car) and petrol. In Sydney, Melbourne and Brisbane, toll road costs can also be expensive.
In terms of petrol, the state-by-state cost was calculated as follows:
| City | Weekly Cost |
|---|---|
| Sydney | $60 |
| Melbourne | $69 |
| Brisbane | $61 |
| Perth | $58 |
| Adelaide | $57 |
| Hobart | $61 |
| Darwin | $58 |
| Canberra | $59 |
| National | $59 |
Source: AAA Transport Affordability Index, 2016. Rounded to nearest dollar
A separate Canstar Blue survey of more than 2,500 motorists found that more than half of those surveyed admit that even small increases in fuel costs hit the family budget hard. And a worrying 27 percent admit that they have days when they can’t afford to put fuel in the car.
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