That is an increase of 1.9 cents over last year.
AAA blames the cost of gasoline as the reason for the jump. It added that the cost of some driving expenses actually went down in 2007. AAA estimates that it will cost $8,121 to own and operate a new passenger car that is driven 15,000 miles a year.
The costs of maintenance, full coverage insurance, and depreciation of the car itself are down slightly for 2008. The cost of fuel, tires, financing, license, registration and taxes have increased.
The report also identifies the five top vehicles with the least average costs of owning and operating in three size categories -- small, medium and large sedans. The survey shows that the smaller sedans are more cost efficient. The evidence shows that the annual cost of owning and operating a small sedan is $6,320. Those same costs for a large sedan are $9,769 per year.
Top cars in the small sedan class were the Chevrolet Cobalt, Ford Focus, Honda Civic, Nissan Sentra and Toyota Corolla; best vehicles in the medium class were the Chevrolet Impala, Ford Fusion, Honda Accord, Nissan Altima and Toyota Camry; the best large sedans were Buick Lucerne, Chrysler 300, Ford Five Hundred (now called the Taurus), Nissan Maxima, and Toyota Avalon.