Average cost of owning a car: $235/month

Over the last 7 years, owning a second-hand 1993 VW Passat cost me an average of $235/month, or $2,823 a year. This included every car cost - gas, insurance, sticker price, car washes, etc.

The biggest expenses were:

• The car's purchase price: $6000 minus a $700 trade-in when I sold it
• Car maintenance and tire costs: $3100 in total - an average of $510/year
• Insurance: $670/year
• Gas: $520/year
• State inspections: $30/year
• Other stuff (car washes, state tax, etc): $160/year

My friend Scott tells me this is about the same as taking 10 2-hour trips in a Zipcar per month. Zipcar's web site estimates that the average cost of a (much newer) car in Boston is $769 a month.