How Much are We Saving with the Prius?
March 21, 2009 by Miranda Marquit
Filed under Finance
Early last month, we bought a Prius. It is a second car we are using as a commuter car for my husband. Technically, of course, we aren’t saving anything, since we bought the car with a loan. But we were planning on buying a car in the next year anyway, and we already factored in insurance costs, etc., so we’re not really spending more than we expected to in the next year or two. But I did have a few people ask me if I’m saving money in gas. After owning the car for the better part of two months, I can say that I am!
Gas savings with the Prius
Prior to owning the Prius, we got gas once a week for right around $18, or $72 per month. A trip to Idaho to see my family cost a fill-up and a half, or $27, on top of the $72. In a month where we included a trip to Idaho (or to Salt Lake) the cost would be around $99 for gas. Last year we paid way more than that some months, though, because of the horrendous gas prices in summer 2008.
Here’s what we’ve found with the Prius, which has a smaller gas tank:
- 1 fill-up costs about $13.
- We only fill the Prius up every three weeks.
- We only have to fill up the other car every two weeks now, since I’m not driving it as much.
- 1 tank of gas gets us to Idaho and back — with some left over.
So, it costs us $13 (Prius) plus $36 (two fill-ups at $18 for the old car) for regular driving, bringing the new monthly gas total to $49. That’s a savings of $23 per month. And the trip to Idaho costs $14 less. So we are saving money — probably about $360 a year, assuming we go to Idaho (or Salt Lake) six times during the year.
It’s not a huge amount, but it is something. And we do enjoy the peace of mind that comes with having a newer, more reliable car. We should save money in car repairs as well, since we’ll be driving the old car less and it will probably get less wear and tear. Additionally, I save time. That’s one less hour a day that I have to spend driving my husband around. And it makes me more pleasant because I get my work done faster and I can spend more time with my son. So, even if the gas savings aren’t that dramatic, there are definite intangibles that come with having the new car.
image credit: Miranda Marquit
Dear Miranda,
Your story on your new car I can’t quite understand. For me in the Netherlands where gas costs €1,20 per liter the savings would more justify buying a new car. For you, living in the United States, the savings are reduced to a minimum. You pay less then $0,50 per liter.
How much did the car cost? It’s evident that you needed a second car, didn’t in financial sense is it much cheaper to pay a car that is one or two years old.
In my country the car costs €25,000 and the government subsidizes the car being environmental and everything. On top off that, we pay an additional tax for using the infrastructure that costs €25 per month. For a car that is not CO2 friendly this tax would cost €50 per month.
Do you also have to pay some taxes concerning the car? We in Europe have to (mandatory) let our cars checked technically if it’s still save. Costs about €75.
I think that in your situation is was cheaper to buy a secondhand car.
Yours sincerely,
Wil from the Netherlands
We did buy secondhand. A 2007. It was bought for a little less than $15,000 — which is cheap for a Prius of that year. No tax breaks for the environmental part, since it was used. The only tax paid was sales tax on the car. When I re-register it next year, I will have to pay a property tax to the state, but it’s not that much. We do pay a $2 fee on registration (once a year) for emissions. On cars less than five years old, there is no safety check. But a safety check is only $17 to $20 — when it comes time to do the check.
My point was that we didn’t buy the car for the gas savings, but people were curious if we were saving money on gas. So I toted it up. We got the car we wanted at a price better than we expected (normally a 2007 Prius costs $18,500 to $21,000 here in the U.S). We actually expected to get a 2004 Prius for that price.
Still driving my 94 Tempo.
I’ll probably keep it for a few years then maybe spoil myself when I turn 40 … which is fast approaching.
I did a comparison between a new Prius and a regular Honda Civic. The dealer markups above sticker price on the Prius made the decision easy. I bought the Civic based purely on running all the costs. It gets about 35 miles per gallon, and is easy on the wallet at fill up time.
I hope one day soon we’ll start seeing reasonably priced natural gas powered hybrid cars so we can stop sending dollars overseas and use one of North America’s most abundant and cleanest resources. If you have a house heated by natural gas, you can purchase a device to do a fill up in your own garage.
Good call! We’re all about driving our cars into the ground. As long as you can keep it running — without putting too much into it — it’s best to do so.
That’s pretty cool. We have natural gas heat. Maybe our next care will be run by natural gas!
This is a pretty even-handed video on the Honda Civic GX, though it doesn’t show the home filling station.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qy5gNJO2pNM