According to AAA, the average cost of car ownership in the US is about $8000/year. My own cost of car ownership is closer to $2400/year, but even that seems excessive to me, given the fact that I haven't actually put gas in my car since August. Regardless, it's pretty obvious that owning a car, no matter how little you use it, is a heck of a lot more expensive than not owning one. Even at my relatively modest level of car expenditure, that's two round-trip plane tickets to Europe every year...