The Great American Love Affair with the automobile burned more passionately than ever in 1986, as Americans with cars and trucks drove more miles and spent more money than ever before, according to a survey.
Americans drove a record 1.78 trillion miles last year, up 8.2 percent from 1985, Hertz Corp. said in its annual estimate of U.S. motor vehicle costs released Sunday. The total expense of driving the vehicles was $834.7 billion –$136 billion more than in 1985.
Lower fuel prices, better fuel efficiency and lower interest rates saved American auto drivers an average of $156 last year. But higher depreciation, licenses, fees, insurance, repairs and maintenance added $207 to the average motorist`s expenses–a net increase of $51, or 1.8 percent, to bring the average annual net ownership and operating bill to $3,002.
Yearly per-auto expenses came to 32.26 cents a mile, as overall auto outlays climbed 4.2 percent, to $395.1 billion. The number of passenger cars on the road increased 2.3 percent, to 131.6 million.
Annual mileage for the average car advanced 4.6 percent, to 9,304.
Truck outlays were up 3.1 percent, to $9,808, or 78.21 cents a mile, Hertz said. The truck figures were boosted by the popularity of minivans, which are classified as commercial vehicles.
It was the fourth straight year that per-unit passenger car mileage has risen since hitting a post-World War II low of 8,037 in 1982, Hertz said.
In the last three years, travel for the average car has climbed nearly 12 percent. But annual mileage, on the average, still remains below the high of 10,362 reached in 1972–the last full year before the 1973 Arab oil boycott.
The number of trucks in service jumped 6.7 percent, to 44.8 million, and truck mileage also rose, by 4 percent, to a record 12,541 per unit. That topped the record of 12,269 in 1972.
