If you wait a few minutes, the weather might change in Michigan, but each year, Michigan continues to be the most expensive in the nation to own a car.
The 2017 ranking by GoBankingRates dives into the annual costs for car ownership in Michigan, and they’re a whopping $4,796.56 higher over three years than the national average.
In Michigan, they estimate it costs $16,502.77 over three years to take care of the basic taxes and registration, maintain and insure your car.
Last year Michigan also took the top spot.
GOBankingRates analyzed major expenses behind car ownership for the listing and based their data on an average car price of $34,968. The three year operating costs include:
- Car sales tax and title fees (referred to as “one-time purchase costs” in this study)
- Registration fees, car insurance, gas and car maintenance costs (referred to as “annual ownership and usage costs”)
The story here is the cost of car insurance. Michigan drivers pay $228 a month on average, the highest premiums of any state. Those costs were so high that they offset that Michigan is also the cheapest state for car repair.
Yearly, according to GoBankingRates, Michiganders pay $1,413 more than the average annually for car insurance. We’ve dug into the reasons for the high cost of insurance in Detroit (and this same factors are at play in the entire state of Michigan) before.
Other expensive states include California at number 2; New Jersey, 3; Washington, 4; and Florida, 5.
The least expensive state in America for car insurance? North Carolina comes in at 49 and New Hampshire with their lack of a sales tax on cars is at the bottom of the cost spectrum, a full $1,000 cheaper than the second place finisher.
In the Granite State it’ll only cost you $9,020.76 over three years, according to the GoBankingRate estimate – or $7,482.01 cheaper over three years than in Michigan.