The use of automobiles as a mode of regular transportation is an expensive proposition, but one that most people are willing to accept and pay for. It is estimated that having an automobile costs the average American family $4500 to $6500 each year. ^[74] (It was about $3000 in 1977.) Opponents of automobile use argue that the total costs to the society are much higher than those experienced by motorists themselves; even proponents will concede that there are (some) noncompensated for public costs.

The costs to the car owners consist of a variable component (i.e., dependent on the amount of miles driven) that includes gasoline and oil, maintenance, and tires, and a fixed component that includes insurance, license and registration, depreciation, and finance charges. The remarkable thing is that, as shown in Table 5.6, while most costs have steadily moved upward, the price of fuel in the United States has dropped during some periods in current and even in inflated dollars. In 1975, the cost of fuel and oil constituted more than one-third of the total variable costs in operating an average automobile; in the late 1990s, it was barely 13 to 14 percent. The pending petroleum crisis apparently has not made any difference so far. Any appreciable increase in the price of fuel has been regarded as a national calamity, calling for immediate corrective measures. If gasoline costs constitute about 15 percent of the per-mile expense of operating a car, and the federal fuel tax is...