DETROIT (UPI) Americans drove a record 1.65 trillion miles lastyear, boosting over-all vehicle ownership and operating costs by 10.4percent to a record high of $779.1 billion, a study showed yesterday.
The study, made annually by Hertz Corp., said that for the firsttime, over-all ownership and operating costs for trucks topped thoseof cars, partly because of the surging popularity of light trucks andminivans.
Passenger car costs alone climbed 7.2 percent to $379.3 billionas the number of cars on the road rose 2.2 percent to 128.6 million,double last year's rise.
The study showed that per-auto costs in 1985 amounted to $2,950,up $136 from 1984. Lower fuel prices and interest rates reducedmotorists' annual costs by $29, but higher repair, maintenance andinsurance costs and miscellaneous fees added $165, resulting in thenet increase.
Total truck outlays amounted to $399.8 billion, up 13.7 percentfrom the year before. Truck outlays last year rose 4.6 percent to$9,519 per unit or 78.9 cents per mile, up from $9,104 or 78.8 centsin 1984, the study showed.
There were 8.8 percent more trucks on the road last year than in1984 as sales of new commercial vehicles reached a record 4.67million units. In all, the nation's truck population was 42 millionlast year.
The latest auto figures, which cover cars of all ages and sizes,translate into a per-mile cost of almost 33.2 cents. Last February,a Hertz study said ownership and operating costs for a typicalcompact car bought new and driven 10,000 miles per year for fiveyears cost 47.6 cents a mile to run, up from 45.7 cents a mile in1984.
The study said that since 1972 the average car ownership andoperating costs have risen 125 percent. This compares with a 157percent rise in inflation and a 191 percent jump in personal income.Average new car prices rose 199 percent in that same period.
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