What will it cost to own a car in Alaska every year?
Why it costs that much
Final Word
What will it cost to own a car in Alaska every year?
Owning a car in Alaska comes at a cost just like it does anywhere else in the country or the world for that matter. Specifically, owning a car in Alaska will primarily incur the cost of registration, insurance, gas and maintenance.
According to data assembled in 2019, the average five-year cost of owning a car in Alaska is $22,766.
This includes average insurance cost which came out to $1,183 each year. Now, that is a very rough estimate which can change based on demographics about you including age, gender, average commute distance, auto insurance carrier and more.
The average cost of owning a car in Alaska also includes the average cost of gas which ran $2,461 in Alaska over the course of a year. That comes out to per $47 week. That seems like a lot because, on average, Alaska’s gas cost almost a dollar more than most other states in the US. So, that means that Alaska’s gas prices are typically over three dollars per gallon whereas the rest of the country is usually been well under three dollars recently.
Average repair cost also is factored into the total average cost of owning a car in Alaska. In Alaska, the average repair cost ended up running about $362. This is obviously another subjective figure because your costs could end up being much lower or higher depending on how well you take care of your car. However, Alaska also averaged an additional $360 of added repairs because of the road conditions.
Why it costs that much
Alaska still turned out to be one of the cheaper states on the list primarily because it had one of the lowest auto insurance costs in the entire country. This helped negate the high average costs of both gas and repairs.
Gas and repairs were higher in Alaska than in other places in the United States because the cost of transporting gas costs more to Alaska thus the prices are higher. Repairs cost more in Alaska than in most places mostly because the poorer than normal condition of the roads. Unfortunately, because of the amount of snow during the year in most places in Alaska, the roads tend to have more cracks and potholes as a result.
Final Word
Overall, it is not that expensive to own a car in Alaska. Certain things like gas might cost more than it does in many places, but the total cost is lower than the majority of US states. We highly recommend that you have a car in Alaska because it is difficult to get around otherwise. If you need your car shipped to Alaska, you can always call the car shipping experts at Alaska Car Transport at (907) 331-3100.
