If, like most Americans, you drive a mid-sized car 15,000 miles per year, you may have noticed it ain’t cheap. In fact, according to AAA the average car owner spends $7,830 per year on their vehicle. Drive more than 15k per year or cruise in an SUV or mini-van? That’ll cost you another $1000 or more. If you think this figure is high, I’d love to see some readers’ estimates of their own vehicle ownership costs in the comments, but don’t forget to include the cost of the vehicle itself, fuel, repairs and maintenance, financing charges and interest, and of course insurance. You may find you’re paying close to the American average of $0.522 per mile you drive - and as fine print in the table below states, that’s just the average for sedans.

Now, I realize many people need their cars, I’m a car owner myself, but I think it’s important to draw attention to the huge financial and environmental costs of car ownership. Think about what you could spend nearly $8000 on each year if you didn’t drive. Naturally some portion of this money would have to go toward transportation, but a new bike, paying for gas in a carpool, a bus pass, car sharing service, car rentals or a new pair of sneakers surely won’t cost you $8000. Would you prefer to be chauffeured around town? Ditch your car and you’ll be able to afford 400 cab rides at $20 a pop.

If you earn the average US income of $35,000 you could afford to work a day less per week and still have some change leftover.

But how can you live this car-free lifestyle? There are a lot of factors involved including where you live, whether or not you have kids and your daily routine. You could start by doing a test-run by going car-free one day per week or just on the weekends. A book that helped me get into the car-free mindset is Divorce Your Car! : Ending the Love Affair with the Automobile. The book tells the story of people who have gone car-free or car-lite successfully and the joy they’ve found in their lifestyle change. The book also tells the history of the car and how incidious corporate forces have shaped the car-dependent nation we now live in. I highly recommend this book for anyone considering getting rid of their car or reducing their car use.

As I mentioned earlier I’d love to know people’s personal experiences with living car-free or with their current car ownership. Are you getting your $8000 worth?