"While the cost of some driving expenses declined since the start of 2007,higher gasoline prices have more than offset these savings and pushed theoverall cost of vehicle ownership and operation higher this year," said theAuto Club's Automotive Research Center Manager Steve Mazor. In 2008, AAAestimates it will cost $8,121 to own and operate a new passenger car driven15,000 miles per year. This compares to $7,823 per year in 2007; or 52.2cents per mile.

Costs for maintenance, full-coverage insurance; and depreciation are allslightly lower this year. While costs for fuel, tires, financing, license,registration and taxes showed increases.

AAA's study calculates the average costs of owning and operating fivetop-selling models in three popular size classes: small, medium and largesedans. The results clearly show that consumers have an opportunity to savesubstantial sums of money by switching from larger models to smallervehicles.

For example, AAA's research shows the annual average cost of driving asmall sedan is $6,320 per year, while a large sedan costs $9,769 per year.Similar savings can be realized by driving a minivan, instead of a largerand less-fuel efficient sport utility vehicle (SUV). AAA estimates theannual expense of owning and operating a typical minivan at $8,644 per yearversus $10,448 for a four-wheel-drive mid-size SUV.

Southern California driving costs are higher than the national average innearly all driving cost categories because of higher insurance, maintenanceand gasoline costs, according to Mazor."Consumers are looking at a more than $28,000 average price tag to buy anew car," he said. "New vehicles usually come with higher insurance premiumcosts, vehicle registrations and greater depreciation which add to theoverall cost of operating a car."

AAA's study calculates the average costs of all expenses associated withowning and operating a vehicle over five years and 75,000 miles of driving.Driving costs in each category are based on the average expenses for fivetop-selling models selected by AAA. By size category they are:

--  Small sedan - Chevrolet Cobalt, Ford Focus, Honda Civic, Nissan Sentra    and Toyota Corolla.--  Medium Sedan - Chevrolet Impala, Ford Fusion, Honda Accord, Nissan    Altima and Toyota Camry.--  Large Sedan - Buick Lucerne, Chrysler 300, Ford Taurus, Nissan Maxima    and Toyota Avalon.    

Though not part of the AAA composite average, SUV and minivan informationhas been included to help buyers estimate operating costs for these typesof vehicles. SUV models include the Chevrolet Trailblazer, Ford Explorer,Jeep Grand Cherokee, Nissan Pathfinder and Toyota 4Runner. Minivan modelsare the Chevrolet Uplander, Dodge Grand Caravan, Kia Sedona, Honda Odysseyand Toyota Sienna.

The calculated driving costs in the brochure include: finance charges andlicense fees incurred with car payments, depreciation, insurance, gasoline,maintenance and tires. Paid off used cars, by comparison, have much lowerdepreciation and insurance costs -- reducing their driving costs by aboutone-third.

The brochure also contains a worksheet that can help a vehicle owner tocalculate their own vehicle ownership and operating costs. This knowledgecan help motorists make informed choices about their vehicle selection anduse, according to Mazor.