Re:Ask HN: How much do you save in the SF Bay Area with $120...
by seattle_spring on Thursday August 24, 2017 @11:06AM
(#15090692)
Thank you for using IRS mileage rates. It's so intellectually dishonest when someone has a 60 mile commute and says, "Oh it only costs me $3 because my car gets really good mileage!"
Re:Ask HN: How much do you save in the SF Bay Area with $120...
by ac29 on Thursday August 24, 2017 @12:04PM
(#15091234)
Those mileage rates are very, very generous though. As a car owner who tracks the expenses pretty closely, I can tell you, driving 10,000 miles a year does not cost anything like $5350, inclusive of car payments (or depreciation if you've paid it off), gas, maintenance, tolls, parking, registration, inevitable tickets, etc. It might be about right if you drive an $80k car that gets 15MPG, though.
Its a reasonable rate to reimburse employees for driving their own vehicles for work by (I'd estimate its about 95%ile of expenses), but a poor rate to estimate general car ownership costs by.
44mi x $.535/mi[1] + $5 bridge toll = $28.54 per day to commute to work.
That's $~628/mo all-in to commute via car. My additional housing costs in the peninsula would easily be more than that for equivalent housing (2br SFH).
Commute is typically 40m-1:10 to work and 28m-1:10 back, depending on when I leave (and time of year). I normally head to the gym after work which means I skip the heaviest traffic on my way home.
Averaged, commutes are 40m each, which was my door-to-door time when I used to commute to the city via Bart (admittedly, not as pleasant).
[1] Based on IRS mileage rate.