Most people don't realize that their car costs them something every time they drive. It's more than just the gas you burn.

There's the capital cost, depreciation. insurance, parking, maintenance, tires, parking tickets, tolls, license fees and on an on.

In fact it costs about $7,900 a year to run a small car (CAA, 2009). For a larger vehicle such as a Grand Caravan, it amounts to about $10,500. If, like the average driver, you drive about 12,000 km per year that means your cost per km ranges from $ 0.66 to $ 0.88. Wow!

Another way of looking at it is that on average, people spend 17-20% of their income just to pay for ONE automobile. Over 40% of households have two or more cars.

Join the BEST Car Diet and think of the savings.

With the BEST Car Diet you'll receive a tax receipt for the fair market value of your vehicle less fair market value for any incentives, plus save eight grand a year!

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Vehicle cost estimates were taken from the CAA's Driving Costs Pamphlet (Jan 2009) with the average gas price updated from their figure of 81.2 cents per liter to reflect the 2009 actual average of 98.4 cents per liter.