# How much do you spend on gasoline per month?



## Sampson (Apr 3, 2009)

Reading another thread I was surprised how much someone spent on gas a month ($500). I've never come close to that so I'm curious how much others burn.

Oh, if you know how much you drive, please post that in the comments.

I usually use just under 2 tanks per month ~100L which gets me about 1100km. 90% city driving.


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## canabiz (Apr 4, 2009)

I average about $260 a month at the current price. A little bit of background as I think it is important to understand each poster's requirements and rationale why they spend money on gas before we pass any judgment and/or offer any sort of advice/input.

We only have 1 car, it is a Nissan X-Trail, one of those compact SUV. The fuel tank capacity is 60L and it has 4 cylinders.

I use it for work daily (about 15km each way). I also visit my mom at least twice weekly (about 30km each way). 

I have entertained the thought of trading it in for a smaller car with a better fuel efficiency but have held off for now for a couple of reasons

1. We are moving to another place next year and the SUV will come in handy for that (not saying we can use this to move everything but it can only help having the extra room). The wife wants me to hang on to this for now.

2. My mom has a pretty serious case of arthritis. We had a Toyota Camry before getting the X-Trail and my mom much prefers the SUV. Again not saying she should influence our lifestyle but happy wife + happy mom = happy life ;-)

I typically go to Petro-Canada stations to get my Petro Points and also to get 5 cents off 1 litre with the discount card. The local Costco will open a gas bar soon so I will make sure to check that out.


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## m3s (Apr 3, 2010)

I used to get 7 to 8 L/100km in my old Honda and 4 to 5 L/100km on my crotch rocket. I rode the bike whenever possible and used a trailer as a "truck". Spent about $100-$200/month depending what I did besides a short commute.

Now I bicycle everywhere local unless it rains or I need the trunk. My new car guzzles like a thirsty alcoholic downtown but it does better at a 180kmh cruise. I spent €500+ on "super plus" and probably more this month. Need to get a motorbike for travel. Gas is like twice the cost in Europe, so Canadians shouldn't fret.


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## Addy (Mar 12, 2010)

My husband and I are similar to modesour, we take our bicycles as often as possible. People think we're a bit crazy to take the chariot and bike to Costco etc, but damn, at todays gas prices we can't afford to be driving everywhere!!

Our van is ~16 yrs old now and although its hard on fuel, we only fill it maybe once a month, more in the winter, less in the summer, so it's still viable for us to hang onto it. It has a 100L tank, so thats about $120 or more per fill at todays prices. Hubby has a motorcycle which has been off the road since baby came, but I have a feeling that will change when we move to Ontario later this summer.


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## crazyjackcsa (Aug 8, 2010)

My wife uses her car for work (as opposed to using it to get to and from work)

She goes through about 275 litres a month.

I drive to and from work (in a truck)
I use about 320 litres a month.

So total that's about 600L a month, @ say 1.25, that's about $740 a month!


Anybody use more than that?


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## marina628 (Dec 14, 2010)

we have three vehicles and a boat so well over $500 a month.


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## KaeJS (Sep 28, 2010)

About $350/month.

Car is turbocharged, so it uses up quite a bit of gas and can only take Ultra 94 (courtesy of Suncor )


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## nathan79 (Feb 21, 2011)

About $125 at $1.20 a litre.


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## Pigzfly (Dec 2, 2010)

We have a truck with 8/4 cylinder shut off. Transportation to/from work is provided. I think we fill the truck and the car once per month each, so 120L + 60L. Occasionally fill up in the states. Lately, we've been driving the truck more for recreation, which is really adding up, probably an additional tank per month.


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## Plugging Along (Jan 3, 2011)

We have three vehicles
2 tanks at about 100 liters - used for commuting and used for work for spouse
3 tanks at about 240 liters - used for communiting an used for work for me
3 tanks at about 210 liters - used for the nanny to drive the kids while we're at work and for her use too. 

So about 550 liters at 1.20, would be $660. We do write alot off each month.


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## travelgeek (Nov 29, 2009)

fill up about 1 $60 tank every 3 weeks at these prices.


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## brad (May 22, 2009)

I spent $757 last year on fuel, which works out to $63/month. I work at home so there's no commute; my girlfriend takes public transport to get to her job, and we both use public transport, bike, or our feet for most trips in town. We generally use the car only when we want to get out of town or if we have something large/heavy to haul. Last October I filled the tank and didn't need to buy gas again until after Christmas!


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## kcowan (Jul 1, 2010)

We fill up every 4 or 5 weeks. The car has 130,000km after 18 years. We use transit, walk and bike most of the time. Most of the mileage on the SUV came from commuting to MILs house once or twice a week in her last years.

We can get downtown on one bus in 10 minutes at a cost of $2.50 senior or $3.75 regular. We love the urban lifestyle after spending many years commuting from the suburbs. But it was not possible until the nest was empty.


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## Jungle (Feb 17, 2010)

Averaging about $82.00 per month right now. This year we had to make over a dozen trips to the rental property which has consumed a lot of gas. 

But we also buy a metro pas on a discount too and use that to commute to work. I just started riding my bicycle to work and my wife uses the pass now. 

I track everything on a spreadsheet, so I can pretty much tell you exactly what we spend on anything.


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## MoneyGal (Apr 24, 2009)

This is an interesting thread - it really makes me see why people care about small per-litre increases in the cost of gas!

We use our car very infrequently. I am irritated about rising insurance costs, and yesterday my husband and I started to muse seriously about ditching our car completely. I'm going to start researching the costs for alternatives (some combination of taxis, rentals and ZipCar or AutoShare). I already know our costs and kms travelled, so I should be able to get a fairly precise idea of the cost savings.


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## Dana (Nov 17, 2009)

We spend about $100 per month. We only drive about 10,000km per year. Hubby takes transit to work and I use the car mostly for errands and chauferring kids - all very local. We have a van that we use exclusively for the investment properties and they are within 30 minutes of our home.


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## brad (May 22, 2009)

MoneyGal said:


> I already know our costs and kms travelled, so I should be able to get a fairly precise idea of the cost savings.


The cost savings are considerable -- especially when you factor in that you'll never have to buy parts, snow tires, or pay for repairs again. Literally the only thing that has kept me from ditching my own car (and using the money I make from the sale to fund quite a few years of car-share service) is the thing you can't put a dollar value on: convenience. 

Having a car available when you need it on a whim, without having to reserve it first, is a hard thing to give up. What I may do is a trial run of using the car-share for two months before selling the car, just to get used to it. We have several friends who've used car-sharing for years, and the main complaint they have is the requirement to get your car back by the time you specified when you reserved it. If you're out at a party and enjoying yourself (and want to stay longer than originally planned) or get stuck in traffic, etc., it adds a measure of stress to the equation. The other complaint is that cars are often unavailable in your area during busy periods (holidays, etc.) and you have to travel to another location, sometimes inconveniently far away, to get one.


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## MoneyGal (Apr 24, 2009)

Good points. I have the limiting factor of children - I am *never* out late and finding myself staying later than expected. The babysitter awaits!


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## Plugging Along (Jan 3, 2011)

I have to ask are there people here with kids without a car? How do you guys do it? We had problems with only 2 cars, never mind none. 

We need our cars for work, and I find, we had the 3 car for our nanny to get the kids to and from school. There was no school bus option (for now), and the public tranportation we tried take close to 1.5 hours each way, the drive is 8 mins. Then we find we need the car in the evenings to take them to places and activities. The one child is 5 (she's the one we drive the most), but the little one will be doing the same next year. 

Does it get easier when they get older?


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## Sampson (Apr 3, 2009)

I'm very surprised by the results. I would have thought the majority of people would have fit into the $200-$400 range, but when you poll a bunch of frugal people.... I also bet that because so many CMF'ers are from the GTA, Montreal and Vancouver where public transportation is somewhat effective, this is skewing the polls also.

I don't agree with you MoneyGal that these results show why people are sensitive to gasoline price increases. If anything, people here seem to spend $1000-$2000 / yr on gasoline, so even a 20% increase only comes to $20-$40/month.

I bet gasoline prices would have to increase 2-3X before people really stopped driving. Increase of 30-100% may change habits though.


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## crazyjackcsa (Aug 8, 2010)

Plugging Along said:


> I have to ask are there people here with kids without a car? How do you guys do it? We had problems with only 2 cars, never mind none.
> 
> We need our cars for work, and I find, we had the 3 car for our nanny to get the kids to and from school. There was no school bus option (for now), and the public tranportation we tried take close to 1.5 hours each way, the drive is 8 mins. Then we find we need the car in the evenings to take them to places and activities. The one child is 5 (she's the one we drive the most), but the little one will be doing the same next year.
> 
> Does it get easier when they get older?


If I lived in an urban area, we could get by with 1 car and kids. But we don't, we're rural, so that means two cars. The other two (for 4 cars) are just for fun and don't see that many miles


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## brad (May 22, 2009)

Plugging Along said:


> I have to ask are there people here with kids without a car?


I have a couple of friends here in Montreal with kids and no car; it seems to work just fine for them but they are well-located in the city (easy access to bus and subway, shops within walking distance, etc.). 

I also have friends who live out in the burbs with two kids (both under 10 years of age) and just one car; they have a little Honda Fit, and all fit comfortably in that even for vacations (with four bicycles on top!).


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## Echo (Apr 1, 2011)

Last year we spent around $80/month on gas and this year it looks like that will be closer to $100/month.

I should include the gas gift cards that I get from redeeming air miles every month (another $20).

We don't drive very much, our main vehicle will be 4 years old in July and it has 58,000 KM on it. We also have a 13 year-old beater that I take to work if my wife and daughter need to go out during the day.


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## HaroldCrump (Jun 10, 2009)

Sampson said:


> I don't agree with you MoneyGal that these results show why people are sensitive to gasoline price increases. If anything, people here seem to spend $1000-$2000 / yr on gasoline, so even a 20% increase only comes to $20-$40/month.
> 
> I bet gasoline prices would have to increase 2-3X before people really stopped driving. Increase of 30-100% may change habits though.


Such an increase would be absolutely nuts - not to say it can't happen.
But any direct govt. action that could cause such an increase (such as the recent tax grabbing through HST on gasoline) would be intolerable.

Without a substantial expansion of the public transit system that can meet the growing daily travel needs of the people, an increase in gas prices will put due pressure on household budgets (already under stress).
But then the question is who will pay for such an expansion of transit.

Or there should be a radical change in the work culture that will require substantially less commute (less by 50% or more).

People don't drive because they love gas guzzling cars.
People are forced to drive because of uncontrolled urbanization and lack of flexibility in the traditional office/work culture.


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## Karen (Jul 24, 2010)

Interesting to note that the largest group so far in the polls are those who spend less than $100/month. That surprises me.

I only fill up once a month, and I'm not always near empty even then. At BC's high gas prices ($1.34 last time I noticed), I've spent an average of $57 over the past three months on gas. I drive a 2010 Kia Forte coupe, which I like very well, but I have no idea how it compares in mileage with other similar-sized cars. For the amount of driving I do, it probably doesn't make much difference. I bought the car brand new in June of 2009 and it still has less than 9,000 km on it, so obviously I don't do much driving.


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## DanFo (Apr 9, 2011)

I spend 2-300 a month on gas....30km's to work each way and out in the sticks there is no option. As well my family and close friends are all 200kms away and i try to get down once a month to visit...I do carpool with another person into work though which helps a bit. I'd rather pay the extra in gas and live out in the country then to live in a city though.


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## andrewf (Mar 1, 2010)

My commuting for work consumes about 40 L per month, maybe less. I use way more on the weekends and evenings (I live in the burbs, unfortunately).


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## Jungle (Feb 17, 2010)

The best milage I got was from a honda civic hatch, I would max 700 Km per tank (34L tank?) doing 90-100Km on the highway and having the tires pumped at 38+psi. 

Now we have a new suv with a so called "fuel efficient" four cylinder engine, but I find it still hogs the gas if you're not on the highway. A 4000 lBS vehicle with 17" tires will do this, but the great thing is we are less likey to get hurt in an accident, because it's a larger vehicle. 

My bike ride to work is 26 Km return included and surprisingly it takes about the same amount of time as taking transit. I started riding the bike to the grocery store as we need to save more on gas. We are spending too much going to the rental. But having been through 3 tenants this year will do that.


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## Zara Mari (May 19, 2011)

The good thing is that my officemate who lives near me bought a new car. Carpool has never been easier and it is so good in terms of saving up on gas money. but, before that, I would spend about $3 a day for gas (fairly short trip) so that would ad up to $60 a month (only for working days) but if including the weekends and the long drive, it would be more than a hundred. I don't think that gas prices will ever go down, thinking about switching to electric or hybrid car soon. Heard it has good mileage.


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## MoneyGal (Apr 24, 2009)

Sampson said:


> I don't agree with you MoneyGal that these results show why people are sensitive to gasoline price increases.


Whoops! Posting from my phone - I didn't see the poll results, but was only reading the responses - some from people spending in excess of $500/month on gas. Now that I can see the poll responses, I note that lots of respondents are spending well under $100/month. 

As for kids and no car, I have friends and family members who do this. My brother in Vancouver with two kids has no car. I don't know whether we will seriously move to no-car but we've at least started to talk about it more.


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## kcowan (Jul 1, 2010)

Plugging Along said:


> ...The one child is 5 (she's the one we drive the most), but the little one will be doing the same next year.
> 
> Does it get easier when they get older?


If they join things, it will get more difficult. Our worst time was when they were 10-14. After 16 they start getting licenses and can drive themselves/each other.


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## steve41 (Apr 18, 2009)

Filled up in Buckley Bay yesterday for $.939 / litre!


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