Study: Georgia near top of priciest states (ouch) for car ownership

First, the bad news for Atlanta drivers. 

Okay, sorry, it’s pretty much all bad news. 

ConsumerAffairs, a consumer news and advocacy organization founded in 1998, has determined that owning a car in Georgia is more expensive than almost any other state in the country, costing the typical Peach State driver $4,160 annually just to keep their wheels on the road. 

The new analysis covering all 50 states pegged Georgia as the No. 7 most expensive one for car ownership, after calculating costs associated with car insurance, gas, and car repairs. (Georgia also ranked at seventh place on the list in 2025). 

Georgia landed in the top 10 for two different reasons: insurance and repairs (damn you, potholes!), according to ConsumerAffairs’ findings.  

Despite recent hikes, gas prices don’t appear to be the sticking point in Georgia, with the state’s average price per gallon at $3.86, or below the national average of $4.09, per the study. 

But the average vehicle in Georgia logs more than 13,000 miles per year—the eighth highest of any state, and above the national average of just over 11,000 miles. That extra mileage nudges up annual gas expenses to $1,861, the 12th-highest average in the U.S., according to ConsumerAffairs. 

Even worse, per the analysis, Georgia’s average annual insurance premium is the fourth highest in the land, at more than $1,746 annually. 

Repair costs of $553 per year in the Peach State, meanwhile, are also a tick above the national average of $533. 

The study found that Delaware—where drivers log a whopping 22,226 miles per year, per vehicle, on average—is the most expensive U.S. state for car ownership right now. 

On the flipside, No. 50 Montana is the cheapest, where average car costs total about $2,600 annually. (Montana drivers, perhaps surprisingly, log the lowest average mile count per year, at just over 5,600.) 

Big picture, as with most things right now, ConsumerAffairs found that car ownership in America has never been more expensive—ballooning by 21 percent over the past year alone to $3,636 annually, on average. Alongside gas prices, the cost to power electric vehicles is also climbing. 

On the bright side, to a degree, a separate ConsumerAffairs analysis of the top 50 U.S. metros earlier this year found that Atlanta doesn’t crack the top 5 for average commute times, daily hours of congestion, and fatal car crash rates.

Instead, analysts found, we’re No. 8. 

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