The car is one of the most expensive household consumer goods, yet there is a limited understanding of its private (internal) and social (external) cost per vehicle-km, year, or lifetime of driving. This paper provides an overview of 23 private and ten social cost items, and assesses these for three popular car models in Germany for the year 2020. Results confirm that motorists underestimate the full private costs of car ownership, while policy makers and planners underestimate social costs. For the typical German travel distance of 15,000 car kilometers per year, the total lifetime cost of car ownership (50 years) ranges between €599,082 for an Opel Corsa to €956,798 for a Mercedes GLC. The share of this cost born by society is 41% (€4674 per year) for the Opel Corsa, and 29% (€5273 per year) for the Mercedes GLC. Findings suggest that for low-income groups, private car ownership can represent a cost equal to housing, consuming a large share of disposable income. This creates complexities in perceptions of transport costs, the economic viability of alternative transport modes, or the justification of taxes.

汽车是最昂贵的家庭消费品之一，但人们对其每车公里、每年或驾驶寿命的私人（内部）和社会（外部）成本了解有限。本文概述了 23 个私人成本和 10 个社会成本项目，并针对 2020 年德国三种流行车型进行了评估。结果证实，驾驶者低估了汽车拥有的全部私人成本，而政策制定者和规划者低估了社会成本. 对于典型的德国每年行驶 15,000 公里的行驶距离，汽车的总拥有成本（50 年）介于欧宝 Corsa 的 599,082 欧元和梅赛德斯 GLC 的 956,798 欧元之间。欧宝 Corsa 占社会成本的 41%（每年 4674 欧元），梅赛德斯 GLC 占 29%（每年 5273 欧元）。调查结果表明，对于低收入群体来说，拥有私家车的成本可能与住房成本相等，消耗了可支配收入的很大一部分。这导致对运输成本、替代运输方式的经济可行性或税收合理性的看法变得复杂。