Recently the Globe and Mail reported on how much the average Canadian could save by ditching one of their cars. They not only looked at ownership and operating costs, but also the money that could be generated if the savings were modestly invested. Here is what they found:

• The average cost of owning a vehicle including insurance, registration, depreciation and financing was approximately $ 6,200.00 per year
• The costs associated with operating that vehicle including gas and maintenance runs us another $ 8,000.00 per year.
• If you were to invest just the operating costs over 10 years at an annual rate of return of 5% you would have over $ 100,000.00 after that period.

The costs don’t take into account the costs associated with buying a bus pass or buying and operating a bike, but these costs even in the worst case would not likely make even a $ 10,000.00 dent in the money you just saved.

Check out the video about this Globe and Mail report.