The Real Cost of Driving to Freelance Gigs

Writer and freelance musician Jason Heath on the real cost of driving to gigs:

The price of gas rose 31.5 percent in 2007, which means that the average consumer (driving 10,000 miles a year) will spend between $5,510 and $9,095 to operate a 2008 model car. This figure is based on gal, oil, tires, and maintenance—parking or tolls are not included in these calculations.

As a full-time freelancer, I drove around 50,000 miles per year between 2000 and 2007 (when I “saw the light” and realized that doing all this driving was complete insanity). At these aforementioned rates, I would have been spending somewhere between $27,550 and $45,475 for vehicle operating expenses in 2008 if I had kept up this pace of gigging.

No wonder I never had any money!