Research into Australia’s car friendliest cities released last week by Virgin Car Insurance has found that Adelaide has emerged as the best city in which to own a car.
The research looked at a number of variables, such as the cost of car insurance, petrol prices, parking fines, theft and tolls. Adelaide leapfrogged Hobart, Darwin and Perth to claim the crown.
Sydney meanwhile was named as the least car friendly city for the second year in a row, with skyrocketing costs in tolls, insurance and parking fines driving the cost of running a car in Sydney considerably higher.
The report found the average cost of two hours parking in a CBD commercial car park in Sydney was $43.30, compared to $20.00 in Melbourne and just $2.00 in Hobart. Finding an on-street parking spot is also a problem for Sydney drivers, with just 10,483 council parking spaces available, compared to Melbourne’s 42,000.
Parking infringement fines were found to be nearly 50 per cent higher than in Melbourne, while Sydney’s toll roads are reported to be the most expensive in Australia: Sydney drivers spend an average of $0.32 per kilometre on toll roads, while those from Melbourne and Queensland only pay an average of $0.20 per kilometre.
Some other interesting highlights of the research:
- Adelaide is the cheapest place in the country to fill up, while pump prices in Canberra will hit you the hardest.
- The average cost of commercial car parking in Adelaide will set you back $9.80 for two hours, compared to Sydney where it will cost over four times more at $43.30 for the same amount of time.
- Melbourne is the most car friendly city on the east coast, beating Brisbane, Canberra and Sydney.
- Sydney tolls and parking fines are by far the most expensive in the country and most regional towns in NSW perform poorly with a state-wide fine of $86 for parking infringements.
View the full results and statistics on the Virgin Money website here.