Owning a car has become more expensive

The consumer price index rose 0.1 per cent from October to November, basically because of higher prices for gasoline. Higher gasoline prices have also been a major factor in the higher cost of owning a car over the past year.

The cost of operating and maintaining vehicles has climbed just about five percent so far this year (January to November) compared to the same period in 1996. By comparison, the index rose 2.4 per cent from January to November 1996 compared to the same period in 1995.

Operation and maintenance of vehicles mainly covers gasoline, oil, spare parts, repairs and car insurance.

Gasoline prices have increased

The biggest contribution to higher operating and maintenance costs for vehicles is higher gasoline prices. From October to November the cost of gasoline rose almost two per cent, which is mainly connected to markedly higher prices for gasoline in Eastern Norway. Prices here are now almost the same as in the rest of the country. Another trend is that there has been a pronounced reduction in price differences among the various gasoline stations. This is also the case within certain regions of the country.

New Statistics

Consumer price index, 15 November 1997.
Statistics are published every month in the Weekly Bulletin of Statistics. More information: Frode Bendiksen, tel. +47 21 09 44 27, e-mail: fbe@ssb.no, Randi Johannessen, tel. +47 21 09 47 30, e-mail: raj@ssb.no or Lasse Sandberg, tel. +47 21 09 47 16, e-mail: san@ssb.no.

Weekly Bulletin issue no. 51-52, 1997