Car costs in Chicago (Naperville, Orland Park: apartment, car insurance, buying)

[Nicky Scot]

Calling all car owners.

I will be relocating to Chicago in 08 from the UK and will be buying a car when I get organised but wondered what the typical costs are for running a VW Jetta sized car in the city i.e purchase price, taxes, maintainence costs, fuel, insurance, stickers, parking, licence etc etc..?

Any help would be very much appreciated .

[DGDurmie]

I'm not sure about purchase price, but I can tell you about other stuff. Gas prices for one are horrible, worst in the country is what I hear. I heard on the radio that a gas station with one of the lowest rates was at $3.05/gallon!!!! LOWEST! Imagine that! Anyway, license plate stickers are I think $78, city stickers around the same, each once a year. Oil changes are probably around $30 I'd say on average. Insurance just completely depends on many things, but I will say that my car insurance here is quite a bit more than the two other towns I've lived in. Parking depends on where you live. If you live downtown, you will pay an arm and a leg. A friend of mine pays $350 a month for one space to give you an idea. The further out you go, the less it is, generally speaking, and many areas have free street parking. (NOT downtown though). Hope that helps a little.

[dieschweiz]

Base price of a VW Jetta: $20,000
Gas Per Gallon in the City (highest in mainland): $3.50
Insurance for six months: $1,000
License sticker: $78
city sticker: $70
Parking/month on average: $250
Maintanence/year: $500
Tickets (parking/speeding etc): $0-unlimited amount

[desibear]

Other than on LSD near Edgewater, has anyone actually been stopped for speeding in/near downtown Chicago?

<Rant>I know out in the 'burbs its nuts. You go 10 mph over the limit and you just made some copper's day out in the 'burbs. Hell, I think they practically plan their whole day around when to set speed traps. But it seems that downtown cops actually have a job that keeps them busy and away from petty crap like 10 mph speed traps<rant over>

[Drover]

I doubt someone from the UK is going to fret much about $3 to $3.50/gal in gas (petrol, if you will). That's about half what he's paying now.

A brand new base-model Jetta can be had for about £12,000, including tax and registration fee. Yearly registration for state license plates is about £40, yearly sticker for city of Chicago residents an additional £40 (approximately). Off-street parking will run anywhere from £125/mo to about £40/mo; the further you are from the city center, the lower it will be. Additionally, the further you are from the city center, the less likely you will need off-street parking, as the ease and availability of free on-street parking also increases the further you are from the city center. Residential areas near busy nightlife or business districts, or near train stations, may require permit parking for on-street parking. In that event, a resident parking permit will be about £14 per year. Again, the further you are from the city center, the less like you will be to encounter this.

[mdz]

Other than on LSD near Edgewater, has anyone actually been stopped for speeding in/near downtown Chicago?

I've never been stopped, but I've seen cars pulled over everywhere on LSD.

[scarletneon]

Originally Posted by desibear

Other than on LSD near Edgewater, has anyone actually been stopped for speeding in/near downtown Chicago?

<Rant>I know out in the 'burbs its nuts. You go 10 mph over the limit and you just made some copper's day out in the 'burbs. Hell, I think they practically plan their whole day around when to set speed traps. But it seems that downtown cops actually have a job that keeps them busy and away from petty crap like 10 mph speed traps<rant over>

if you have an out of state license you will ABSOLUTELY get stopped in the burbs whether you're driving well or not.

trust me, it happened to me. we were doing 35, or whatever it was, on the DOT but after running our tags, just because it was an out of state license, the tags didn't match because it was my friends' dad's car and she hadn't had the chance to put them in her name. so this jerk in Plainfield searched our car TWICE, and after not being able to find anything he let us off with a warning.

this is why i like to stay in the city as much as possible. what with that and the almost getting trapped in Lemont on a saturday night.

[Milliano]

Originally Posted by dieschweiz

Insurance for six months: $1,000

Where did you get that from? Average insurance in Illinois is around 800$ per year.

[Drover]

Originally Posted by Milliano

Where did you get that from? Average insurance in Illinois is around 800$ per year.

One might imagine that insurance rates are a little higher than the state average in Chicago...

[M TYPE X]

The infamous Illinois Nazis played catch and release with me (Michigan plate) in Savoy just as I was moving into my new apartment in Urbana. I can understand the issues with the SW suburbs; Orland Park is a PITA too. Outside of North Shore, Woodfield, and sometimes Naperville, I'm usually on the expressways.