UNDATED (WRN) Wonder what it costs to drive these days?

Triple-A releases the 2010 edition of its annual study called, ‘Your Driving Cost.’ It shows motorists are paying a little more than last year to own and operate a car.

“Almost 5 percent higher than last year. Take an average sedan that travels 15,000 miles per year and the cost of owning that car is now almost up to $8,500 per year.”

Beth Mosher with AAA says that’s 56.6 cents per mile, and up to almost 74 cents a mile for the largest vehicle today. The auto club has been publishing this study since 1950, at which time it cost a mere 9 cents per mile, and gasoline was just 27 cents per gallon.

Mosher says certain vehicles fair better than others. “As you can imagine smaller cars and smaller sedans are affected the least … less than a four wheel drive SUV or minivan or a lager car.”

The AAA rates five categories of vehicles. The small sedan category experienced the smallest increase of only 2.9 percent from last year. By contrast, the SUV category experienced a 10.7 percent increase.

Ownership costs factored into the study include insurance, license and registration fees, taxes, depreciation and finance charges. Operational costs include fuel, maintenance and tires.