Continual rises in insurance premiums along with increasing motoring taxes and the price of oil have all contributed to the new research which suggests that the cost of running a car has grown by around 11% in the past 3 years.

According the data released by Sainsbury’s finance average annual car costs, excluding interest repayments on loans are now at approximately £2,338. This represents an increase of 2.68% on the average figure from 2008 which was £2,277 and a massive 11.33% rise above the £2,100 figure which was in 2007.

Insurance has grown in cost by around 13% since 2008 and by close to 23% since 2007 according to comparisons by the study.

Taxes have also grown significantly. An average tax of close to £170 means that the rise is at 8.45% since the same time last year. Fuel costs, though now slightly lower as the world oil crisis lessens, have declined in the past 12 months by 1.22%. This however is still a major increase since 2007 as fuel costs have increased by 7.5% since that period.

Service costs have also risen since 2007, with average annual costs starting at around £300, although this is slightly down on last year’s figure, albeit by a mere 0.18%.

Ben Tyte, the car insurance manager for the group behind the study said the figures showed the benefit of shopping around before buying services, particularly servicing and insurance. The group noted a small decrease in costs for running a car have been seen as the recession lessens, signaling optimism for the future.