Ranked: America’s Most Dangerous Cities for Driving

What a New Car Costs Across 30 Global Cities

In Singapore, the price of a new car can rival the cost of a home in some parts of the world.

The car may be comparable, but the final bill isn’t. Taxes, import costs, and ownership rules can create price gaps of tens of thousands of dollars between cities.

This graphic compares new car prices across 30 major cities, based on data from Deutsche Bank and Numbeo. Prices are shown in U.S. dollars and are based on a Volkswagen Golf 1.5 or an equivalent new car.

Why Cars Cost So Much More in Singapore

Singapore’s unusually high car prices are largely by design. The city-state tightly controls the number of vehicles on its roads, which stands at around one million.

Car buyers must also obtain a Certificate of Entitlement (COE), which gives them the right to own and use a vehicle for 10 years. Recent COE premiums have approached $100,000 before accounting for the vehicle itself and other taxes and fees.

At $156,200, a new car in Singapore costs nearly three times as much as in Tel Aviv, the next-highest city at $57,900. New York and Paris, by comparison, come in at around $35,000.

Beyond Singapore, prices are considerably more compressed. Cities as different as London, Milan, Los Angeles, Chicago, and Barcelona all fall within a range of just $35,000 to $39,000, even though their broader costs of living vary considerably.

The Sticker Price Is Only the Beginning

The purchase price is only one part of what drivers ultimately pay. In the U.S., a new vehicle costs an estimated $12,863 per year to own and operate, or about $1,072 per month.

What you drive can widen that gap further. A half-ton pickup costs $1.10 per mile to own and operate, compared with $0.62 for a small sedan. Over a year, that amounts to a difference of more than $7,000.

Together, the figures show how car affordability is shaped by two different forces: where you buy a vehicle determines its upfront price, while what you drive can significantly change the cost of owning it over time.

Learn More on the Voronoi App

To learn more about this topic, check out this graphic on America’s slowest-depreciating cars.

Ranked: Countries With the Toughest Driving Tests

How many mistakes can you make on a driving theory test and still pass? In Greece, the answer is just one.

This graphic ranks countries by the minimum percentage of correct answers required to pass their general Class B driving theory exams. The data comes from AutoviaTest, with countries using non-comparable scoring systems excluded.

Where Driving Theory Tests Are Toughest

Here are the 25 countries with the highest passing thresholds, according to AutoviaTest:

Greece and Japan are the clear outliers, requiring scores of 97% and 95%, respectively. Below them, the ranking becomes much tighter, with 15 countries clustered between 90% and 91%. Europe dominates the upper end overall, accounting for 64% of the top 25.

In Greece, One Wrong Answer Is All You Get

Greece’s exam consists of 30 multiple-choice questions completed in 35 minutes, with candidates needing at least 29 correct answers. The test covers traffic signs, right-of-way, speed limits, vehicle safety, and other road regulations.

That demanding standard exists alongside continuing road-safety challenges. AutoviaTest reports that Greece had about 6.1 road deaths per 100,000 people in 2023, above the EU average despite substantial improvement since 2000.

Passing the test is also only one part of road safety. Vehicle reliability matters too, with some car brands reporting far fewer problems than others.

Japan’s Driving Tests Are Getting Even Tougher

Japan requires a 95% score on its general theory exam and combines this with rigorous practical requirements. The country’s licensing process can also be challenging for some foreign residents converting an overseas license, who may need to complete both written and practical tests.

Japan is now tightening requirements for another group: drivers over 75 with previous traffic violations. New practical-test requirements are expected to add a direction-change exercise designed to test proper accelerator and brake use. According to Japan’s National Police Agency, drivers over 75 accounted for around 18% of fatal accidents in the previous year.

Hard Tests Don’t Automatically Mean Safe Roads

A high theory-test pass mark does not necessarily mean a country’s overall licensing process is harder, since question difficulty, practical exams, and testing rules also vary. Nor does a strict passing threshold automatically translate into safer roads. WHO-based rankings cited by Atlas & Boots place Guinea, Libya, and Haiti among countries with the highest road-traffic death rates, while Japan is among the safest.

For travelers, unfamiliarity creates another layer of risk. A survey of 2,000 motorists by Scrap Car Comparison found that driving on the opposite side of the road was the most commonly cited concern. Around one-third of countries drive on the left, while most of the world drives on the right.

Local traffic conditions can matter just as much as national rules—something also evident when comparing America’s worst cities for drivers.

Learn More on the Voronoi App

To explore how driving has become safer over time, see How Has Car Safety Improved Over 60 Years? on the Voronoi app.