Heckathorne, who aligns vehicle front ends at the Tire Barn in Castleton, Ind., figures he will need $45 to $50 to make the 440-mile roundtrip in his Chrysler Concorde. That's at least $15 more than last year.

But experts who track the cost of owning a car say fuel prices should be among the least of his worries.

Even at record-high prices, gasoline accounts for only about 9 cents of the total 61 cents a mile needed for a typical sedan, according to the AAA road club.

Insurance costs more and depreciation a lot more.

Runzheimer International, a Wisconsin firm that advises companies on how much to reimburse employees for driving expenses, figures gas is about 20 percent of the overall cost of owning and/or operating a year-old car.

"That's not a whole lot of money," said Lee Czarapata, director of business client relations at Runzheimer.

Last week, the average nationwide price of a gallon of regular unleaded gasoline was $2.05.

Summer travelers typically put in 500-mile roundtrips, and Memorial Day probably isn't much different, said national AAA spokesman Justin McNaull.

Based on AAA figures, if Heckathorne's car gets 20 miles per gallon, his trip to Ypsilanti really will cost about $12 more than last year.

But AAA says depreciation is by far the biggest chunk of the 60.6 cents-per-mile total cost, at 27 cents.

Insurance is next at 9.3 cents, then gasoline at 8.9 cents.

Total costs often aren't considered by car buyers, said Mike Fritz, sales manager at Palmer Dodge in Indianapolis.

They research fuel economy on the Internet before going to a dealership, Fritz said. As a result, the price of used subcompact Dodge Neons — which get about 28 miles per gallon on average — has shot up $1,000 in the past month.

Yet depreciation will cost owners far more than gas in a typical three-year lease.

A Dodge Durango SUV listing for $41,000 will be returned at lease's end at a value of less than half of what it began with — close to $20,000, Fritz said.