[Turbopilot]

I've also never understood why people who own private planes spend more on their cars than on maintenance for their aircraft.

Which people are those? The hourly labor charge may be more for an A&P vs. an auto mechanic, which I don't necessarily understand but is a function of market economics, but as far as an absolute amount per operating hour/year of ownership/mile traveled I can't imagine a situation where an aircraft owner would spend less on airplane maintenance than car maintenance. You'd have to find some kind of really skewed comparison, like someone who owned a new C172 with full warranty and was comparing maintenance costs to an antique Ferrari that needed custom-made parts.

[dljordan]

I've worked on many aircraft that were in worse condition than the owners cars. What always got me was a guy in a Mercedes that wanted to bitch about my fee.