[jacobolus]

Car owners are subsidized more by the state than pretty much any other group. Direct road construction and maintenance, public construction of parking spaces, construction and zoning laws requiring car infrastructure and parking, petroleum subsidies, petroleum transport infrastructure, anti-competitive policy blocking other forms of transportation, shields from liability for large-scale death (for both drivers/owners and manufacturers) and local pollution, etc. etc.

The negative externalities from driving far outweigh what automobile drivers directly pay in cash.

Automobiles clearly also provide great benefits. But they are a great example of a system with mostly personal/private gains based on mostly public/socialized costs.