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Car Ownership Cost Calculator

The monthly payment is the least informative number attached to a car.

Last updated Free, no sign-upHow it works

Your inputs
The vehicle

Zero for new. This matters more than almost anything else, because it decides how much of the depreciation curve you are buying into.

Electric vehicles skip the fuel line — charging is priced in the EV charging calculator.

Location

Optional. Picks the published price for your state; otherwise the US average is used.

Why we ask

A ZIP code is matched to its state with published postal prefix ranges and used only to look up that state’s row in a federal price table. We never ask for a street address, nothing is stored, and your inputs appear only in this page’s URL.

Results update as you type. Nothing you enter is sent anywhere or stored.

Total cost of owning this vehicle for 5 years: $45,000, ranging from $36,500 to $55,000.

Total cost of owning this vehicle for 5 years

medium confidence
$45,00067,500 miles, purchase price excluded — this is what ownership costs you
$36,500 lowhigh $55,000

What makes up the typical figure

  • Depreciation$17,300
  • Fuel$10,000
  • Insurance$6,400
  • Loan interest$5,600
  • Everything else$5,430
  • United States average
  • Assumptions 2026.07.1

Why medium: no state was resolved, so national averages were used; the modeled range spans about 41% of the typical value.

Key figures

Cost per year
$8,961($7,283 – $11,025)
Cost per month
$747($607 – $919)
Cost per mile
$0.66
Estimated resale value at the end
$16,660($13,600 – $20,060)What the vehicle is likely worth when you sell it. An assumption based on a documented depreciation curve, not a valuation.
Share that is depreciation
3,870.3%
Same miles at the IRS rate
$51,30076.0 cents a mile, the federal all-in allowance for business driving.

Cost breakdown

Estimated cost of each component, with low, typical, and high values.
ComponentLowTypicalHigh
DepreciationOtherFrom $34,000 to about $16,660 after 5 years. An assumption, not a quoted valuation.$13,900$17,300$20,500
FuelEnergy2,411 gallons over 67,500 miles at $4.157/gal.$8,800$10,000$11,700
InsuranceOtherCountrywide average expenditure of $1,282 per insured vehicle (NAIC, 2023 — the most recent year published).$4,500$6,400$9,300
Maintenance, repairs, and tiresOtherCharged year by year as the vehicle ages, from 0 to 5 years old.$3,100$4,600$6,900
Registration, fees, and inspectionPermitVaries by state rule rather than by market. Some states charge a flat fee under $50; others levy annual property tax on the vehicle.$500$830$1,250
Loan interestOther$29,000 financed at 7.2% over 72 months. Interest is exact once the terms are set, so it carries no range.$5,600$5,600$5,600
Total cost of owning this vehicle for 5 years$36,500$45,000$55,000

The low and high columns above will not add up to the headline range. Each line has its own uncertainty, and every line landing at its worst case at the same time is unlikely, so the total combines them as partially independent rather than summing the extremes.

What moved your estimate

  • Bought new — increases the estimate

    A new vehicle sheds roughly a fifth of its value in the first year and about half by year five. Buying at two or three years old lets the previous owner absorb the steepest part of that curve.

  • Expensive financing — increases the estimate

    Interest adds $5,619 — over 15% of the purchase price. A longer term lowers the monthly payment and raises this figure; a larger down payment does the opposite.

How this number was produced
  1. Value lost$34,000 − $16,660 resale$17,340
  2. Fuel67,500 mi ÷ 28 MPG × $4.157$10,021
  3. Insurance and fees($1,282 + $165) × 5 yr$7,233
  4. Total cost of ownershipdepreciation + fuel + insurance + upkeep + fees + interest$44,803
  5. Per mile$44,803 ÷ 67,500 mi$0.66

Adjustments applied

  • Retained value×0.49

    100% of original value at purchase, 49% at sale.

  • Fuel price×1.00

    United States average of $4.157/gal (EIA, Week of 2026-09-07).

  • Insurance×1.00

    Countrywide average expenditure of $1,282 per insured vehicle (NAIC, 2023 — the most recent year published).

  • Gasoline upkeep×1.00

    Electric vehicles have no oil changes, no spark plugs, no exhaust system, no timing belt, and far less brake wear because regenerative braking does most of the slowing. Tires are the one line that usually runs higher, since electric vehicles are heavier and deliver torque instantly. The 0.65 factor is the net of those effects.

Notes and sources4 notes, 3 sources

Worth knowing

  • The purchase price is not part of the total. What you pay for a car is not a cost — it is an exchange of cash for an asset. The cost is the part of that asset you consume, which is the depreciation line, plus everything you spend keeping it running.
  • Depreciation is the least certain figure here and usually the largest. No federal agency publishes resale curves, and the commercial datasets that do are licensed products. The curve used here is a documented assumption with an observed range; treat the resale estimate as a band, not a valuation, and get a real quote before making a decision on it.
  • Insurance uses the NAIC state average expenditure — what insured drivers actually paid, for the most recent year published. It is a starting point, not a quote for your circumstances.
  • Financing interest assumes a standard level-payment loan and no early payoff. If the loan runs longer than you keep the vehicle, only the interest paid during your ownership is counted.

Sources

  • U.S. Energy Information Administration, Weekly Retail Gasoline and Diesel Prices — regular grade, all formulations, by region and selected stateprimaryWeek of 2026-09-07retrieved 2026-09-11
  • National Association of Insurance Commissioners, 2023 Auto Insurance Database Average Premium Supplement, Table 4 — Average Expenditure by Stateprimary2023retrieved 2026-07-31
  • Fuel economy anchored to the U.S. EPA Automotive Trends Report (model year 2024 real-world values); ownership cost components compiled from IRS Notice 2026-10 and IR-2026-29 standard mileage rates, U.S. DOE Alternative Fuels Data Center guidance, and editorial baselines where no agency publishes a figuremixed2026retrieved 2026-07-31

It says nothing about the value the vehicle is losing, which for anything bought new is usually the largest cost of all, and nothing about what it will cost to keep on the road. This calculator adds up everything ownership actually costs over the years you keep it, and shows how much of that is money you never see leave your account.

Methodology

How this calculator works

Why the purchase price is not the cost

Paying $34,000 for a car does not cost you $34,000. It converts cash into an asset you can sell later. What it costs is the difference between what you paid and what you get back — the depreciation — plus everything you spend running it in between.

This distinction changes conclusions. A $34,000 car kept five years and sold for $17,000 costs $17,000 in depreciation. A $20,000 three-year-old car kept the same five years might sell for $11,000, costing $9,000. The cheaper car is not cheaper because it costs less; it is cheaper because it loses less.

How the depreciation curve works

Value is tracked against the vehicle’s own age, not against how long you have owned it. Buying a three-year-old car means starting at about 62% of original value and ending five years later near 35% — a smaller fall, in both percentage and dollars, than the first five years would have been.

High mileage costs extra. Each 10,000 miles a year above the roughly 13,500 mile baseline takes off another three to four points of retained value, and the effect compounds with time.

This curve is an assumption. No public agency publishes resale values, and the commercial guides that do are licensed products we have not bought. It is documented in the assumption registry with its observed range and reviewed on a schedule, but it will not match a specific model, and unusual vehicles — trucks that hold value, luxury sedans that do not — can diverge sharply.

Maintenance ages with the vehicle

Upkeep is charged year by year at the band matching the vehicle’s age that year, so a car owned from year eight through year thirteen is priced as the older vehicle it becomes, not at a flat average.

Electric drivetrains carry a factor of 0.65: no oil changes, no spark plugs, no exhaust, no timing belt, and much less brake wear because regeneration does most of the slowing. Tires are the exception and usually run higher, since the vehicles are heavier and torque arrives instantly.

Location and data

Where the numbers come from

Location is optional, and we only ask for a ZIP code or a state — never a street address. A ZIP code is matched to its state using published postal prefix ranges, and that state is used to look up labor and price rows in the tables below. If you leave it blank, or your ZIP cannot be matched, the estimate falls back to a national average and says so on the result.

Nothing you enter is transmitted or stored. The calculation runs entirely in your browser, and the only place your inputs appear is in the page URL, so you can bookmark or share a result if you choose to.

  • primaryWeek of 2026-09-07v2026.09.1

    U.S. Energy Information Administration, Weekly Retail Gasoline and Diesel Prices — regular grade, all formulations, by region and selected state

    EIA publishes weekly retail gasoline prices for the nation, for each Petroleum Administration for Defense District (PADD) sub-region, and for nine individual states. States EIA does not publish separately take their PADD sub-region price, which is the finest published geography available; every result discloses which of the two applied. Prices are a weekly snapshot and move faster than any other figure on this site, so every calculator that uses them lets you type in the price you actually paid.

  • primary2023v2026.07.1

    National Association of Insurance Commissioners, 2023 Auto Insurance Database Average Premium Supplement, Table 4 — Average Expenditure by State

    Average expenditure is what insured drivers actually paid per insured vehicle, not a quoted premium: it already reflects the mix of coverages people buy in that state, including drivers who carry liability only. It is the most recent year the NAIC has published, so it lags current premiums — expenditures rose roughly 14% in the year this data covers, and the trend has not reversed. Treat it as a starting point and enter your own premium if you know it. Individual premiums vary enormously with driving record, credit-based insurance score where permitted, vehicle, garaging address, and chosen limits; a state average cannot predict any individual's rate.

  • mixed2026v2026.07.1

    Fuel economy anchored to the U.S. EPA Automotive Trends Report (model year 2024 real-world values); ownership cost components compiled from IRS Notice 2026-10 and IR-2026-29 standard mileage rates, U.S. DOE Alternative Fuels Data Center guidance, and editorial baselines where no agency publishes a figure

    Two numbers here come straight from the EPA: the model year 2024 fleet-wide real-world average of 27.2 MPG and the truck SUV average of 25.7 MPG. The other class averages are editorial estimates positioned around those published anchors, and every one of them describes a NEW vehicle — the average vehicle actually on the road is roughly twelve years old and less efficient, which is why each class carries a range rather than a point. Depreciation, maintenance, tires, and registration are assumptions: no federal agency publishes them per vehicle, and the commercial datasets that do are licensed products we have not bought. Each is registered in the assumption registry with its observed range and rationale, and each is adjustable in every calculator that uses it.

Full detail on every dataset is on the data sources page. Spotted something wrong? Report incorrect data.

Calibration

The judgements behind this estimate

These are the figures we chose rather than measured. For each one we record the range of values found across references, what we selected, and why — because an estimate you cannot interrogate is not much better than a guess. The 2 marked high risk are the ones most likely to be wrong and most consequential when they are.

  • Share of purchase price retained by vehicle agehigh risklow confidence
    Observed range
    0.35 — 0.59 (typical 0.49)share of original transaction price retained
    Why this value
    Anchored at the five-year point, where a mainstream vehicle driven average miles typically retains just under half its original price. The curve is steepest in year one at roughly 20% lost, then flattens. This is the single largest cost in the ownership calculator and the least certain figure on the site, which is why the result presents it as a band and says so in the notes.
    Applies to
    Not modeled regionally. Real resale does vary — trucks hold value better in rural markets, convertibles in warm ones — but not in a way any public dataset captures.
    Known limits
    Model-specific variation is enormous and this curve cannot capture it: some pickups retain well above the high band while some luxury sedans fall below the low one. Electric vehicle resale has been especially volatile and is not separately modeled. Treat the resale figure as a band, not a valuation, and get a real quote before acting on it.
    Sources
    No public agency publishes vehicle resale curves; the commercial guides that do are licensed products not used here; Editorial curve calibrated against the widely reported pattern of roughly 20% loss in year one and near 50% by year five
    Last verified
    2026-07-31 · reviewed annual
  • Maintenance, repairs, and tires per mile by vehicle agehigh risklow confidence
    Observed range
    0.04 — 0.26 (typical 0.1)dollars per mile
    Why this value
    Three age bands rather than one figure, because upkeep roughly triples per mile between a nearly-new vehicle and one past ten years old. The typical value shown here is the mid-life band, which covers vehicles four to nine years old. Excludes collision damage and excludes fuel.
    Applies to
    Not modeled regionally, though labor rates for repair work follow the same pattern as other trades.
    Known limits
    These are multi-year averages, not predictions for any particular month. Real maintenance spending is lumpy: nothing for months, then a component failure. The high end of the older-vehicle band is where those years land.
    Sources
    No federal agency publishes vehicle maintenance cost per mile; the commercial datasets that do are licensed products not used here; Cross-checked for plausibility against the IRS business standard mileage rate, which is an all-in federal figure covering this among other costs
    Last verified
    2026-07-31 · reviewed annual
  • Electric drivetrain maintenance relative to gasolinemedium confidence
    Observed range
    0.5 — 0.8 (typical 0.65)multiplier on the gasoline maintenance figure
    Why this value
    Net of two opposing effects. Electric drivetrains remove oil changes, spark plugs, exhaust systems, and timing belts, and regenerative braking means pads often last past 100,000 miles. Tires run the other way: the vehicles are heavier and deliver torque instantly, so they wear faster.
    Applies to
    Not regionally variable.
    Known limits
    The federal source describes the difference qualitatively and does not put a number on it. Battery replacement outside warranty is not modeled at all, and would dominate if it occurred.
    Sources
    U.S. DOE Alternative Fuels Data Center guidance on electric vehicle maintenance requirements (qualitative); Editorial quantification of the qualitative federal guidance
    Last verified
    2026-07-31 · reviewed annual
  • Retained-value penalty for high annual mileagelow confidence
    Observed range
    0.02 — 0.05 (typical 0.035)share of value lost per extra 10,000 miles a year
    Why this value
    Mileage above the roughly 13,500 mile baseline costs retained value beyond ordinary ageing, and the effect compounds with the years held. Capped at 25 points so an extreme mileage entry cannot drive the resale estimate to nothing.
    Applies to
    Not regionally variable.
    Known limits
    Real markets apply mileage penalties non-linearly and with model-specific thresholds. A linear rate is a simplification.
    Sources
    No public source; editorial estimate consistent with the mileage adjustments used in commercial valuation tools; Baseline mileage derived from FHWA vehicle miles traveled per licensed driver
    Last verified
    2026-07-31 · reviewed annual
  • Real-world fuel economy by vehicle classmedium confidence
    Observed range
    15 — 48 (typical 27.2)miles per gallon, combined
    Why this value
    Two of the eight class figures are published: the EPA Automotive Trends Report gives a model year 2024 fleet-wide real-world average of 27.2 MPG and a truck SUV average of 25.7. The remaining six are positioned around those anchors so the volume-weighted mix reproduces the published fleet average. Every class is a band rather than a point, because a rating is a test-cycle result and real driving departs from it in one direction.
    Applies to
    Not regionally variable, though cold-climate states see materially worse real-world economy in winter.
    Known limits
    These are NEW vehicle averages. The average vehicle on the road is roughly twelve years old and less efficient, so a user with an older car should enter their own MPG. Six of the eight classes are not individually published.
    Sources
    U.S. EPA Automotive Trends Report, model year 2024 (published February 2026) — fleet average 27.2 MPG, truck SUV 25.7 MPG; Remaining class values are editorial estimates anchored to the two published figures
    Last verified
    2026-07-31 · reviewed annual
  • Annual registration, plates, and inspectionlow confidence
    Observed range
    60 — 420 (typical 165)dollars per year
    Why this value
    A national band rather than a state figure. This line varies by rule rather than by market: some states charge a flat registration fee under $50, while others levy an annual property tax on the vehicle's assessed value that can exceed $600 for a newer car. A growing number add a supplemental fee for electric vehicles to offset forgone fuel tax.
    Applies to
    Varies enormously by state, but by statute rather than by cost, so no index derived from wages or prices would predict it.
    Known limits
    Cannot be right for any particular state. Users should check their own DMV schedule and override the figure, which the form allows.
    Sources
    No federal agency compiles state motor vehicle registration schedules; Editorial band spanning flat-fee states and value-tax states
    Last verified
    2026-07-31 · reviewed annual
  • Typical auto loan rate and termmedium confidence
    Observed range
    0.045 — 0.135 (typical 0.072)annual percentage rate
    Why this value
    Used as the default new-vehicle rate against a 72-month term, with a higher default for used purchases. Interest is exact once the terms are known, so this only sets the starting value in the form rather than driving an estimate.
    Applies to
    Not regionally variable.
    Known limits
    Rates depend heavily on credit tier and move with monetary policy; a default figure will be stale between reviews. Every result using it shows the rate that was applied.
    Sources
    Editorial default reflecting prevailing auto lending conditions; Superseded entirely once the user enters their own rate, which the form invites
    Last verified
    2026-07-31 · reviewed quarterly

Cost factors

What changes the price most

Age at purchase
The single biggest lever. Letting someone else absorb the first three years typically halves your depreciation cost.
How long you keep it
Cost per year falls steadily the longer you hold, because the steep part of the curve gets spread over more years.
Depreciation rate
Varies enormously by model. Some trucks hold value remarkably well; some luxury sedans lose two-thirds in three years.
Financing terms
A 72-month loan at 11% costs roughly a quarter of the amount borrowed in interest — invisible in the monthly payment.
Annual mileage
Hits fuel, upkeep, and resale value all at once. The resale hit is the one people forget.
Where you register it
Insurance varies more than twofold across states, and registration rules vary from a flat $30 to an annual tax on assessed value.

Questions

Frequently asked

What is the true cost of owning a car?

For a new mid-priced crossover kept five years at average mileage, roughly $35,000 to $45,000 beyond the purchase price — dominated by depreciation, then insurance and fuel. That works out near 55 to 70 cents a mile, which is why the IRS allowance sits at 76 cents.

Is it cheaper to buy a new or used car?

Used, almost always, and the gap is larger than people expect. A new car loses about a fifth of its value in year one and roughly half by year five. Buying at two or three years old skips that, at the cost of a shorter warranty and somewhat higher maintenance. Run both through the calculator with the same holding period to see the difference in your own numbers.

How much does depreciation cost per year?

For a new vehicle, roughly 20% of value in the first year and 10% to 13% a year after that, flattening as the car ages. In dollars that is often $4,000 to $6,000 a year early on — usually more than fuel, insurance, and maintenance combined.

Does a longer car loan cost more?

Yes, substantially, even at the same rate. Stretching a $30,000 loan at 7% from 48 to 84 months lowers the payment by about $250 but adds roughly $3,800 in interest. It also keeps you underwater — owing more than the car is worth — for much longer.

Are electric cars cheaper to own?

On running costs, usually yes: fuel is typically half to a third of gasoline cost at home rates, and maintenance runs about 35% lower. Whether that outweighs a higher purchase price and steeper early depreciation depends on the specific vehicles, your mileage, and your electricity rate. The EV versus gas calculator compares two specific vehicles directly.