True Cost of Ownership

The cheapest car to buy is rarely the cheapest car to own

Purchase price is the number everyone shops on and it is comfortably the least useful. Two cars advertised at the same figure can differ by many thousands of dollars over five years once depreciation, fuel, insurance, maintenance and repairs are counted — and depreciation, the largest single line for most owners, is invisible until the day you sell.

This calculator adds up the parts. Give it a purchase price, how long you plan to keep the car, how far you drive, the fuel economy and what you expect to pay for insurance and upkeep, and it returns total cost, cost per year and cost per mile. Cost per mile is the figure worth remembering: it makes two very different cars directly comparable.

Where the estimates come from — and where they break

Depreciation is modelled as a declining percentage each year, which is how vehicles actually lose value: fastest early, then flattening. The default assumes a mainstream vehicle. Luxury European models routinely depreciate faster, and trucks and some hybrids hold value better, so adjust the rate if you know the segment.

The one input the calculator cannot guess is the condition of the specific car. A vehicle with an accident record or a branded title depreciates faster and tends to cost more to keep on the road. Before you plug in a resale assumption, it's worth spending $5.99 on the history report to know which kind of car you're modelling.

Guides that pair with this tool

• What the 17 digits in a VIN mean — position-by-position, so the decode above makes sense
• Dealer auction VIN checks — the pre-bid routine volume buyers use
• Signs of a rolled-back odometer — what a decode can't catch and a history report can
• Is a salvage title car worth buying? — what each brand means for value and insurance
• Dealer plans from $1.30 a report — for shops that check every trade-in and auction buy