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Total Car Ownership Cost

Free Total Car Ownership Cost calculator with clear step-by-step results.

About Total Car Ownership Cost

Depreciation is usually the largest single cost of running a car and the one drivers never see on a statement. Adding it to fuel, insurance, servicing and taxes over the whole ownership period gives the all-in cost per kilometre, which is the only figure that makes vehicle choices comparable.

Formulas

Depreciation

Depreciation = purchase price - expected resale value

Cost per kilometre

Per km = total cost of ownership / (annual distance x years)

Worked example

With the default values below, Total Car Ownership Cost returns Total cost of ownership of $35,500.00. Change any input above and every figure here is recalculated in your browser.

Inputs used

Purchase priceminimum 0 $
28,000 $
Expected resale valueminimum 0 $
12,000 $
Years of ownershipaccepts 0.5–25
5
Annual distanceminimum 0 km
15,000 km
Fuel or energy costminimum 0 $/km
0.13 $/km
Insuranceminimum 0 $/year
900 $/year
Servicing and repairsminimum 0 $/year
650 $/year
Tax, registration and parkingminimum 0 $/year
400 $/year

Results

Total cost of ownership
$35,500.00
Depreciation
$16,000.00
Cost per year
$7,100.00
All-in cost per kilometre
$0.4733

Step by step

  1. 1Values used
  2. 2Depreciation
  3. 3Cost per kilometre
  4. 4Total cost of ownership= $35,500.00
  5. 5Depreciation= $16,000.00
  6. 6Cost per year= $7,100.00
  7. 7All-in cost per kilometre= $0.4733/km

Assumptions and limits

  • The result is derived only from the 8 inputs listed above. Anything not among them is not part of the calculation.
  • In particular, this calculator does not take inflation into account.
  • Figures are rounded for display to 4 decimal places, so totals built from several rounded parts can differ slightly from the unrounded arithmetic.

How these calculators are built and tested is described on the Methodology page. If a figure looks wrong, please report it.

Frequently Asked Questions

Why does depreciation dominate?

A car losing $16,000 over five years costs $3,200 a year before it moves - typically more than fuel and insurance combined for an average driver.

Should finance interest be included?

Yes if you borrowed. Add total interest to the purchase price, or model it separately, otherwise a financed car looks cheaper than a cash purchase.

Related Calculators

Total Car Ownership Cost – Calculate Total cost of ownership