Car Cost Calculator

Q: What is the biggest cost of owning a car?

Depreciation. It is the value your car loses as it ages, and it is the single largest cost of owning a new car: AAA puts it at $4,422 a year on average. 14 A new car often loses about 15% to 20% in year one, then roughly 10% each year after. On a $35,000 car, that is about $5,000 gone in the first 12 months alone. You do not see this cost until you sell or trade in, which is why many people forget it.

Q: How much does it cost to charge an electric car at home?

Multiply your battery size by your electric rate. Cost = kWh used × price per kWh Example: a 75 kWh battery at $0.16 per kWh costs about $12 for a full charge . That charge covers around 250 miles, so about 5 cents per mile. Rates change a lot by state. From January to July 2026, homes in North Dakota paid an average of 12.36 cents per kWh and Idaho 12.96 cents, while California paid 33.25 cents and Hawaii 46.28 cents. 7

Q: How much does a plug-in hybrid actually save compared to a regular hybrid?

It depends almost entirely on how often you plug in. Plug in daily, short commute: most of your miles can run on electricity, which usually costs less per mile than gas. Plug in rarely: you carry a heavy battery around and save little or nothing. PHEVs usually cost more up front too. A driver with a 20-mile commute and a home charger gets real value. A driver without a plug does not.

Car Cost Calculator

Introduction

A car costs more than its sticker price. Gas, charging, insurance, repairs, and loan interest add up fast. This Car Cost Calculator puts numbers on all of it before you buy.

Pick a year, make, and model, or type in your own car. You can compare up to 8 cars side by side. Add your daily driving, fuel prices, and loan details. The tool then shows your fuel cost per year, cost per mile, cost per fill-up, and your full cost of ownership over 1, 3, 5, or 10 years.

It works with gas, diesel, hybrid, plug-in hybrid, electric, E85, CNG, and propane cars. You can switch between miles and kilometers. You can also see break-even points, so you know how long it takes for a pricier car with better mileage to pay you back. Charts and step-by-step math show exactly how each answer was found.

How to use our Car Cost Calculator

Pick the cars you want to compare, tell us how much you drive, and enter your fuel and ownership costs. The calculator shows your yearly fuel cost, cost per mile, cost per fill-up, total cost of ownership, and the break-even point between cars.

Unit System: Choose US (miles, gallons, mpg) or Metric (kilometres, litres, L/100 km). Every box and result switches with it.

Model Year: Pick the year of the car. Older years lower the starting price.

Make: Pick the brand, like Toyota, Ford, or Tesla.

Model: Pick the exact model. The fuel type shows next to the name.

Add to Comparison: Click this to put the car in the table. You can add up to 8 cars.

Add a Custom Vehicle: Click this if your car is not in the list. Type a name, price, fuel type, fuel economy or kWh use, tank size, and electric range.

Comparison table boxes: Change any white box to match your real car, such as price, city and highway mpg, kWh per 100 miles, battery size, or tank size.

Home Charging Share: For electric cars, enter the percent of charging you do at home instead of at public chargers.

PHEV Plug-in Frequency: For plug-in hybrids, choose how often you charge: twice a day, daily, or every other day.

E85 Usage: For flex-fuel cars, enter the percent of fill-ups that use E85 instead of gas.

Biodiesel Blend and Usage: For diesel cars, pick B20 or B100 and enter how often you use it.

Clear All Vehicles: Click this to empty the table and start over.

Quick presets: Click Low, Average, or High to fill your driving numbers fast.

Average Daily Distance: Enter how far you drive on a normal driving day.

Days Driven per Week: Enter 1 to 7 days.

Weeks Driven per Year: Pick 40 to 52 weeks. Use fewer weeks if you take time off.

Highway Share of Daily Driving: Enter the percent of daily miles on the highway. The rest counts as city.

Annual Distance for Other Trips: Enter extra miles each year for road trips and vacations.

Highway Share of Other Trips: Enter the percent of those trip miles on the highway.

Fuel prices: Enter your local price for gas, diesel, E85, B20, B100, natural gas, or propane. Only the fuels your cars use will show.

State: Pick your state to fill in the home electricity rate. You can still type your own rate.

Home Electricity and Public Charging: Enter what you pay per kWh at home and at public chargers.

"What If" Fuel Price Shift: Slide this to raise or lower all pump prices at once and watch your totals move.

Down Payment: Enter the percent of the price you pay up front.

Loan APR: Enter your loan interest rate.

Loan Term: Enter how many months your loan lasts.

Annual Insurance: Enter what you pay for insurance each year.

Annual Maintenance: Enter yearly upkeep for a gas car. Electric, hybrid, and diesel cars are adjusted for you.

Annual Registration & Taxes: Enter your yearly tags and tax cost.

Depreciation First Year and Later Years: Enter the percent of value the car loses in year one and in each year after.

Result View: Choose Fuel Cost Only or Full Cost of Ownership.

Projection Horizon: Pick 1, 3, 5, or 10 years for your totals.

Show the worked calculation for: Pick one car to see the math step by step.

Calculate and Reset: Click Calculate to update the results, or Reset to go back to the sample setup.

What Car Cost Really Means

The sticker price is only part of what a car costs. Every year you also pay for fuel or electricity, insurance, oil changes and repairs, registration, taxes, and loan interest.¹³ The car also loses value as it gets older. Add all of that up and you get the total cost of ownership. A cheap car to buy can be an expensive car to own, and a pricey car can pay you back over time.

Fuel and Energy Costs

Fuel is the cost you feel most often. It depends on three things: how far you drive, how much fuel your car uses, and what fuel costs where you live. Gas cars are rated in miles per gallon (mpg). Electric cars are rated in kilowatt-hours per 100 miles (kWh/100 mi).¹ Most cars use more fuel in stop-and-go city traffic than on the highway. Hybrids recapture energy normally lost when coasting or braking, and in some the electric motor alone moves the car at low speeds, where gasoline engines are least efficient.² That is why many hybrids do better in city driving than on the highway.

City Miles vs. Highway Miles

Your driving mix changes your yearly bill a lot. Short city trips, cold starts, and traffic all burn extra fuel. Long steady highway trips are usually cheaper per mile for gas cars. Driving at higher speeds increases aerodynamic drag, which lowers fuel economy.¹⁸ For electric cars that means less range, so highway driving can cost a bit more per mile than city driving.

Gas, Hybrid, Plug-In, and Electric

Gas: lowest price to buy, highest fuel cost.
Hybrid: uses a small battery to save gas, no plug needed.
Plug-in hybrid (PHEV): drives short trips on electricity, then switches to gas. Savings depend on how often you plug in.
Electric (BEV): no gas at all. Home charging is usually much cheaper than public fast charging.¹⁷
Diesel, E85, CNG, propane: found mostly on trucks and vans, with their own pump prices and mileage.

Depreciation and Break-Even

Depreciation is the value a car loses over time, and it is the single largest cost of owning a new car.¹⁴ New cars drop the fastest in the first year. Break-even is the point where a car that costs more to buy has saved you enough on fuel to catch up with a cheaper car. If you drive a lot of miles each year, you reach break-even sooner. If you drive very little, a cheaper, less efficient car may still win.

Simple Ways to Lower Your Car Costs

Keep tires at the right pressure and skip hard, fast starts.
Charge at home overnight if you drive electric.
Compare insurance quotes every year.
Do basic maintenance on time to avoid big repair bills.
Pick a car that matches your real driving, not your rare long trips.

Formulas used

Total annual driving distance

D_{total} = (D_{daily} \times \text{days/week} \times \text{weeks/year}) + D_{other}

City / highway distance split

D_{hwy} = D_{daily,yr} \times \frac{h_{d}}{100} + D_{other} \times \frac{h_{o}}{100}, \qquad D_{city} = D_{total} - D_{hwy}

Annual fuel cost (liquid / gaseous fuel)

C_{year} = \left( \frac{D_{city}}{E_{city}} + \frac{D_{hwy}}{E_{hwy}} \right) \times p_{fuel}

Annual electricity cost (BEV) with blended rate

C_{year} = \left( \frac{D_{city} \cdot k_{city}}{100} + \frac{D_{hwy} \cdot k_{hwy}}{100} \right) \times \left( \frac{h}{100} p_{home} + \left(1 - \frac{h}{100}\right) p_{pub} \right)

Residual value and depreciation over the horizon

R = P \times \left(1 - \frac{d_1}{100}\right) \times \left(1 - \frac{d_n}{100}\right)^{Y-1}, \qquad \text{Dep} = P - R

Monthly loan payment

\text{Pay} = \frac{L \cdot r}{1 - (1 + r)^{-n}}, \qquad L = P\left(1 - \frac{down}{100}\right), \quad r = \frac{APR}{1200}

Total cost of ownership over Y years

TCO = C_{year} \cdot Y + (\text{Ins} + \text{Maint} + \text{Reg}) \cdot Y + I_{paid} + \text{Dep}

Break-even time versus the lowest-price vehicle

Y_{BE} = \frac{P_{veh} - P_{base}}{C_{base} - C_{veh}}, \qquad D_{BE} = Y_{BE} \times D_{total}

Frequently asked questions

How much does it cost to own a car per year?

AAA's 2026 Your Driving Costs study puts the average cost to own and operate a new car at $12,863 a year.¹⁴ That covers depreciation, loan interest, fuel, insurance, registration and taxes, and maintenance.

AAA's average costs, over five years and 75,000 miles:

Depreciation: $4,422 a year
Insurance: $2,098 a year
Finance charges: $1,184 a year
License, registration and taxes: $802 a year
Fuel: 17.3 cents a mile
Maintenance, repair and tires: 11.7 cents a mile¹⁵

A paid-off older car has no loan interest and loses less value each year, so it usually costs less to keep.

What is the biggest cost of owning a car?

Depreciation. It is the value your car loses as it ages, and it is the single largest cost of owning a new car: AAA puts it at $4,422 a year on average.¹⁴

A new car often loses about 15% to 20% in year one, then roughly 10% each year after. On a $35,000 car, that is about $5,000 gone in the first 12 months alone.

You do not see this cost until you sell or trade in, which is why many people forget it.

How do you calculate cost per mile to drive?

Divide your total yearly cost by the miles you drive that year.

Cost per mile = total yearly cost ÷ yearly miles

Example: you spend $9,000 a year and drive 15,000 miles. That is $9,000 ÷ 15,000 = $0.60 per mile.

For fuel only, divide fuel cost by miles. A car getting 30 mpg with $3.89 gas costs about $0.13 per mile in fuel.

Are electric cars cheaper to own than gas cars?

Often yes, but it depends on how much you drive and where you charge.

Fuel: charging at home usually costs 3 to 5 cents per mile. Gas costs 12 to 18 cents per mile.
Maintenance: electric cars have fewer moving parts and fluids to change, so they need less maintenance.⁶ Argonne National Laboratory found their scheduled maintenance costs 41% less per mile than a gas car's, and this calculator uses that difference.¹⁶
Price: EVs often cost more up front.
Public charging: fast chargers can cost 3 times the home rate and erase savings.

Drivers who go over 12,000 miles a year and charge at home usually save the most.

How many miles do you need to drive for a hybrid to pay for itself?

Divide the extra price by your yearly fuel savings.

Example: a hybrid costs $3,000 more but saves $700 a year in gas. That is $3,000 ÷ $700 = about 4.3 years. At 15,000 miles a year, that is roughly 64,000 miles.

Drive more miles and it happens faster. Drive very few miles and it may never pay off.

How much does it cost to charge an electric car at home?

Multiply your battery size by your electric rate.

Cost = kWh used × price per kWh

Example: a 75 kWh battery at $0.16 per kWh costs about $12 for a full charge. That charge covers around 250 miles, so about 5 cents per mile.

Rates change a lot by state. From January to July 2026, homes in North Dakota paid an average of 12.36 cents per kWh and Idaho 12.96 cents, while California paid 33.25 cents and Hawaii 46.28 cents.⁷

Is it cheaper to buy a used car or a new car?

Used is usually cheaper overall. A 3-year-old car has already taken its biggest depreciation hit, so you lose less value each year you own it.

But used cars have trade-offs:

Higher loan rates than new-car loans
More repairs as parts wear out
Little or no warranty left

A used car with a good repair record almost always wins on total cost. A used car with hidden problems can cost more than new.

Why do hybrids get better mpg in the city than on the highway?

Hybrids use the electric motor most at low speeds and capture energy when you brake.² City driving has lots of stops, so the battery gets refilled again and again.

On the highway the gas engine runs almost all the time, and there is little braking to recover energy. Gas mileage also usually drops quickly at speeds above 50 mph.³

That is why the 2025 Toyota Prius is rated 57 mpg city and 56 mpg highway.⁵ A regular gas car is usually rated lower in the city than on the highway.

How much does a plug-in hybrid actually save compared to a regular hybrid?

It depends almost entirely on how often you plug in.

Plug in daily, short commute: most of your miles can run on electricity, which usually costs less per mile than gas.
Plug in rarely: you carry a heavy battery around and save little or nothing.

PHEVs usually cost more up front too. A driver with a 20-mile commute and a home charger gets real value. A driver without a plug does not.

Does E85 save money compared to regular gas?

Only if it is cheap enough. Because ethanol holds less energy, flex-fuel cars running on E85 get roughly 15% to 27% fewer miles per gallon than on regular gasoline, depending on the ethanol content.⁴

This calculator uses the 27% figure, so E85 must be at least 27% cheaper than gas to break even. If gas is $3.89, E85 needs to be under about $2.84 to save you money.

E85 is typically cheaper per gallon than gasoline but slightly more expensive per mile.⁴

How much does car insurance cost per year?

It varies widely. AAA's driving-cost study puts insurance at $2,098 a year on average for a new car.¹⁵ Your rate changes with:

Your age and driving record
Your state and ZIP code
The car's value and repair cost
Your deductible and coverage limits

EVs and luxury cars often cost more to insure because parts and repairs are pricier.

What is a good annual mileage for a car?

The average U.S. driver covers about 13,476 miles a year.⁸ The annual mileage limit in most standard leases is 15,000 miles or less.⁹

Rough groups:

Low: under 8,000 miles a year
Average: 10,000 to 15,000 miles
High: over 20,000 miles

High mileage makes fuel efficiency matter much more. Low mileage makes purchase price and insurance matter more.

How much does depreciation cost per year?

Most cars lose about 15% to 20% in the first year, then near 10% of the remaining value each year after.

On a $30,000 car:

Year 1: about $4,500 lost, worth $25,500
Year 2: about $2,550 lost, worth $22,950
Year 5: worth roughly $16,700

That is about $13,300 in 5 years, or $2,660 a year. Trucks and popular SUVs hold value better. Luxury sedans and slow-selling models drop faster.

Does driving slower save gas?

Yes, up to a point. Gas mileage usually decreases rapidly at speeds above 50 mph.³

Each 5 mph you drive over 50 mph is like paying an additional $0.31 per gallon for gas.³

Aggressive driving, such as speeding, rapid acceleration and hard braking, can lower your gas mileage by roughly 15% to 30% at highway speeds and 10% to 40% in stop-and-go traffic.³

How much does maintenance cost per year on a car?

AAA's 2026 study puts maintenance, repair and tires for a new car at 11.7 cents a mile.¹⁵ Newer cars cost less to keep up, and older, high-mileage cars cost more.

Argonne National Laboratory found scheduled maintenance costs per mile 7% lower for hybrids, 11% lower for plug-in hybrids and 41% lower for battery-electric cars than for gas cars, and assumed diesel costs the same as gas.¹⁶ This calculator applies those differences to the yearly gas-car figure you enter.

Tire replacement and rotation are a large share: from 17% of scheduled maintenance costs for a gas car to 29% for a battery-electric car.¹⁶

How do you compare the true cost of two cars?

Add up every yearly cost for each car over the same number of years, then compare the totals.

Include these six items:

Fuel or charging
Depreciation (price minus resale value)
Insurance
Maintenance and repairs
Registration and taxes
Loan interest

Use the same yearly mileage and the same time span for both. A 5-year window is a common choice for cost-to-own comparisons.

How much does public fast charging cost compared to home charging?

Public DC fast charging usually runs $0.40 to $0.60 per kWh. The average U.S. home paid 18.19 cents per kWh from January to July 2026.⁷

At those prices, a 75 kWh fill-up costs about $14 at home and $30 to $45 at a fast charger. Over a year at 15,000 miles, an EV using 29 kWh per 100 miles needs about 4,350 kWh. That is about $790 at the home average and about $1,740 to $2,610 at fast-charger prices.

Charging at home most of the time is the key to EV savings.

Is a diesel truck cheaper to run than a gas truck?

Diesel vehicles can often go about 20% to 35% farther on a gallon of fuel than their gasoline counterparts.¹¹ They cost more to buy, and diesel fuel usually costs more per gallon.

Quick math on 15,000 miles:

Gas truck at 18 mpg with $3.89 gas: about $3,240 a year
Diesel at 24 mpg with $4.49 diesel: about $2,806 a year

That is $434 saved. With a $7,000 price gap, break-even takes over 15 years. Diesel wins mainly if you tow heavy loads or drive very high miles.

What is a good APR for a car loan?

In the second quarter of 2026, commercial banks charged an average of 7.14% on 60-month new car loans and 6.97% on 72-month loans.¹⁰ Used car loans tend to cost more.

Interest adds up fast. On a $30,000 loan over 60 months:

At 5%: about $3,970 in interest
At 7.25%: about $5,855 in interest
At 10%: about $8,245 in interest

A bigger down payment and a shorter term both cut the total interest you pay.

Does a bigger down payment save money on a car?

Yes. A bigger down payment lowers the loan amount, so you pay less interest overall.¹²

On a $35,000 car at 7.25% for 60 months:

10% down: you borrow $31,500 and pay about $6,150 in interest
20% down: you borrow $28,000 and pay about $5,465 in interest

That saves about $680. It also keeps you from owing more than the car is worth in the first year or two.

Sources

Learn More About the Electric Vehicle Label. U.S. Department of Energy and U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (fueleconomy.gov). 5. Fuel Consumption Rate. Accessed September 29, 2026.

How Hybrids Work. U.S. Department of Energy and U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (fueleconomy.gov). Accessed September 29, 2026.

Driving More Efficiently. U.S. Department of Energy and U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (fueleconomy.gov). Drive Sensibly; Observe the Speed Limit. Accessed September 29, 2026.

Ethanol. U.S. Department of Energy and U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (fueleconomy.gov). E85 (Flex Fuel). Accessed September 29, 2026.

2025 Toyota Prius. U.S. Department of Energy and U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (fueleconomy.gov). 2025;Prius FWD. Accessed September 29, 2026.

Maintenance and Safety of Electric Vehicles. U.S. Department of Energy, Alternative Fuels Data Center. Accessed September 29, 2026.

Electric Power Monthly, Table 5.6.B. Average Price of Electricity to Ultimate Customers by End-Use Sector, by State, Year-to-Date. U.S. Energy Information Administration. 2026;Table 5.6.B, residential, year-to-date through July 2026. Accessed September 29, 2026.

Average Annual Miles per Driver by Age Group. Federal Highway Administration. Accessed September 29, 2026.

Financing or Leasing a Car. Federal Trade Commission. Leasing a Car. Accessed September 29, 2026.

Consumer Credit - G.19. Board of Governors of the Federal Reserve System. 2026;Terms of Credit, commercial bank interest rates, new car loans. Accessed September 29, 2026.

Diesel Vehicles. U.S. Department of Energy and U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (fueleconomy.gov). Accessed September 29, 2026.

Auto loans key terms. Consumer Financial Protection Bureau. Down payment. Accessed September 29, 2026.

How do I compare auto loan offers? Consumer Financial Protection Bureau. Accessed September 29, 2026.

AAA: New Vehicle Ownership Costs Hit $12,863 Annually. AAA Newsroom. 2026. Accessed October 7, 2026.

Your Driving Costs 2026: How Much Does it Really Cost to Own a New Car? AAA. 2026;fact sheet, p. 1. Accessed October 7, 2026.

Burnham A, Gohlke D, Rush L, et al. Comprehensive Total Cost of Ownership Quantification for Vehicles with Different Size Classes and Powertrains (ANL/ESD-21/4). Argonne National Laboratory. 2021;section 3.5.3, pp. 82-84. Accessed October 7, 2026.

Borlaug B, Salisbury S, Gerdes M, Muratori M. Levelized Cost of Charging Electric Vehicles in the United States. Joule. 2020;4(7):1470-1485. doi:10.1016/j.joule.2020.05.013. Accessed October 7, 2026.

Factors Affecting Fuel Economy. U.S. Department of Energy and U.S. Environmental Protection Agency. Accessed October 7, 2026.

Normal Daily Use

Other Trips (road trips, vacations)

Chart data (text alternative)

Rate this calculator

Introduction

How to use our Car Cost Calculator

What Car Cost Really Means

Fuel and Energy Costs

City Miles vs. Highway Miles

Gas, Hybrid, Plug-In, and Electric

Depreciation and Break-Even

Simple Ways to Lower Your Car Costs

Formulas used

Frequently asked questions

How much does it cost to own a car per year?

What is the biggest cost of owning a car?

How do you calculate cost per mile to drive?

Are electric cars cheaper to own than gas cars?

How many miles do you need to drive for a hybrid to pay for itself?

How much does it cost to charge an electric car at home?

Is it cheaper to buy a used car or a new car?

Why do hybrids get better mpg in the city than on the highway?

How much does a plug-in hybrid actually save compared to a regular hybrid?

Does E85 save money compared to regular gas?

How much does car insurance cost per year?

What is a good annual mileage for a car?

How much does depreciation cost per year?

Does driving slower save gas?

How much does maintenance cost per year on a car?

How do you compare the true cost of two cars?

How much does public fast charging cost compared to home charging?

Is a diesel truck cheaper to run than a gas truck?

What is a good APR for a car loan?

Does a bigger down payment save money on a car?

Sources

Car Cost Calculator

Normal Daily Use

Other Trips (road trips, vacations)

Chart data (text alternative)

Rate this calculator

Introduction

How to use our Car Cost Calculator

What Car Cost Really Means

Fuel and Energy Costs

City Miles vs. Highway Miles

Gas, Hybrid, Plug-In, and Electric

Depreciation and Break-Even

Simple Ways to Lower Your Car Costs

Formulas used

Frequently asked questions

How much does it cost to own a car per year?

What is the biggest cost of owning a car?

How do you calculate cost per mile to drive?

Are electric cars cheaper to own than gas cars?

How many miles do you need to drive for a hybrid to pay for itself?

How much does it cost to charge an electric car at home?

Is it cheaper to buy a used car or a new car?

Why do hybrids get better mpg in the city than on the highway?

How much does a plug-in hybrid actually save compared to a regular hybrid?

Does E85 save money compared to regular gas?

How much does car insurance cost per year?

What is a good annual mileage for a car?

How much does depreciation cost per year?

Does driving slower save gas?

How much does maintenance cost per year on a car?

How do you compare the true cost of two cars?

How much does public fast charging cost compared to home charging?

Is a diesel truck cheaper to run than a gas truck?

What is a good APR for a car loan?

Does a bigger down payment save money on a car?

Sources

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