Total Cost of Ownership Calculator (Car)
Car total cost of ownership calculator — combine depreciation with fuel, insurance, maintenance and other running costs over your holding period to see the true cost per year and per month, with a ranked breakdown. In your choice of currency. Runs in your browser.
Total Cost of Ownership Calculator (Car)
How to Use the Cost of Ownership Calculator
Set price and resale
Enter the purchase price and a realistic resale value at the end of your holding period — the gap is depreciation.
Add running costs
Enter your annual fuel, insurance, maintenance and other costs.
Choose the period
Set how many years you will keep the car; the tool spreads all costs across it.
Compare cars
Read the true cost per month and the breakdown, and run it twice to compare two vehicles fairly.
What a Car Really Costs to Own
The price on the windscreen is the question most car buyers ask, but it is the wrong one. What actually matters is the total cost of ownership: everything the car will cost you over the years you keep it, divided into a figure you can compare and budget around. This calculator builds that number from two halves. The first is depreciation — the value the car quietly loses between the day you buy it and the day you sell it — which for most owners is the single largest cost of all, larger than fuel or insurance, yet invisible because it never arrives as a bill. The second half is the running costs: fuel or charging, insurance, maintenance and repairs, and the catch-all of road tax, parking and tolls. Add the depreciation to the running costs across your holding period and you have the true cost of the car.
Expressing that as a cost per year and per month is what makes it useful. A monthly figure puts very different cars on the same footing and, crucially, includes the depreciation that a loan payment alone conceals. It is entirely possible for a cheaper car to cost more to own than a more expensive one: if it drinks fuel, sheds value quickly or is costly to insure, those running costs and that depreciation can more than wipe out the lower purchase price. Conversely, a pricier car that sips fuel, holds its value and is cheap to insure can be the economical choice over five years. The ranked breakdown shows you exactly where the money goes, so you can see whether depreciation, fuel or insurance dominates your particular situation — and electric cars, which shift cost away from fuel and maintenance toward purchase price and depreciation, are a perfect example of why only the total matters.
The tool deliberately keeps the inputs in your hands, because the honest answer depends on your numbers, not generic averages. You supply a realistic resale value — which you can take from a depreciation calculator or from listings for the same model at that age — and your own annual running costs, ideally from recent bills. One thing it leaves out is financing: the cost here is of owning and running the car, not of how you pay for it, so if you borrow, estimate the loan interest separately and add it on. Used this way — run once for each car you are weighing up — it turns the vague feeling that one car is “cheaper” into a clear, like-for-like comparison of what each will really take out of your pocket. Everything is computed in your browser, so none of the figures you enter ever leave your device.
The cheapest car to buy and the cheapest car to own are often not the same car — only total cost of ownership tells them apart.
10 Facts About Cost of Ownership
The sticker price is only the start of what a car costs.
Depreciation is usually the largest cost of ownership.
Fuel, insurance and maintenance are the main running costs.
Two cars at the same price can cost very differently to run.
Cost per month spreads the true cost over ownership.
EVs shift cost from fuel to depreciation and electricity.
A cheap car with high running costs can beat a pricey efficient one… or not.
Insurance varies hugely by driver, model and region.
TCO is the fairest way to compare two cars.
This calculator runs in your browser — nothing is uploaded.
Frequently Asked Questions
- Total cost of ownership, or TCO, is everything a car costs you over the time you own it — not just the purchase price. It combines the value the car loses (depreciation) with the running costs of fuel or charging, insurance, maintenance and other expenses. Dividing by the holding period gives a true cost per year and per month.
- Because it is real money. The difference between what you pay for a car and what you sell it for is a cost you bear just as surely as a fuel bill, and for most owners it is the largest single component of TCO. Leaving it out makes a car look far cheaper than it really is, which is why this tool puts it front and centre.
- Enter a realistic figure for what the car will be worth at the end of your holding period. You can get this from a depreciation calculator or by checking listings for the same model at that age. The gap between purchase price and resale is the depreciation the tool charges to your ownership.
- The big three are fuel or charging, insurance, and maintenance and repairs. The “other” field captures everything else — road tax, parking, tolls, cleaning and so on. Enter annual figures; the tool multiplies them by your holding period and adds them to depreciation.
- No — the TCO here covers the cost of the car and running it, not how you pay for it. If you finance the purchase, the loan interest is an additional cost; estimate it with a car loan calculator and add it to the picture. Paying cash avoids interest but ties up money that could earn elsewhere.
- Because two cars with the same price tag can cost wildly different amounts to own. A cheaper car that guzzles fuel, depreciates fast or is expensive to insure can easily cost more over five years than a pricier, efficient, value-holding rival. Comparing total cost of ownership, not sticker price, is the only fair way to judge.
- EVs typically have lower fuel (electricity) and maintenance costs but can depreciate differently and cost more upfront, so their TCO depends heavily on local energy prices, incentives and how the model holds its value. Enter your own figures to see whether an EV works out cheaper to own over your holding period.
- It expresses the whole cost of ownership as a steady monthly figure, which is far more useful for budgeting than a one-off price. It lets you compare the true monthly burden of different cars on the same footing, including the depreciation that a loan payment alone hides.
- It is exactly as accurate as the figures you feed it. The maths is straightforward; the uncertainty is in the inputs, especially resale value and insurance, which vary by model, driver and region. Use realistic local numbers, and treat the result as a well-structured estimate for comparison rather than a precise forecast.
- Completely free, with no account or usage limit. It runs entirely in your browser, collects no data, and works offline once the page has loaded.
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