Car Running Cost Calculator — cost per year & per km
Work out what your car really costs to run each year, each month and per kilometre — fuel, insurance, tax, servicing and depreciation.
What this calculates
Most people think of a car's cost as fuel, but a car costs money even when it is parked. Insurance, road tax, servicing and depreciation — the value the car loses every year — are fixed costs, and for a newer car depreciation is often the largest single cost of all. This calculator adds the fuel for the distance you drive to those fixed costs to give the true yearly figure, then divides it by the kilometres you drive. Because the fixed part is the same however far you go, the cost per kilometre drops the more you drive — useful when weighing a second car, a car-share or an electric car.
Formula
fuel per year = km ÷ 100 × consumption × price fixed costs = insurance + tax + servicing + parking + depreciation total per year = fuel + fixed costs cost per km = total ÷ km per year
Example
Driving 12,000 km a year in a car that uses 6 litres per 100 km at €1.75 a litre costs €1,260 in fuel. Add €600 insurance, €200 tax, €500 servicing and €2,000 depreciation and the car costs €4,560 a year — €380 a month, or 38 cents for every kilometre, of which fuel is only about 10.5 cents.
Frequently asked questions
How do I work out depreciation?
Take what you paid, subtract what you expect to sell it for, and divide by the number of years you will keep it. A €20,000 car you expect to sell for €10,000 after five years depreciates by about €2,000 a year. New cars lose value fastest in the first three years.
Is an electric car cheaper to run?
Usually per kilometre, because electricity costs less than fuel for the same distance and servicing is simpler. Enter consumption in kWh per 100 km and your electricity price per kWh to compare — but include depreciation and insurance, which can be higher.
Why is my cost per kilometre so much higher than the fuel?
Because fuel is often the smaller part. In the worked example above, fuel is about 10.5 cents per kilometre but the whole car costs 38 cents once insurance, tax, servicing and depreciation are spread over the distance. The fewer kilometres you drive, the bigger that gap.
Should I include the loan or lease?
For a lease, put the yearly lease payments in instead of depreciation. For a car loan, depreciation already covers the car's cost, so add only the interest you pay each year under 'parking, tolls & other'.