Fuel and car costs · rates of EIA and EPA
Cost of owning a car
Enter the price, how long you keep the car, your miles and your yearly bills: the calculator adds everything up and gives the cost per year and per mile.
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Cost of owning the car for 5 years
$48,807
$9,761 a year · $0.813 a mile
| Depreciation | $20,027 |
| Fuel | $9,330 |
| Maintenance and tires | $6,000 |
| Insurance | $9,000 |
| Registration and fees | $1,250 |
| Loan interest | $3,200 |
Every input is yours; the fuel price defaults to the EIA U.S. average of the week of 2026-10-05. How this is calculated.
A $36,000 car kept five years and driven 12,000 miles a year costs about $48,807 to own in the example used by the calculator above, or $9,761 a year and $0.813 a mile. Loss of value is the largest line at $20,027 (with a 15% yearly loss you choose), then insurance at $9,000, fuel at $9,330 at the EIA U.S. average of $4.354 a gallon and 28 mpg, maintenance, registration and $3,200 of loan interest. Every line except the fuel price is your own input, because no public agency publishes the insurance, the resale value or the repairs of one car; the defaults are illustrations to replace. Keeping the same car ten years lowers the cost per mile to $0.694, because the steepest loss of value is behind you. For an electric car, use the cost per mile of electricity from the charging calculator instead of fuel.
The lines of a total cost of ownership
Total cost of ownership is everything a car takes from your budget while you have it, minus what you get back when you sell it. Depreciation is that difference between price and resale value. Fuel and maintenance follow the miles. Insurance and registration follow the calendar. Loan interest follows the financing: the total interest on a loan is printed on the loan disclosure, which is the figure to type here. Parking and tolls can be added to the insurance line if they are regular. Sales tax and the dealer's fees at purchase belong in the price, since you pay them once and do not get them back when you sell.
The calculator spreads the result two ways. Per year tells you what the car costs your household; per mile lets you compare it with the IRS business rate of 76 cents, with a rental, or with rideshares for the trips you actually make.
Fuel for a drive at U.S. average prices
Fuel cost
$46.65
| 10.7 gal × $4.354 | $46.65 |
| Per mile | $0.156 |
| Same miles at the IRS rate ($0.76) | $228 |
Why time changes the answer
Cars lose the most value in their first years, so the yearly cost of depreciation falls the longer you keep one, while repairs tend to rise. With a constant yearly loss rate, the example loses $20,027 in five years and $28,913 in ten; the extra five years add only $8,886 of depreciation. The car depreciation calculator shows the value year by year. Raise the maintenance per mile for the later years if you expect major work, such as a timing belt, a transmission service or a new set of tires.
Gasoline or electric
To compare an electric car, enter its own price, insurance and loss rate, and set the energy cost through the MPG and price fields so that price divided by MPG equals the EV's cost per mile from the EV charging calculator. The gas versus electric calculator gives the yearly energy gap directly for your state.
Defaults are not averages
The $36,000 price, $1,800 of insurance, $250 of registration, 10 cents a mile of maintenance and 15% yearly loss are round illustrative inputs, not national figures; this site does not publish averages it cannot source. Your insurer's renewal notice, your state's registration bill and listings for your model give the real numbers. The fuel price is the exception: it defaults to the EIA U.S. average of the week of October 5, 2026 (EIA), and the gas cost calculator gives your state's.
If the car is used for business
A self-employed owner deducts the business share of these costs, either through the standard mileage rate or through actual expenses; the business mileage deduction calculator compares the two. An employee reimbursed at the IRS rate can set this cost per mile against 76 cents to see whether the reimbursement covers the car.