Depreciation, fuel, insurance, maintenance, and loan interest — combined into one honest number.
Enter the purchase price, the down payment, the loan rate and term, and how long you plan to keep the car. Then add the yearly running costs: insurance, maintenance and fuel. The page combines depreciation, loan interest and those running costs into a total and divides it into a yearly and monthly figure.
Use your real insurance quote and your real fuel spend. Averages produce an average answer, and the point of the page is the number for your car.
A $35,000 car, $5,000 down, 6.5% for 60 months, kept five years:
| Component | Five-year cost |
|---|---|
| Depreciation ($35,000 down to $16,399) | $18,601 |
| Loan interest | $5,219 |
| Insurance ($1,400 a year) | $7,000 |
| Maintenance ($900 a year) | $4,500 |
| Fuel ($1,800 a year) | $9,000 |
| Total | $44,320 |
That is $8,864 a year, or $739 a month, for a car whose payment is $587. The gap between the payment and the real cost is the whole point of the page: the loan ends, the other four lines do not.
Depreciation is the largest line and the only one you never see a bill for. It is the difference between what you paid and what the car is worth when you sell, and it lands as a lump at the end rather than a monthly charge. The curve used here falls steeply in the first two years and flattens after that, which is the ordinary shape for new cars and the reason a two-year-old car usually wins on total cost.
Interest is the second invisible line. Only the portion that accrues while you hold the car is counted, so selling before the loan is repaid reduces it. A shorter term raises the payment and lowers the interest, and the trade is worth running both ways.
How long you keep the car dominates everything. The same vehicle held for eight years instead of five spreads the depreciation over three more years while the price of the car stays the same, so the annual cost falls even as maintenance rises. That is why the "cheapest" car is often the one you already own.
Because you pay it when you sell, not when you drive. It is still a real cost, and it is the largest single line for most new cars.
They belong in the maintenance figure. Enter the yearly average and expect it to rise as the car ages.
The depreciation calculator projects a value year by year. Use that figure as the end value if you want a custom estimate.
It is already inside the purchase price, so it is not added again. It changes the loan amount and therefore the interest.
Sometimes. The lease-versus-buy calculator puts both on the same footing, including the equity you give up by leasing.
Fuel and the loan are calculable. Depreciation on this page is the site’s curve, not a market quote.
Last updated: November 2, 2026. Reviewed by David Liu.