Car Ownership Cost Calculator UK
Add your annual bills, repairs, value loss and finance interest to compare the cost of owning a car. Use fuel spending for petrol/diesel or charging spending for an EV. All starting figures are editable examples.
How much does a car cost per year and per mile?
The starting example totals £5,150.00 a year, £429.17 a month and 64.4p per mile at 8,000 miles. That includes £2,000 annual depreciation and no finance interest. It is a teaching example, not an average UK car cost.
Enter Annual Costs
Starting figures are examples, not UK averages. Every field is included; enter 0 for costs that do not apply.
Use expected miles. Changing mileage does not automatically recalculate annual bills.
Include home and public charging for an EV. Use actual tariffs and mileage.
Use your actual DVLA bill, including any supplement or payment-method surcharge.
Use your quote or renewal total; include instalment charges if applicable.
Testing and planned servicing. Put repairs elsewhere to avoid counting them twice.
Tyres, brakes and an allowance for unplanned work, excluding servicing already entered.
Include permits, tolls and applicable congestion or clean-air charges.
Annual average value loss, not a cash bill. Use the depreciation calculator below.
Interest/fees only. Do not include principal repayments or lease rentals alongside depreciation.
Breakdown cover or other expenses not entered elsewhere. Enter 0 if none.
Estimate annual depreciation or work out fuel spending before replacing those examples.
Total Ownership Cost
Annual
£5,150.00
Monthly average
£429.17
Per mile
64.4p
Ownership cost includes value loss. This monthly average is not a finance instalment or a complete cash-flow budget.
Running costs plus interest/fees: £3,150.00/year
Depreciation: £2,000.00/year
Running-cost subtotal excludes depreciation, loan principal, deposits and final finance payments. Do not treat it as the full amount of cash you need.
Weekly average: £99.04 · Calendar-day average: £14.11. Figures display rounded; calculations keep the entered amounts.
Annual Cost Breakdown
| Category | Annual | Monthly |
|---|---|---|
| Depreciation | £2,000.00 | £166.67 |
| Fuel | £1,500.00 | £125.00 |
| Insurance | £600.00 | £50.00 |
| MOT & Servicing | £350.00 | £29.17 |
| Maintenance & Repairs | £300.00 | £25.00 |
| Road Tax (VED) | £200.00 | £16.67 |
| Parking & Tolls | £200.00 | £16.67 |
What the Cost Per Mile Means
A 10-mile journey represents £6.44 of the annual ownership total when allocated at your average rate. This is not the extra cash cost of that trip.
For an extra journey, consider fuel or charging, wear, parking, tolls and access charges. Depreciation can also vary with usage; not every ownership expense is fixed.
To model higher mileage, revise fuel, maintenance and value-loss estimates too. Changing the mileage field alone only spreads the same annual costs across a different number of miles.
How to calculate annual car ownership costs
Add your annual fuel or charging, vehicle tax, insurance, MOT and servicing, repairs, parking and other costs. For an ownership-cost comparison, also include depreciation and finance interest or fees. Divide the total by 12 for a monthly average and by annual mileage for cost per mile.
Annual ownership cost = running costs + depreciation + finance interest and fees.
All inputs are annual amounts, including depreciation. Use a servicing schedule and repair allowance suited to your vehicle, rather than assuming that irregular expenses are £0. Avoid entering the same repair in both servicing and maintenance.
The tool adds your inputs; it does not estimate fuel efficiency, insurance premiums, resale values or the applicable VED automatically. Changing mileage does not recalculate those bills. Use the fuel calculator and age-based depreciation scenarios to inform the relevant annual inputs.
Worked example: annual, monthly and per-mile cost
The starting scenario is a teaching example, not an average UK car. It assumes 8,000 annual miles and no finance interest or other costs.
| Category | Annual amount |
|---|---|
| Depreciation | £2,000.00 |
| Fuel | £1,500.00 |
| Insurance | £600.00 |
| MOT & Servicing | £350.00 |
| Maintenance & Repairs | £300.00 |
| Road Tax (VED) | £200.00 |
| Parking & Tolls | £200.00 |
| Total including depreciation | £5,150.00 |
That is £429.17 a month on average and 64.4p per mile. Running costs excluding depreciation are £3,150.00 a year. At 4,000 miles with identical annual amounts, the allocated cost becomes 128.8p per mile. Actual fuel spending might fall with lower mileage, so update it too before comparing scenarios.
An average cost per mile allocates the whole ownership budget. It is not a fare or the additional cash cost of one trip. A journey can add fuel, wear, parking and charges while other bills remain unchanged. Compare actual journey costs with the commuting calculator.
Ownership cost versus a cash-flow budget
Depreciation is loss of value, not a bill you pay monthly. This page combines that loss with running expenses and interest or fees. It does not include the purchase price, deposit, loan principal or a final balloon payment as separate ownership expenses.
For cash flow, budget the amounts you actually pay: deposit, instalments, any final payment and running expenses. Do not add principal repayments to depreciation as a separate economic cost. PCP and HP payments can contain different proportions of interest and capital; use the agreement or lender's breakdown rather than the full instalment here.
Lease rentals cover a different arrangement. Compare the initial rental, all monthly payments, mileage limits and possible end charges using the leasing-versus-buying calculator. Depreciation scenarios also do not establish the amount you receive after settling finance.
Which bills should you check?
- VED: use the actual annual tax payment. The 2026/27 standard renewal amount is £200, but monthly Direct Debit totals £210. First-year and older vehicle rates differ. An applicable expensive-car supplement adds £440 for the relevant five renewal years; qualifying electric cars use an original list-price threshold above £50,000, with other qualifying cars above £40,000.
- EV charging: include both home and public charging at your actual tariffs. Electric cars do not all have the same VED liability or insurance/repair costs.
- MOT and servicing: GOV.UK lists a £54.85 maximum for a standard car MOT test in Great Britain. Northern Ireland has separate DVA vehicle-test fees. Servicing, repairs and retest arrangements are separate. Check the applicable test and charges for your vehicle.
- Insurance and extras: include instalment interest, breakdown cover and permits if applicable, while checking they are not already bundled into another figure.
These statutory examples were checked on 12 October 2026. The other starting amounts are editable assumptions, not current supplier quotes. HMRC mileage-claim rates answer a tax/reimbursement question, not how much your private car actually costs; see the mileage-claim calculator for that separate calculation.
Frequently Asked Questions
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