True Cost of Ownership Calculator
The sticker price is a lie. Pick a performance car, adjust the numbers for your life, and see what it really costs you every month: loan payment, insurance, fuel, and maintenance, all in one number. Toggle between new and used to see how depreciation changes the picture.
Your inputs
Pick your state to localize insurance, purchase tax, gas price, registration, and annual vehicle property tax. Leave it on National average for the baseline figures.
Used prices, insurance, and maintenance vary a lot by generation. Pick the one you're shopping. New mode always uses the current generation.
Prefilled with MSRP (new) or average used price. Edit it freely; every calculation updates.
Prefilled with this car’s estimated premium (your state’s average applied). Have a real quote? Enter it instead.
Your true cost
Where each dollar goes
Used-mode depreciation is a rough estimate: the same depreciation rate applied to the used price. Real used-car depreciation varies widely.
Affordability check
Optional. Stays in your browser. We compare the monthly true cost above against the 15% guideline.
A common guideline: spend no more than 15% of your gross income on total car costs. This is a rule of thumb, not financial advice. Debts, rent, and savings goals matter too.
Common problems
The repairs nobody warns you about. Budget for these before you sign anything.
Compare two cars head-to-head
Pick any two cars and weigh the differences side by side: price, monthly costs, 5-year totals, and reliability scores.
Sources & disclaimers
- Vehicle prices: manufacturer MSRP and national average used listing prices.
- Insurance: national average annual premium ranges from insurance rate aggregators. Your actual premium varies by driver age, record, location, and coverage. Get a real quote before buying.
- Maintenance: annual maintenance and repair estimates compiled from sources like RepairPal and owner reports. Maintenance cost sources disagree with each other, so treat these as informed estimates, not guarantees.
- Fuel economy: EPA combined MPG ratings.
- Depreciation: estimated 5-year depreciation rates; estimates vary by provider (KBB, Edmunds, ALG) and by market conditions.
- Repair figures on issue cards are approximate and derived from owner forums and independent shops. Your quote will vary by region and vehicle condition.
- State data (when you pick a state): average full-coverage premiums from Insurify, Sept 2026; gas prices from AAA, Sept 2026; vehicle purchase tax rates and trade-in rules from state revenue agencies, compiled Sept 2026. Registration figures are typical annualized amounts and vary by county, weight, and vehicle age. Annual vehicle property tax is prefilled only where a clean statewide rate exists (VA, CA, MA, NV); everywhere else it's a local rate you can enter yourself.
- Reliability (when data loads): J.D. Power Quality & Reliability 100-point scores and RepairPal reliability ratings with average annual repair costs, compiled September 2026. The used-car maintenance multiplier is reliability-adjusted from J.D. Power bands: 1.15× for Great/Best (81+), 1.25× for Average (70–80), 1.40× for Fair (below 70), 1.25× when no score is published. New-car figures are unaffected.
- All figures are estimates based on national averages. Data last updated September 2026.