Applied to remaining value each year, after a steeper first-year drop.
Total cost of ownership
$0
The biggest cost is resale — and history drives it
Accidents and branded titles hit resale hardest. Find out for $5.99 before you buy.
Get the full report — $5.99What ownership actually costs
Ask what a car costs and most people answer with the price on the windscreen. That figure is the deposit on a much larger commitment. Across five years, depreciation alone frequently exceeds every other running cost combined, and it never appears on a bill — you simply discover it on the day you come to sell.
Enter what you would pay, how long you intend to keep it, your annual mileage, the fuel economy and your expected insurance and servicing outlay. The calculator returns the total, the annual figure and the cost per mile, which is the cleanest way to compare two cars that look nothing alike on paper.
Reading the output sensibly
Depreciation here declines year on year rather than running in a straight line, mirroring how the market actually treats vehicles: steep losses early, then a gentler curve. The default suits a mainstream model. Premium marques generally shed value faster and should be adjusted upward.
What no calculator can model is the individual car's past. Accident history and title branding both depress resale and tend to raise repair costs, which distorts the two largest lines in this table at once. A $5.99 history report tells you which scenario you're actually in.