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Car Cost of Ownership Calculator (UK)

See what a car will really cost you over one, three or five years. Enter a registration, or the make, model and year, and we add up depreciation, fuel or charging, road tax, MOT, servicing and insurance, then show the total, the cost per month and the cost per mile. Add up to four cars to compare them side by side.

Annual mileage7,100 miles

Default 7,100 miles: average for cars in England, DfT National Travel Survey 2025.

Ownership period

Pump prices: petrol 174.07p, diesel 199.22p per litre (DESNZ UK average, week of 26 October 2026).

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What the calculator includes

Depreciation is the difference between what the car is worth today and what it is likely to be worth at the end of the period. We prefill today’s value with moValue’s own private-sale estimate for the car, which you can change if you know better.

Fuel or charging is your annual mileage divided by the car’s fuel economy. For petrol, diesel and hybrid cars we convert miles per gallon to litres (4.546 litres to the gallon) and multiply by the latest UK average pump price from the Department for Energy Security and Net Zero weekly fuel price data: 174.07p a litre for petrol and 199.22p for diesel in the week of 26 October 2026. For electric cars we divide by miles per kWh and use either the Ofgem price cap unit rate for home charging (26.32p per kWh by Direct Debit, 1 October to 31 December 2026) or the public charging price you enter.

Road tax uses the same rules as our road tax calculator: the 2026/27 Vehicle Excise Duty rates for the car’s age, fuel type and CO2 emissions, including the £440 expensive car supplement where it applies. If DVLA does not hold a fact that changes the rate, such as the list price, we ask you.

MOT is due every year from the third anniversary of first registration. We count the tests that fall inside your ownership period at the DVSA maximum fee for a car, £54.85. Many garages charge less, so this is a cautious figure.

Servicing and insurance are your own figures. Both vary so much between cars, drivers and postcodes that an average would mislead, so we do not show one.

How we estimate depreciation

The depreciation figures come from the moValue UK Used Car Prices Report, which analysed used-car asking prices from large UK online car dealers (October 2026). For each brand we measured how much asking prices fall for every extra year of age, with mileage held constant, and how much they fall for every extra 10,000 miles, which is about 5% across the market. The value after t years is today’s value × (1 − yearly rate)^t × 0.95^{extra miles ÷ 10,000}.

For the 15 most common models we use each model’s own rates (see our depreciation guide). For other cars we use the brand rate below, or 5.5% a year if the brand is not listed. Electric cars under four years old get 2 extra percentage points a year, and plug-in hybrids 1 point, because the report found electric cars go from about 6% above comparable petrol cars when nearly new to about 8% below at four years.

Brand	Yearly age effect
Volkswagen	4.5%
SEAT	4.5%
Skoda	4.8%
Toyota	4.9%
Vauxhall	5.8%
Volvo	6.1%
Ford	6.8%
Mercedes-benz	6.9%
BMW	6.9%
Audi	7.0%
Nissan	7.1%
Hyundai	7.3%
Peugeot	7.3%
Kia	7.7%
MG	8.8%

Worked example

Take a petrol Toyota first registered in 2019 and worth £12,000 today, driven the average 7,100 miles a year for three years at 50 mpg, with petrol at 174.57p a litre and a list price under £40,000. Toyota’s rate is 4.9% a year, so the car is estimated at £11,004 after one year, £10,090 after two and £9,253 after three: £2,747 of depreciation.

Depreciation: £2,747
Fuel: 7,100 ÷ 50 × 4.546 × £1.7457 = £1,127 a year, £3,381 over three years
Road tax: £200 a year standard rate, £600
MOT: three tests at £54.85, £164.55

That is about £6,892 before insurance and servicing, or £191 a month and 32p a mile. Add your insurance quote and servicing budget to complete the picture.

Frequently asked questions

What is the biggest cost of owning a car?

For most cars under about eight years old it is depreciation: the value the car loses while you own it. You never see a bill for it, but you pay it when you sell or part-exchange. Fuel is usually the second largest cost, and the largest for older, cheaper cars.

How do you estimate future depreciation?

We start from the car’s current value and apply the yearly age effect and the mileage effect we measured in used-car asking prices from large UK online car dealers (October 2026). For the 15 most common models we use that model’s own figures; otherwise the brand figure, or 5.5% a year if the brand is not in our data.

Why do you not give a default mpg or insurance figure?

Real fuel economy and insurance premiums vary too much between versions, drivers and postcodes for an average to be useful. A made-up default would make the total look precise when it is not, so we ask you for your own figures.

Does the calculator include finance costs?

No. It covers the cost of owning and running the car. If you borrow to buy it, add the total interest from your finance agreement to the result.

Are electric cars cheaper to own?

They are usually much cheaper to fuel when charged at home and have fewer service items, but our data shows they lose value faster in their first four years. The calculator adds 2 percentage points a year to the depreciation rate of electric cars under four years old so you can compare fairly.

Sources

Figures checked on 23 October 2026. Road tax uses 2026/27 rates for every year; rates for 2027/28 may change at the Autumn Budget on 28 October 2026.