Car Cost Calculator: Cost per Mile incl. Wear and Tear

Calculate your car cost per mile and per year: depreciation, gas, insurance, registration and wear and tear, with published U.S. averages as defaults.

Last updated: October 2, 2026

Purchase price

Resale value at the end

Years you keep it

Miles per yearFHWA, Highway Statistics 2023, table VM-1: 11,026 miles per light-duty short-wheelbase vehicle and year

Consumption per 100 miles (gallons or kWh)FHWA, Highway Statistics 2023, table VM-1: 24.7 miles per gallon, so 4.05 gallons per 100 miles

Price per gallon or kWhEIA, Weekly U.S. Regular All Formulations Retail Gasoline Prices: 3.49 dollars per gallon, mean of the 52 weeks to 17 Aug 2026 (range 2.78 to 4.50)

Insurance per yearNAIC, Auto Insurance Database Report: 1,281 dollars average expenditure per insured vehicle (2023)

Registration and fees per yearBLS, Consumer Expenditure Survey 2024: 148 dollars registration plus 63 dollars vehicle property tax per household, at 1.8 vehicles

Maintenance and repairs per yearBLS, Consumer Expenditure Survey 2024: 984 dollars maintenance and repairs per household less 217 dollars tires, at 1.8 vehicles

Tires per yearBLS, Consumer Expenditure Survey 2024, item 480110: 217 dollars per household at 1.8 vehicles

Inspection

Parking per month

This calculation runs on our server and is not stored – neither your result nor your entry.

Example with average values: the calculation with the default values

Fields with a source carry published figures, listed below with their sources; the rest are example values. Enter your own numbers and press “Calculate” to run it with yours.

per month

$417

Fuel only

$1,558

Underestimated by

$3,445

Item	per year	Cents per mile
Depreciation	$1,500	13.6
Insurance	$1,281	11.6
Registration and fees	$117	1.1
Parking	$0	0.0
Inspection	$0	0.0
Fuel or electricity	$1,558	14.1
Wear and tear: maintenance and repairs	$426	3.9
Wear and tear: tires	$121	1.1
Total	$5,003	45.4

Wear and tear – maintenance and repairs plus tires – costs $547 a year, 5.0 cents per mile.

Assumptions behind this calculation

Inspection, interval in years: 1
Years kept: 8
Miles per year: 11,026
Excluding financing costs. If the car is on credit, interest comes on top.

How we calculate

Depreciation per year is the purchase price minus the resale value, divided by the years you keep the car. Fuel is miles per year times consumption per 100 miles, divided by 100, times the price per gallon or kWh.

Insurance, registration and fees, maintenance and repairs, and tires go in at their annual amount, parking at twelve months. An inspection fee counts once a year; its default is zero because there is no nationwide inspection.

All items added up are the annual cost; divided by twelve, the monthly cost; divided by the miles per year, the cost per mile, for every item and for the total. Maintenance and repairs plus tires are shown together as wear and tear. Financing costs are not included.

The reasoning behind these numbers, with sources, is in the article: Average Annual Mileage: What a Year of Driving Costs.

Average annual mileage

The default is 11,026 miles a year: the average annual mileage per vehicle. The source: FHWA, Highway Statistics 2023, table VM-1: 11,026 miles per light-duty short-wheelbase vehicle and year.

Drive less and the fixed items – depreciation, insurance, registration, parking and inspection, $2,898 a year in the example – are spread over fewer miles, so each mile costs more. Drive more and you pay more for gas and wear and tear. Enter your own mileage.

Highway Statistics 2023, Table VM-1, Federal Highway Administration, retrieved August 22, 2026.

Frequently asked

How much does a car cost per mile?

With this calculator’s defaults – a $18,000 car worth $6,000 after 8 years, 11,026 miles a year and published averages for gas, insurance, registration, maintenance and tires – it is 45.4 cents per mile and $5,003 a year. Purchase price, resale value and years kept are examples; enter yours.

How many miles does the average car drive per year?

11,026 miles. The source: FHWA, Highway Statistics 2023, table VM-1: 11,026 miles per light-duty short-wheelbase vehicle and year. That average annual mileage is this calculator’s default; if you drive more or less, enter your own.

What is the average wear and tear cost per mile?

Wear and tear here is maintenance and repairs ($426 a year) plus tires ($121), both published averages. Together $547 a year, at 11,026 miles 5.0 cents per mile.

Why is gas not the whole cost of a car?

In the example, gas costs $1,558 a year and the whole car $5,003. Counting only the pump underestimates it by $3,445 – depreciation, insurance and the shop never show up at the gas station.

Sources of the default values

Highway Statistics 2023, Table VM-1, Federal Highway Administration, retrieved August 22, 2026.
Weekly U.S. Regular All Formulations Retail Gasoline Prices, U.S. Energy Information Administration, retrieved August 22, 2026.
Auto Insurance Database Report, National Association of Insurance Commissioners, retrieved August 22, 2026.
Consumer Expenditure Survey 2024, U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics, retrieved August 22, 2026.