THE NUMBERS, EXPLAINED
How to use this calculator.
Include fuel, insurance, servicing and financing cost in the annual figure. No future resale value is predicted.
Start with your inputs
Enter purchase (£), expected resale (£), other annual ownership costs (£), years owned, annual distance (km). Keep amounts in the units shown on each field. The example is a starting point, not a recommended value.
| Input | Example value |
|---|---|
| Purchase (£) | 20000 |
| Expected resale (£) | 10000 |
| Other annual ownership costs (£) | 3000 |
| Years owned | 5 |
| Annual distance (km) | 10000 |
A worked example
With the example inputs above, total ownership cost (£) is 25,000. Change the inputs to explore your own scenario.
| Result | Example answer |
|---|---|
| Total ownership cost (£) | 25,000 |
| Monthly cost (£) | 416.67 |
| Cost per km (£) | 0.5 |
How this is calculated
Total ownership cost (£)
a−b+c × d
Monthly cost (£)
Total ownership cost / (12 × d).
Cost per km (£)
Total ownership cost / (d × e); undefined when annual distance e = 0.
Symbols and units
- a
- Purchase (£)
- b
- Expected resale (£)
- c
- Other annual ownership costs (£)
- d
- Years owned
- e
- Annual distance (km)
Use the units shown. A list keeps the order in which you enter its values. The symbol ^ means “raised to the power of”.
Assumptions and limits
Include fuel, insurance, servicing and financing cost in the annual figure. No future resale value is predicted.
Calculations use the values you enter. Blank or invalid inputs show an error instead of silently substituting zero. Results are displayed to useful precision; calculations retain the underlying numeric precision.
Questions about this tool
What does the result tell me?
Total ownership cost (£); Monthly cost (£); Cost per km (£). The result applies to the method and inputs described above. Check the units and assumptions before using it in a decision.
Why might another calculator differ?
Differences in units, rounding, timing or model definitions can produce different answers. Compare the input definitions and the method, rather than only the final number. For this tool: Include fuel, insurance, servicing and financing cost in the annual figure. No future resale value is predicted.
Are my inputs stored or sent to AI?
Calculations on this page happen in your browser. The separate AI question finder sends its submitted conversation to OpenAI; these calculator fields are not sent. Favourites and recent tool names are stored locally. A shared link contains the inputs you choose to include.
Review status
Software example and browser checks are recorded in our quality report. No external expert review is claimed. Created with coding assistance; calculations run as ordinary browser code.
Read the quality report →