Online Tool Store
Total Cost of Ownership Calculator
Compare vehicle ownership costs across depreciation, fuel or energy, insurance, servicing, tax, and a chosen holding period.
🔒 This tool runs entirely in your browser. Your files are never uploaded to a server.
Online Tools
total-cost-of-ownership-calculator
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Preview result
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How the Total Cost of Ownership Calculator works
- Enter the purchase price and how long you will keep the vehicle.
- Estimate depreciation honestly — it is usually the largest single cost and the one buyers ignore.
- Compare on cost per kilometre, which normalises across different holding periods and usage.
The method
Total cost of ownership sums every cost over the holding period, and depreciation typically dominates it for anything bought new.
TCO = depreciation + energy + insurance + servicing + tax + finance costs
On a five-year hold, depreciation was 1.89M of a 3.99M total — nearly half, and larger than fuel despite fuel feeling like the ongoing cost.
FAQ
Why does depreciation matter so much?
Because it is usually the largest cost and it is invisible until you sell. Two cars with identical running costs can differ by a million over five years purely in what they are worth at the end.
Is an EV cheaper to own?
Often lower on energy and servicing, often higher on purchase price and sometimes on insurance, with depreciation varying widely by model. It genuinely depends on the specific vehicles and your annual distance — which is what a TCO comparison is for.
What holding period should I use?
However long you actually keep vehicles. Depreciation is steepest in the early years, so a three-year comparison and an eight-year comparison can favour different cars.
How we compare
| Feature | Online Tool Store | A spreadsheet | An advisor consultation |
|---|---|---|---|
| Depreciation included | ✓ | Often omitted | Yes |
| Cost per kilometre | ✓ | Manual | ✓ |
| Brand-neutral | ✓ | ✓ | ✗ |
| Nothing stored | ✓ | ✓ | ✗ |
Total Cost of Ownership Calculator leads with depreciation, since it usually exceeds fuel and is the cost buyers never see on a monthly statement.