What does your car actually cost you over 5 years?

Total Cost of Ownership is the number every car-buying guide tells you to look at, and almost nobody actually calculates. The price on the windshield is one input; depreciation, insurance, fuel, maintenance, registration, and the financing cost over 5 years are the other 5. For a typical $30,000 car, the TCO usually lands between $48,000 and $58,000 — meaning 35-45% of what you spend has nothing to do with the sticker.

Plug in the vehicle price, your annual mileage, the financing APR and term, your state's tax + registration approximation (we pre-fill a national average), and the insurance + maintenance estimates we publish per vehicle class. We then project depreciation using class-specific curves (sedans depreciate harder than SUVs, EVs depreciate harder than gas vehicles in years 1-3 and then recover). The chart breaks the 5-year total into 6 stacked bars so you can see which line item dominates.

Use the result to compare two vehicles you're seriously considering — TCO is the fairest apples-to-apples number when one car is cheaper to buy but more expensive to own (luxury brands), or when one is more expensive upfront but cheaper to operate (EVs, hybrids). Also use it to sanity-check your budget: if the 5-year TCO is more than 35% of your projected gross household income over the same 5 years, you're stretching.

This is a 5-year estimate, not a guarantee. Depreciation curves are averaged across model years and trims and can swing 10-15% depending on transmission, trim level, and market timing. Insurance estimates use our nationwide average for the vehicle class; your actual premium depends on driving record, ZIP, and coverage level. Maintenance estimates use manufacturer-recommended intervals only and don't include extended-warranty fees or out-of-pocket repair surprises after year 4.