True Cost Per Mile Calculator
Your true cost per mile is everything the car costs in a year divided by the miles you drive. Add your annual fuel, insurance, servicing, road tax and depreciation to see the total and the pence per mile.
Your Cost Per Mile
Fuel or energy, insurance, servicing, road tax and the depreciation you enter. Finance, parking and repairs are not included.
Enter your annual costs and press Calculate.
How the cost per mile is calculated
Total annual cost
Fuel or energy + insurance + servicing and MOT + road tax + depreciation.Total cost per mile
Total annual cost ÷ annual mileage × 100, in pence to one decimal place.Breakdown per mile
Fuel; insurance, servicing and tax together; and depreciation, each ÷ annual mileage × 100.
Worked example
10,000 miles a year with £1,500 fuel, £600 insurance, £400 servicing and MOT, £200 road tax and £2,300 depreciation.
- Total Cost Per Mile
- 50p
- Total Annual Cost
- £5,000
- Depreciation per mile
- 23p
£1,500 + £600 + £400 + £200 + £2,300 = £5,000 a year. £5,000 ÷ 10,000 miles = 50p a mile: fuel 15p, insurance, servicing and tax 12p, depreciation 23p.
Assumptions and limits
- Only the five costs you enter are included. Finance interest, parking, tolls, repairs and tyres are not, unless you add them to one of the fields.
- Depreciation is your own estimate of the value the car loses in a year.
- Annual mileage must be more than zero. Very low mileage gives a very high cost per mile because fixed costs are spread over few miles.
- Cost levels are this calculator's own bands (under 25p low, under 45p average, 45p or more high), not a UK average.
Key Takeaways
- Depreciation is easy to leave out, but it can be the largest single cost: in the worked example it is 23p of the 50p per mile.
- Fixed costs such as insurance and road tax cost more per mile the less you drive.
- A full cost per mile lets you compare cars, fuel types and ways of paying on the same basis.