Total Cost of Ownership Sheet
What this sheet adds up
Total cost of ownership = sticker price + sales tax + loan interest + fuel + insurance + maintenance + registration, minus the resale value you recover. The sticker is only the first line — depreciation and ownership costs usually dominate over a typical 5-year hold. Use this sheet next to the Car Affordability Check so the car you can finance is also the car you can afford to own.
Total Cost of Ownership Sheet
A one-page estimate of what this car costs across the time you own it. Planning aid only — not financial advice.
Purchase & financing
Annual ownership (per year)
Cost rates
Assumptions used
Sources & retrieval: gas $4.06/gal (AAA Daily Fuel Gauge Report, 2026-08-06); new-car loan APR 6.39% / used 11.43% (Experian Q1 2026); insurance is a representative $2,150/yr from the VehCalc 2026 state dataset and is editable; maintenance is a published industry average and is editable. This sheet is a planning aid only — not financial advice. Confirm all figures with your lender, insurer, DMV and a licensed auto or finance professional.
Frequently Asked Questions
What is included in total cost of ownership?
Total cost of ownership adds the purchase price and loan interest, sales tax and fees, then every recurring cost you pay while you own the car — fuel, insurance, maintenance and registration — and subtracts the resale value you recover when you sell or trade. The sticker price is only the starting point.
Is the resale value required?
No. Leave it at 0 to see your gross cost of ownership, then enter an estimate from the Depreciation Curve tool to see your net cost. The sheet shows both so you can compare.
Where do the default numbers come from?
Defaults mirror VehCalc 2026 datasets: gas $4.06/gal (AAA, retrieved 2026-08-06), new-car loan APR 6.39% and used 11.43% (Experian Q1 2026), and a representative $2,150/yr insurance from the state dataset. Maintenance uses a published industry average. Every field is editable so you can use your own quotes.
How do I print or save the sheet?
Fill in the fields, then click "Print TCO Sheet (Letter)" and choose Save as PDF or a US Letter printer. Only the one-page sheet prints — inputs and buttons are hidden.
Related tools
Updated August 2026 · Planning aid only; confirm all details with your lender, insurer and DMV.
Reading your TCO sheet
Total cost of ownership is the only number that lets you compare two cars honestly, because it is the one number that includes everything the sticker price leaves out. The sheet is deliberately simple: fill the lines you know, leave the resale field at zero if you are unsure, and read the two output totals side by side.
The formula in one line
Sticker price + sales tax and fees + loan interest + fuel + insurance + maintenance + registration − expected resale = net cost of ownership. The purchase-side lines land once; the recurring lines accumulate for every year you keep the car. That asymmetry is the whole point — a cheaper car with expensive running costs can lose to a dearer car that is efficient, cheap to insure and holds value.
Why resale is the line people skip
Leaving resale at zero gives you gross cost — useful when you want a conservative ceiling. Entering a realistic figure gives you net cost, which is the number that lets you compare a car that depreciates slowly against one that does not. If you do not have a figure to hand, the depreciation simulator produces a year-by-year retention curve you can read straight into this field.
Five years versus ten: annualised cost falls with time
Tax, fees and the steepest part of depreciation all land up front. Spread them over five years and they weigh heavily on each one; spread them over ten and the annual figure drops, because the expensive early years are averaged against cheaper later ones. This is the arithmetic behind the standard advice to hold a car longer — run the sheet for both holding periods and the difference is visible without any argument about brand loyalty.
Which line surprises owners most
Depreciation, almost always — it is typically the largest single cost and it never appears as a monthly bill, which is why it is underestimated. After that, insurance tends to beat maintenance in most budgets, which contradicts the common assumption that repairs are the big risk. Fuel sits in the middle and moves with your mileage, not with the car's age.
What the sheet does not include
Three things are excluded by design. The opportunity cost of the down payment — money that could otherwise be invested or used to clear higher-interest debt. Any negative equity from a previous loan that gets rolled into this one, which raises the amount financed and belongs on the price line instead. And one-off discretionary spending such as accessories, which is a purchase decision rather than an ownership cost. Add them mentally if they apply to you.