Calculate fuel, ownership, and trip costs per mile or kilometer from fuel economy, fuel price, annual mileage, maintenance, insurance, and depreciation.

USD throughout; MPG uses US liquid gallons. Enter your current costs. Avoid counting loan principal plus depreciation, or lease payments plus depreciation, for the same vehicle.

Cost Per Mile of Driving Formula

The following equation is used to calculate the Cost Per Mile of Driving.

CPM = (CG / MPG) + M + F / D

  • CPM – cost per mile ($/mile)
  • C_G – fuel price ($/gal)
  • MPG – vehicle fuel economy (mi/gal)
  • M – entered maintenance, repairs and tires per mile; F – entered annual insurance, registration/taxes, depreciation OR lease expense, and financing interest; D – annual miles driven

Fuel-only mode uses fuel price divided by MPG. Ownership mode adds the entered maintenance rate and annual fixed costs divided by annual distance. Trip mode multiplies that included average rate by trip distance; it allocates fixed costs and is not the marginal cash cost of one trip.

What is the Cost Per Mile of Driving?

Definition:

Driving cost per mile depends on the vehicle, distance, fuel economy and included expenses. Use your own current records; this calculator does not assume a national average or tax-deduction rate.

Common cost categories include fuel, maintenance/repairs/tires, insurance, registration/taxes, depreciation and financing interest. AAA explains these ownership cost categories.

Depreciation is the decline in vehicle value. Enter an annual estimate for your vehicle, or use annual lease expense as an alternative basis. Do not count both lease expense and depreciation, or add loan principal to depreciation for the same vehicle. Financing interest is a separate cost.

Insurance costs depend on the policy, driver, vehicle and location. Enter your actual annual insurance premium rather than assuming a universal average.

Include maintenance, repair and tire expenses from your records as a per-distance estimate. Blank optional costs count as zero; they do not mean those expenses are absent in real driving.