Car Daily & Weekly Cost Estimator
Enter your numbers. We compute your true daily/weekly car cost, with totals at the end.
How This Car Cost Is Calculated
Car itself cost (depreciation): We take your purchase price minus the expected retirement/sell value, and spread it over the remaining days until the vehicle reaches 16 years old. This gives the daily cost of “using up” the car. If the sell value is higher than the purchase price, depreciation is treated as $0.00.
One-time taxes & fees: DMV, dealer, and purchase taxes/fees are amortized across the same days of use for a fair daily amount.
Recurring costs: Maintenance (monthly), repairs (yearly), insurance (yearly), registration (yearly), parking (monthly), inspection (yearly), and wash/cleaning (monthly) are converted to daily values, then summed.
Grand totals: The calculator shows a full breakdown first, and the Grand Total Daily and Grand Total Weekly costs at the end. The daily total is the minimum amount a driver must earn per day just to cover car ownership—before gas and trip-related expenses.
Avoid double counting loans: If you’re financing, monthly loan payments include principal (which overlaps with depreciation). To keep this calculator correct, use depreciation (purchase − sell value) and do not add loan principal again. If you want to include loan interest and financing fees, add those to Other Yearly Costs.