Car or Auto Depreciation Calculator

Instructions: Enter the purchase price of the car, the current age of the car, and the number of
years you plan to own the car.
Next enter the number of years to calculate lifetime depreciation costs and the annual percent
return you would expect to earn on your investments.
Finally, adjust the year-to-year depreciation rates (if you don't agree with the default rates), then
click the "Calculate Car Depreciation Schedule" button.
Mouse over the blue question marks for a further explanation of each entry field. More in-depth
explanations can be found in the glossary of terms located beneath the Car Depreciation
Calculator.
Purchase price of car ($):
Vehicle's age in years (#):

28171.50
0

Years you plan to own vehicle (#):

Number of years to calculate lifetime costs (#):

30

Expected percent return on investments (%):

Year -->
1
2
3
4
5
28
20
16
8
6
Year %
YTD %

28

48

64

72

Final vehicle age in years:

Depreciation cost:
Resale value at end of ownership period:
Average annual depreciation percentage:
Average annual depreciation cost:
Lifetime depreciation cost:
Forfeited future value:

78

10+

83

87

90

92

93

5
$21,973.77
$6,197.73
16%
$4,394.75
$131,842.62
$347,441.28

The Real Cost of Car Ownership

2008-09-01 (updated 2012-09-17)

Average Annual Household Expenditures, 2010

Item

Proportion of Total Expenditure

shelter (home mortgage or rent)

34%

car ownership & operating expenses

15%

food

13%

pensions & Social Security contributions

10%

utilities

8%

health care

7%

entertainment

5%

clothing

4%

household furnishing

3%

education

2%

source: BLS Current Expenditure Shares Table

According to the Dept. of Labor's Bureau of Labor Statistics, car ownership costs are the
second largest household expense in the U.S. . In fact, the average household spends
almost as much on their cars as they do on food and health care combined for their entire
family (see table at right).
Since all households have only a limited amount of income, the amount a household
spends on its car(s) is lost money theycould have spent on other worthwhile expenditures,
like saving for retirement, education, or the purchase of a home. The question is, how much
is it really costing them in terms of these foregone opportunities?
Our "Real Costs of Car Ownership" calculator attempts to quantify this. You can use the
default values (taken from the2010 Bureau of Labor Statistics Consumer Expenditure
Survey) or enter what your own household spends each year. Using this data, the calculator
calculates your family's monthly average car expenses. It also calculates what your
family would achieve if it used this amount to make monthly contributions to a retirement
savings account, education savings account, or home mortgage, instead of spending it on
your car(s).

annual vehicle purchase costs (do not include finance charges)

annual finance charges on vehicle loan(s)

5470 /year
0 /year

gasoline and motor oil

2132

/year

annual car insurance expenses

1010

/year

annual maintenance and repair expenses

787

/year

vehicle rental, leasing, licenses, and other fees

423

/year

Click this button to calculate the total. >>

Monthly Costs - This is your total monthly household car expense.
If you didn't own a car, this is how much you'd be saving each
$ 838.71 /month
month.
Retirement Savings
If you didn't own a car
and began investing your
monthly automobile
savings at age 25 at 5%
interest, you would
have $ 1,435,336.65 by
the time you retired (if
you retired at age 67).

College Savings
If you didn't own a car and
invested your monthly
automobile savings for 18 years
at 5% interest, you'd have $
292,881.55 for your children's
college education.

Home Mortgage
If you didn't own a car and bought
a house using your monthly
automobile savings, you could
obtain a $ 156,237.49 home
mortgage, assuming a 5% fixed,
30-year loan. This would be
enough to cover 92.55%of the
According to the College Board, purchase price of the median
the current annual cost of college existing home in the US in July
at a public university is $8,240
2012, according to the National
per year and inflating at roughly Association of Realtors
8% annually. This means the
average cost of a four-year
college education in eighteen
years is about $137,383. If you
didn't own a car and saved the
money instead, you would be able
to send a total of 2.13 children to
college 18 years from now using
just the money you saved from
not owning an automobile.

These websites were very helpful. I looked at www.honda.ca to find a car. There are a lot more costs to
pay then I thought. You have to pay for gas and insurance and maintenance. Its really a lot of money. I
think its a good time to buy a car when you have a job to pay for it. For the car I picked, you need
$838.71/month to pay for it. I like brand new because then you are the only owner and it shouldnt have
too many problems. As I get older, I might need a bigger car if I have kids.