What a car will really cost you, beyond the price tag
The purchase price is only a fraction of what a car costs. We map out the full picture, from depreciation to maintenance, so you can compare what matters.
VIN Analyser
The sticker price is the most visible number in a car deal and one of the least important. It is paid once and then forgotten, while a string of smaller, quieter costs keeps draining the budget for years. So our running-cost model projects the full picture and lets you compare cars on the total, not the headline that happens to sit in the advert.
The components that add up
Total cost of ownership is the sum of several streams, and the one buyers fixate on is rarely the biggest. For most cars, depreciation dwarfs every other line, yet it is the one stream that never appears on a monthly statement and so the one most easily ignored.
- Depreciation: usually the single largest cost over a typical hold.
- Fuel or energy: highly sensitive to mileage and powertrain.
- Maintenance and repairs: rises non-linearly with age and use.
- Insurance, tax and consumables: smaller but persistent.
Each stream answers to different inputs, which is why a single rule of thumb fails. Fuel scales with our mileage forecast, depreciation tracks the Value Retention Index, and maintenance follows a segment-specific curve, so the model has to project them separately before it can add them up.
Why depreciation usually wins
A cheaper car that depreciates fast can cost more over five years than a pricier one that holds value. Because depreciation is invisible until you sell, buyers chronically underweight it. Our model puts it front and centre so the largest cost stops being the most ignored, and so a tempting low price is judged against what it gives back at resale.
Depreciation is the bill you do not see until you sell, which is exactly why it is the one most worth modelling before you buy.
The maintenance curve
Repair costs do not rise in a straight line; they stay low, then climb sharply as major components reach end of life. We model that curve per segment so the projection reflects where on it a given car sits, rather than smearing the cost evenly across the years and flattering a car that is about to hit its expensive stretch.
Fitting the model to how you drive
A running-cost projection is only honest if it matches your reality. A high-mileage commuter and a weekend driver face completely different fuel and wear bills from the same car, so the model lets you set the assumptions rather than imposing an average that fits no one in particular.
The streams that surprise buyers
Two lines catch buyers out more than any others. The first is fuel on a high-mileage car, where a small difference in consumption compounds across tens of thousands of kilometres into a sum that rivals a year of depreciation. The second is the late-life maintenance spike, the moment a cheap-to-run car suddenly needs a major component and erases years of apparent savings in a single invoice. Both are invisible at the point of sale and both are exactly what the projection drags into the light.
Comparing on the total
Once every stream is projected over a common horizon, two cars that looked far apart on price can converge, or swap places entirely. The total-cost figure is what turns an emotional purchase into a comparable one, and it routinely overturns the ranking a price tag alone would suggest.
On every report we show the breakdown alongside the total, so you can see which stream dominates a given car and adjust the assumptions to match how you actually drive. The aim is not a single verdict but a model you can interrogate until it reflects your own situation rather than a generic one.