Vehicle Total Cost of Ownership Calculator

[redpoint5]

A few years ago I searched for a website that would allow me to compare total cost of ownership of any two vehicles given my estimated costs. Not finding anything, I put together a spreadsheet and shared it on Google Drive.

I've now updated it to allow plug-in hybrids, and fixed other minor issues. It's now capable of comparing any two vehicles that use petrol, electricity, or a combination of both. It also provides lots of other data such as fuel or electricity cost per mile.

Make sure you enter values in each cell even if the number is 0, or you don't know what to put. You can skip some of the fields by entering 0 and still get a relative cost difference between vehicles. You can enter info for just 1 vehicle if you only want to know the total cost of ownership, but aren't interested in a comparison with another vehicle.

Since this is a public sheet, some fields are locked to prevent the formula or description getting messed up. I recommend downloading it so you have full control to modify, and won't accidentally fight someone else who is using it at the same time.

Let me know if there are errors, I need to clarify something, or add features.

Note that the "Estimated % of miles driven on battery alone" field must be answered. If the vehicle is petrol only, enter 0. If it's EV only, enter 100. If it's a plug-in hybrid, estimate what percentage of miles will be run on battery alone.

Here it is: https://drive.google.com/open?id=1rb...2dCJSLxp5ne6Q4

The link is in my signature too.

[Ecky]

I can't see anything amiss.

Plugged in my Insight for giggles. Maybe I have unrealistic maintenance expectations but so far it's just oil changes and a Rock Auto clutch master after 75,000 miles.

With the difference in TCO, I could actually buy a new-to-me Insight every 6 months and drive the old one off a bridge.




EDIT: Can probably add $400 to that as I'm going to need tires at some point.

[Xist]

Tires count, but that should go in a different category. Every car needs tires, nobody has invented land speeders yet and Colin Furze never did anything with his hoverbike.

[LeanBurn]

Pretty cool. This is a very helpful tool for me.

[redpoint5]

Originally Posted by Ecky

EDIT: Can probably add $400 to that as I'm going to need tires at some point.

Thanks for looking.

The tricky part is estimating the various costs with any accuracy. You might need to spend $400 on tires, but how often do you need new tires? If it's once every 4 years, then you would divide $400 by 4 years and increase the maintenance category by $100.

I don't know if it's easier to estimate maintenance and repairs as a yearly cost, or to estimate it for the duration of ownership and just extrapolate out the yearly cost from that. What do you think?

[Ecky]

Originally Posted by redpoint5

Thanks for looking.

The tricky part is estimating the various costs with any accuracy. You might need to spend $400 on tires, but how do you need new tires? If it's once every 4 years, then you would divide $400 by 4 years and increase the maintenance category by $100.

I don't know if it's easier to estimate maintenance and repairs as a yearly cost, or to estimate it for the duration of ownership and just extrapolate out the yearly cost from that. What do you think?

A lot of maintenance items have a randomness to them.

Just using my car as an example, the Insight has no real major maintenance items. The transmission fluid is "lifetime", the timing chain is "lifetime". It calls for 7500 mile oil changes, which come to around $20, and would be twice per year at 15k miles. Coolant flush is the price of a bottle of antifreeze and half an hour outside, if you do your own work.

Most develop a downshift grind from 3rd to 2nd gear, which has no impact on driving if you double clutch. ISB will probably go sometime between 200k and 400k miles. Hybrid batteries eventually die but can last 20+ years in a cool climate with regular but infrequent grid charges - mine is 9 years old and behaves like a new battery, but that wouldn't be the case if I lived in the Southwest.

My car is from the south and it had its battery replaced in 2009 under warranty by Honda (no cost). I replaced a leaking master cylinder with a Rock Auto piece for ~$70 at 200k miles. Otherwise, the records I have show that since it was new, it's had oil changes, 3 sets of tires, and a 12v battery every 5-7 years. Aside from oil, these are maintenance items shared by all cars.

So, maintenance costs would be... zero? $70 over 18 years = $4 per year?
But how to project that into the future?

[redpoint5]

Originally Posted by Ecky

A lot of maintenance items have a randomness to them.

Just using my car as an example, the Insight has no real major maintenance items. The transmission fluid is "lifetime", the timing chain is "lifetime". It calls for 7500 mile oil changes, which come to around $20, and would be twice per year at 15k miles. Coolant flush is the price of a bottle of antifreeze and half an hour outside, if you do your own work.

Most develop a downshift grind from 3rd to 2nd gear, which has no impact on driving if you double clutch. ISB will probably go sometime between 200k and 400k miles. Hybrid batteries eventually die but can last 20+ years in a cool climate with regular but infrequent grid charges - mine is 9 years old and behaves like a new battery, but that wouldn't be the case if I lived in the Southwest.

My car is from the south and it had its battery replaced in 2009 under warranty by Honda (no cost). I replaced a leaking master cylinder with a Rock Auto piece for ~$70 at 200k miles. Otherwise, the records I have show that since it was new, it's had oil changes, 3 sets of tires, and a 12v battery every 5-7 years. Aside from oil, these are maintenance items shared by all cars.

So, maintenance costs would be... zero? $70 over 18 years = $4 per year?
But how to project that into the future?

I also have an out of date maintenance spreadsheet I try to maintain. It lists the various costs over the years for a particular vehicle.

https://drive.google.com/open?id=1d0...MokiNniTMAxVqQ

My maintenance and repair costs are low for my vehicles too, but a lot of that ends up counting towards depreciation. Even if you don't ever replace the battery within your ownership, the wear and tear of it and other items will be factored into the sale price.

As you pointed out, you need tires, and they aren't cheap. That bumps up the maintenance/repair category significantly. Many little items can add up too, so I would budget some fixed amount for things like wiper blades, air fresheners, car washes, etc.

[jamesqf]

Originally Posted by Xist

Tires count, but that should go in a different category. Every car needs tires...

Yeah, but the stock tires for a 1st gen Insight are a heck of a lot cheaper than tires for say a jacked-up 4WD. Last a lot longer, too :-)

[Xist]

Plus the contributions to MPG of LLR compared to off-road (even if they never go off-road).