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Car running costs calculator
See what your car costs to keep. Choose fuel type, state and annual distance, then adjust insurance, registration, servicing and other costs in Advanced.
The ABS average is about 11,000–13,800 km a year.
Edit any line in Advanced.
Cost of ownership · estimate
$229 /week
≈ $992 a month · $11,908 a year
- Loan repayment
- $125 /wk
- Running costs
- $104 /wk · $5,429/yr
- Loan repayments$6,479/yr
- $125 /wk
- Fuel$1,999/yr
- $38 /wk
- Insurance$1,560/yr
- $30 /wk
- Rego + CTP$1,000/yr
- $19 /wk
- Servicing + tyres$750/yr
- $14 /wk
- Roadside assist$120/yr
- $2 /wk
Loan summary
Amount financed$27,000
Deposit + trade-in$5,000
Total interest$5,397
Total cost of loan$32,397
Total cost of car$37,397
Estimates only — not a quote, an offer of credit, or financial advice. Repayments assume a fixed rate and equal instalments; actual rates, fees, rego, insurance and fuel prices vary by lender, insurer, state and vehicle, so check with providers. All figures in Australian dollars. MotorLoop doesn’t arrange or recommend finance.
Running costs calculator — FAQs
- What counts as a running cost?
- Fuel or charging, insurance, registration and CTP, scheduled servicing, tyres and roadside assistance — the money it takes to keep a car legally and reliably on the road. Parking, tolls and fines sit on top and vary too much by person to generalise.
- Why do running-cost surveys include depreciation when my budget does not?
- Depreciation is value the car loses rather than money leaving your account each week, so weekly budgets usually leave it out — but over a period of ownership it is often the largest cost of all, which is why motoring-club surveys count it. Include it when comparing what ownership really costs; leave it out when planning cash flow.
- How many kilometres does an Australian car travel in a year?
- ABS motor-vehicle-use surveys put the average passenger car at roughly 11,000 to 13,800 km a year. Your own figure beats the average: two odometer readings a year apart tell you exactly what you drive.
- Are electric cars cheaper to run?
- It depends on what you pay for electricity and how far you drive. Charging at home overnight usually undercuts petrol per kilometre, public fast charging can approach it, and EV servicing schedules are typically lighter — but insurance, registration and tyres still apply. Compare with your own numbers rather than a slogan.
- How much is car registration in Australia?
- It varies by state and vehicle — roughly in the hundreds of dollars a year up to well past a thousand for a standard passenger car once compulsory third-party insurance is counted. Your renewal notice is the real number; state presets in a calculator are starting points.
- Does the cost of the car itself count as a running cost?
- No — running costs are what it takes to keep a car on the road once you have it. Loan repayments are the purchase side, and adding the two together gives the true weekly cost of ownership. Put your own figures in with the car running costs calculator.
Running costs and ownership guides
What an electric car actually costs to run
Charging costs at home, on off-peak and at public fast chargers, against petrol at Australian prices. What the Electric Vehicle Council and the Government actually publish, with the assumptions shown.
What an electric car still needs serviced
EVs drop the oil changes, plugs and exhaust, and the Government puts the servicing saving around 40%. Here is what genuinely remains — including the brake problem regenerative braking creates.
Servicing a hybrid: what is different
A hybrid is a petrol car plus an electric system, so it keeps oil changes and adds a few checks. Toyota’s annual battery health check decides whether its 10-year battery cover survives.
What happens to your insurance and CTP when you sell a car
Comprehensive cover and compulsory third party behave differently when you sell. Here's what to cancel, when to cancel it, and the test-drive question worth asking first.