Vehicle EconomicsCar A vs Car B Total Cost
Two real listings, one honest number: what each actually costs you over the same years of ownership.
Why this comes up
Comparing two specific cars usually stops at the price tag, but financing terms, fuel economy, insurance, and how much value each one holds at the end all move the real number, sometimes enough to flip which car actually costs less. This is the general-purpose version of that comparison: any two candidates, not just new versus used or one MPG figure against another, useful whenever you have two real listings or two trims in front of you and want the full picture, not just the sticker prices side by side.
How we calculated this
For each car, total cost is the down payment plus payments made over your horizon minus the equity you'd still hold (its value then, minus any remaining loan balance), plus fuel, insurance, maintenance, and repairs over the same horizon. Whichever total is lower wins. Financing and operating costs are computed independently for each car from its own price, rate, term, and fuel economy, so a cheaper car with a worse APR or lower resale value can still lose to a pricier one that holds its value or costs less to run.
Worked example, using this page's own defaults (5-year horizon, $25,000 Car A at 32 MPG versus $32,000 Car B at 24 MPG): the cheaper sticker price does not automatically win once fuel and residual value are included, run the calculator above to check your own numbers.
What this means
- A lower sticker price is not the same as a lower total cost, this comparison is the check worth running before assuming the cheaper-looking option actually saves money over your ownership horizon.
- Fuel economy matters more the longer your horizon and the higher your annual miles, a small MPG gap that looks trivial year one can add up to a real dollar figure by year five.
- Ending values are the input most worth double-checking against real listings, a difference of a few thousand dollars in resale assumptions can be enough to swing the recommendation.
Limitations
This models gas-powered vehicles only in this version; an EV or hybrid candidate's electricity cost is not yet modeled here, use EV vs Gas Cost Calculator instead if one candidate is electric. Ending values are your own planning estimates, not appraisals or forecasts. See Methodology.
Methodology
This engine combines Vehicle Economics' fixed-rate amortization model (the standard loan-payment formula run out as a full month-by-month schedule), equity and depreciation projection model (your value and loan payoff projected forward from your own depreciation figure until they cross), ownership total cost model (every ownership cost, depreciation, financing, fuel, insurance, maintenance, repairs, and fees, summed over your horizon), and fuel and charging cost model (your own miles, MPG or kWh, and rates converted directly to a dollar cost). See Methodology for the full detail.