Vehicle EconomicsCurrent Car vs Candidate Vehicle
You found a specific car. Is switching to it, at its actual price and financing, really cheaper than keeping what you have?
Why this comes up
Keep vs Replace Car answers the general question with a representative replacement scenario. But once you've actually found a car, listed at a real price with a real financing offer, the generic scenario stops being the right comparison. This engine takes that specific vehicle's actual numbers and compares them directly against what your current car will really cost you going forward.
How we calculated this
The current vehicle's cost uses the same forward-cost model as Current Vehicle Remaining-Life Cost: real value projection for depreciation, real amortization for financing interest, plus every operating cost, excluding what you already paid. The candidate's cost derives its financing interest from actually amortizing its price minus down payment and trade-in at its own APR and term, then adds its own operating and transaction costs. Whichever total is lower wins, and we express the gap as an incremental cost per year, often a clearer number than either total alone.
Worked example, using this page's own defaults: the current vehicle totals$21,479 over 3 years, the candidate totals $25,766, so keeping the current vehicle wins by $4,287, or about$1,429/year. The current vehicle also ends the horizon with$8,800 in projected equity.
What this means
- The per-year incremental cost is the number to weigh against non-financial reasons to switch, reliability, size, features, since those rarely have a clean dollar figure of their own.
- If the candidate wins, check Replacement Vehicle Maximum Price to see how much price headroom it actually has before the comparison flips back.
- If you don't yet have a specific vehicle in mind, use Keep vs Replace Car for the generic version of this question instead.
Limitations
The candidate's operating-cost figures are held constant regardless of its price; a materially different vehicle in reality often carries different insurance and depreciation than what's entered here. Neither vehicle's future value is guaranteed. 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.