Car Depreciation Calculator

Why this comes up

Depreciation is the single largest cost of owning most vehicles, and it's also the one that never shows up as a line item on a bank statement, which is exactly why people underestimate it. This engine puts a real dollar figure on a specific value-loss scenario over whatever horizon you're planning around.

How we calculated this

You choose a dollar-per-year or percent-per-year depreciation rate, and we project the value forward month by month, clamped at zero, over your chosen horizon.

Worked example, using this page's own defaults ($20,000 value, $2,400/year, 24-month horizon): the projected value falls to $15,600, a$4,800 loss. Run the calculator above with your own scenario.

What this means

• Percent-mode depreciation compounds, so it declines faster in dollar terms early on than a flat dollar-per-year figure would.
• This annual figure feeds directly into True Cost of Car Ownership as one line item among several, not the whole ownership cost.
• A high depreciation estimate can be the deciding factor in Keep vs Replace Car, since keeping an already-depreciated car often avoids the steepest part of a new vehicle's value curve.

Limitations

This is a scenario you set, not a valuation, forecast, or guarantee, this site does not provide vehicle valuations. See Methodology.

Methodology

This engine is built on Vehicle Economics' equity and depreciation projection model: your value and loan payoff projected forward from your own depreciation figure until they cross. See Methodology for the full detail.

Next decision

• When Will My Car Have Positive Equity?See how this depreciation assumption affects your positive-equity date.
• True Cost of Car OwnershipSee depreciation alongside every other cost of ownership.