- The true national-average annual cost of owning a new car is about $6,943, and a new light truck/SUV about $9,147, combining fuel with depreciation, insurance, maintenance, financing, and registration.
- Depreciation is the single largest cost, about 52% of the total, far ahead of fuel (16%), insurance (15%), maintenance (7%), registration/other (6%), and financing (3%).
- A new vehicle loses 23.9% of its value in year one alone, and about 55% of its value within 5 years, per BLS age-specific depreciation rates.
- Insurance, maintenance, and financing costs vary substantially by income: the highest-income households pay roughly 2-3x what the lowest-income households pay per vehicle for the same cost categories.
01 Introduction
Most of this site is about fuel cost, since that's the one ownership cost that varies the most by vehicle choice and driving habits, and the one our calculator can estimate precisely for your specific vehicle. But fuel is actually the smallest of the major ownership costs for a typical new vehicle. This article uses the same verified data layer behind our calculator's "Ownership Costs Beyond Fuel" panel to show the full picture: what a new vehicle actually costs to own each year, and how much of that is fuel versus everything else.
BLS Consumer Expenditure Survey, 2024 annual averages; BEA Table 7.2.5S, trailing 12 months through July 2026.02 The Five Cost Components
Beyond fuel, the BLS Consumer Expenditure Survey tracks four household-level cost categories that can be converted to a per-vehicle average by dividing by the average number of vehicles per household (1.9 in 2024). A fifth cost, depreciation, isn't in the Consumer Expenditure Survey; it's calculated separately from BLS's own age-specific depreciation-rate table, applied to the average price paid for a new vehicle (BEA data).
BLS Consumer Expenditure Survey, Table 1: "Vehicles" line = 1.9 per consumer unit, 2024.| Cost Component | Per-Vehicle Annual Average | Share of Total |
|---|---|---|
| Depreciation (car, 5-yr average) | $3,606 | 51.9% |
| Fuel (car, 12K mi/yr, $3.30/gal) | $1,123 | 16.2% |
| Insurance | $1,049 | 15.1% |
| Maintenance and repairs | $518 | 7.5% |
| Registration, licenses, leases and other | $427 | 6.1% |
| Finance charges (interest) | $220 | 3.2% |
03 Total Annual Cost of Ownership
Adding fuel and depreciation to the three remaining Consumer Expenditure Survey categories gives a full annual total. Because trucks and SUVs cost more to buy new and get worse fuel economy, their total ownership cost is meaningfully higher than a car's.
Calculated: sum of all five components in Sections 02-04, using BEA's average price paid for each vehicle type.| Component | New Car | New Light Truck/SUV |
|---|---|---|
| Average price paid (BEA, trailing 12mo) | $32,600 | $48,122 |
| Depreciation (5-yr average) | $3,606 | $5,323 |
| Fuel (12K mi/yr, class-average MPG) | $1,123 | $1,610 |
| Insurance | $1,049 | $1,049 |
| Maintenance and repairs | $518 | $518 |
| Registration, licenses, leases and other | $427 | $427 |
| Finance charges (interest) | $220 | $220 |
| Total Annual Cost | $6,943 | $9,147 |
Get a personalized estimate for your own vehicle, not just the national average.
Use the Calculator04 Why Depreciation Dominates
Depreciation is front-loaded: BLS's age-specific rate table shows a new vehicle loses 23.9% of its value in its first year alone, more than any other single year. The rate slows but keeps compounding: by year 3 a vehicle has lost about 39.8% of its original value, by year 5 about 55.3%, and by year 10 about 73.6%.
BLS, Monthly Labor Review depreciation chart data (bls.gov_opub_mlr_2024_highcharts_data_autos-chart-1.stm.pdf), age-specific annual depreciation rates: age 0 (first year) = 23.9%, age 1 = 11.3%, age 2 = 10.8%, age 3 = 14.0%, age 4 = 13.7%, age 5 = 13.1%, compounded year over year.| Years Owned | Cumulative Value Lost |
|---|---|
| 1 year | 23.9% |
| 3 years | 39.8% |
| 5 years | 55.3% |
| 10 years | 73.6% |
Because depreciation is calculated as a percentage of the purchase price, it scales directly with how much you spend on the vehicle, unlike fuel, insurance, or maintenance, which depend more on how you drive and where you live. The single biggest lever over your own total ownership cost is the price of the vehicle itself, not fuel economy.
05 How Much This Varies by Income
The three Consumer Expenditure Survey categories above are national averages, but they vary substantially across income levels. BLS also publishes a 2022 breakdown by income quintile, which shows the range between the lowest-spending and highest-spending groups once adjusted for how many vehicles each group owns.
BLS Consumer Expenditure Survey, Table 1101, "Quintiles of income before taxes," 2022.| Cost Component | Lower Bound | Upper Bound |
|---|---|---|
| Insurance | $1,020 | $1,100 |
| Maintenance and repairs | $467 | $631 |
| Registration, licenses, leases and other | $252 | $683 |
| Finance charges (interest) | $125 | $281 |
Registration/licenses/other shows the widest relative spread, the highest-income quintile spends roughly 2.7x what the lowest-income quintile spends per vehicle, likely reflecting a mix of more leased vehicles, more vehicles per household, and higher-value vehicles among higher-income households.
06 Data Sources
- BLS: Consumer Expenditure Survey, 2024 annual averages and 2022 income quintile tables. bls.gov/cex
- BLS: Monthly Labor Review, age-specific vehicle depreciation rates. bls.gov/opub/mlr
- BEA: NIPA Underlying Detail Table 7.2.5S, average expenditure per car/light truck. bea.gov
- EIA: Weekly Retail Gasoline and Diesel Prices (2024 average). eia.gov