Cost of Owning and Operating a Personal Vehicle


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Vehicle Data











* Please provide the purchase price including all fees (e.g. TAVT and all relevant registration fees)
*,** The purchase price and current vehicle value provided in this website is based on Georgia TAVT assessment database, but it can be different from a real value. To get the more correct vehicle owning cost, please search by other websites such as KBB or Edmunds)

Driving Data

Fuel Economy Calculator
  Ratio (%) Annual VMT (miles) Fuel Economy (MPG)**
City Driving:
Highway Driving:

* The default value of 12,828 miles is an average VMT of Georgia State citizens (click here to see the reference)
** The fuel economy data is from USDOE. For electric vehicles this number is MPGe (gasoline equivalent miles per gallon). (click here to see the reference)

Vehicle Max Age/Miles Data


Lifetime Mileage Data





Salvage Data (Depreciation)

End of Life Salvage (%)*:       →  
Provide Manual Input ($):    

* The default end of life salvage percentage is calculated by linear depreciaion function, assumping 10% of depreciation for each year (e.g. 8 years of useful remaining life leads to 20% of EOL salvage (10 years - 8 years) X 10%). The logarithmic depreciation function assumes exponential decrease in vehicle value over time, assumping the car with a salvage value of 15% and a lifetime of 10 years (Dumortier et al. 2015). The minimum value of salvage is set to 5% or $500.

Fuel Data
             






* The value is weekly retail gasoline and diesel prices from EIA (Energy Information Administration).
** Fuel tax calculation in this website is based on Federal and State Tax Rules EIA (Energy Information Administration).
*** County tax calculation is currently based on Georgia State rule.

Insurance Data

* The default value of annual insurance is an average cost paid in the United States (click here to see the reference). However, insuarance cost varies by a variety of factors (e.g. coverage, number of members joined, company, etc.). So, please enter your own insurance cost manually.

Registration Data*







* Registration cost calculation in this website is built for vehicles registered in Georgia State.

Smog Check Data

Tire Cost Data



Maintenance Data

Average Maintenance Cost:   $/year →   $/mile
Provide Manual Input :          $/year →   $/mile

* The average value of $766.50 per year is based on reference (Click here to see the reference.)

Car Wash Data

Parking Data


Monthly Tolls Data















Operating Cost of Starman’s Tesla Roadster

On Tuesday, February 6, 2018, SpaceX successfully launched SpaceX founder Elon Musk’s personal Tesla Roadster into space from Launch Complex 39A at Kennedy Space Center in Florida. The Roadster was launched as a satellite into space from the Falcon Heavy rocket. SpaceX lists the total cost for this roadster flight at $90 million. That means that the cost of traveling the first mile into space was $90 million per mile. But there are no insurance, maintenance, fuel, or other costs associated with continued travel. With Starman behind the wheel, the Tesla Roadster is moving at more than 3.5 kilometers per second, universe time frame (William Harwood, 2018). Every mile of travel reduces Starman’s cent/mile cost of Tesla ownership and operation. The Tesla Roadster cost reached a cost of on October 19, 2018 (255 days after its launch), which is about the cost of owning and operating one on earth.

 
 
 
* Universe time frame
 

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