How much does it cost to run a car per mile?

What is included in the cost per mile of a car?

The cost per mile of a car is everything you spend on it in a year divided by the miles you drive that year. AAA's 2026 Your Driving Costs, a US study, splits that spending into six categories, averaged over five years and 75,000 miles for five top-selling models in each of seven vehicle categories, with a weighted average price of $39,376.

Fixed costs, which AAA calls ownership costs, are paid whether the car moves or not: depreciation, insurance, finance charges, and licence, registration and taxes. They add up to $8,506 a year, or 56.7 cents a mile at 15,000 miles. Variable costs, which AAA calls operating costs, grow with every mile: fuel plus maintenance, repair and tyres come to 29.04 cents a mile together, according to the AAA brochure.

Depreciation is the largest single cost: the difference between what the car costs new and what it is worth as a trade-in after five years, $4,422 a year in AAA's 2026 average. Fuel, the cost most drivers watch, is about a fifth of the total.

Source: AAA Your Driving Costs 2026 fact sheet and brochure (15 September 2026), in US dollars and cents. AAA gives fuel and maintenance per mile and the other costs per year; the remaining columns are computed at 15,000 miles and may not add exactly because of rounding.

How do you calculate the cost per mile to run a car?

To calculate the cost per mile to run a car, add up a year of fixed costs and a year of variable costs, then divide by the miles you drove in that year: cost per mile = (fixed costs + variable costs) ÷ miles driven. Use a full year, because insurance, road tax and tyres arrive as a few large bills rather than every month.

Example calculation, with invented figures and an example petrol price: a car bought for £25,000 and expected to sell for £10,000 after five years loses £3,000 a year. Add £780 of insurance, £180 of road tax, £840 of loan interest, £600 of maintenance and the petrol for 12,000 miles at 45 MPG, which is 1,212 litres at 175p a litre (£2,121.47). The total is £7,521.47, or 62.7p a mile.

In that example the fixed costs are 40.0p of every mile and the variable costs 22.7p. That split is why the fuel price alone says little about what a car costs: halving the fuel bill in the example saves 8.8p a mile, about a seventh of the total.

Example values, including the petrol price of 175p a litre. MPG is imperial: 1 imperial gallon is 4.546 litres.

• Fixed costs: insurance premiums, road tax, loan interest, and depreciation.
• Depreciation: the price you paid minus what the car will likely sell for, divided by the years you keep it.
• Variable costs: fuel or charging, oil changes and scheduled servicing, tyres, and repairs.
• Miles: the odometer reading at the end of the year minus the reading at the start.

How much does petrol cost per mile?

Petrol cost per mile is the price of a gallon divided by your car's miles per gallon. UK pumps sell litres, so first multiply the price per litre by 4.546, the litres in an imperial gallon. At an example price of 175p a litre, a 45 MPG car spends 17.7p a mile on fuel and a 30 MPG car 26.5p. The guide on how to calculate your MPG shows how to measure it tank to tank.

US averages show how far the figure moves, and they use the smaller US gallon (3.785 litres). At the EIA's US average of $4.284 a US gallon for regular in the week of 19 October 2026, new model year 2024 vehicles, which averaged a record 27.2 US MPG in real-world use according to the EPA Automotive Trends Report, spend 15.8 cents a mile on fuel. The whole US light-duty fleet on the road averaged 23.4 US MPG in 2024, per FHWA Highway Statistics, or 18.3 cents a mile.

In metric units the formula is: cost per kilometre = litres per 100 km × price per litre ÷ 100. As an example, a car using 6 L/100 km at 175p a litre spends 10.5p per kilometre on fuel.

Example price of 175p a litre; 1 imperial gallon is 4.546 litres. The US averages in the text come from the EIA, the EPA and FHWA.

Why does a car cost more per mile when you drive less?

A car costs more per mile when you drive less because its fixed costs, depreciation, insurance and finance charges above all, are spread over fewer miles. AAA's 2026 US figures put the average new vehicle at about $1.10 a mile at 10,000 miles a year, 86 cents at 15,000 and 74 cents at 20,000, even though the yearly total rises with the miles.

In the US, cars are driven well under AAA's 15,000-mile assumption on average. The average light-duty vehicle there covered 10,787 miles in 2024, according to FHWA Highway Statistics, which puts the typical US car much closer to AAA's 10,000-mile column than to its headline figure.

The UK example car above shows the same effect. Driven 8,000 miles a year instead of 12,000, its fixed costs stay at £4,800, petrol falls to £1,414.31 and maintenance, scaled with the miles, to £400: £6,614.31 in total, or 82.7p a mile instead of 62.7p.

Source: AAA Your Driving Costs 2026 (15 September 2026), in US dollars and cents.

What is the average cost per mile by vehicle type?

The average cost per mile ranges from about 62 cents for a small saloon to about $1.10 for a half-ton pickup in AAA's 2026 US study, at 15,000 miles a year. AAA puts the gap between the two at 48 cents a mile, or about $7,191 a year.

A medium SUV, at 96.32 cents a mile, costs more to own and run than a midsize pickup in AAA's 2026 figures. Each category is an average of five top-selling US models, so a specific model can sit well above or below its category.

Source: AAA Your Driving Costs 2026 brochure (15 September 2026), in US dollars and cents.

Is an electric car cheaper per mile than a petrol car or a hybrid?

An electric car is cheaper per mile to fuel but not always cheaper per mile overall. In AAA's 2026 US study, a medium electric saloon costs $0.911 a mile against $0.705 for the petrol version and $0.680 for the hybrid, at 15,000 miles a year. AAA says the electric saloon costs 29.1% more a year, $3,080, citing higher depreciation, fees and finance costs.

Fuel is where the electric car wins. AAA's medium saloon figures give $712.50 a year of charging for the EV at 18 cents per kWh, $2,215 of petrol for the petrol car and $1,436 for the hybrid: 4.75, 14.77 and 9.57 cents a mile. Depreciation goes the other way, $6,786 a year for the EV against $3,330 for the petrol saloon.

The gap is smallest in SUVs: AAA's medium electric SUV costs $0.955 a mile against $0.962 for the petrol one. The hybrid costs less than the petrol version in all four categories AAA compared. For the charging side alone, see what it costs to charge an electric car at home and in public.

Source: AAA Your Driving Costs 2026 brochure (15 September 2026), in US dollars.

Is HMRC's mileage rate the same as the cost to run a car per mile?

HMRC's approved mileage rate is not the same as your cost to run a car per mile. For the 2026 to 2027 tax year, HMRC's approved mileage allowance payments are 55p a mile for the first 10,000 business miles and 25p a mile after that, from 6 April 2026; before that date the first 10,000 miles were paid at 45p. The rate is what an employer can pay for business journeys in your own car without it being taxed, and the yardstick for tax relief when it pays less.

The US counterpart works the same way. The IRS business standard mileage rate is 72.5 cents a mile for the first half of 2026 and 76 cents from 1 July 2026, raised midyear citing recent increases in the price of fuel; the IRS says it is based on an annual study of the fixed and variable costs of operating a car. AAA's 2026 US averages are 86 cents in total and 29.04 cents for fuel and maintenance alone.

Use HMRC's rate to claim or reimburse business miles, and your own figure to budget. What a business mileage log should record is covered, for the US rules, in the guide to an IRS compliant mileage log.

Sources: GOV.UK, tax relief for vehicles you use for work (2026 to 2027 rates); AAA Your Driving Costs 2026 fact sheet and brochure.

How can you lower your cost per mile?

The biggest levers are the fixed costs, because they are most of the bill: in AAA's 2026 US average, depreciation, insurance, finance charges and registration are $8,506 of $12,863 a year. Fuel and maintenance are the smaller share, and they are the part you control every day.

• Choose the category with care: AAA's small saloon costs about 62 US cents a mile and its half-ton pickup about $1.10, a gap no driving style can close.
• Finance less: AAA counts $1,184 a year of finance charges on a five-year loan with 15% down.
• Shop around for insurance: fully comprehensive cover is $2,098 a year in AAA's US average, the largest fixed cost after depreciation.
• Raise your MPG: at an example 175p a litre, going from 40 to 50 MPG saves about 4p a mile; the guide on how to improve your fuel economy covers what moves it.
• Know your maintenance figure: AAA budgets 11.7 US cents a mile for maintenance, repair and tyres; logging each job with its cost shows whether your car runs above or below that.

How do you track your own car's cost per mile?

AAA's figures describe an average new car in the US, so your own cost per mile comes from your own records: every fill-up or charge, every service and repair, every insurance and road tax bill, and the odometer at the start and end of the period. A spreadsheet of a year of receipts works; the hard part is not missing the irregular bills.

WrenchTime, a car log for iPhone, keeps every cost with the vehicle it belongs to: fill-ups, charging sessions, care work and dues such as insurance renewals, finance instalments and road tax, which it keeps apart from workshop bills. Its Total Operating Cost and Cost Breakdown charts add them up for any period, and a fuel cost per mile chart tracks the variable part.

The odometer history gives the miles to divide by, and a recurring entry for a yearly insurance renewal or a monthly loan payment never needs re-entering. WrenchTime does not track depreciation, so add your own estimate from the formula above.

Key takeaways: the cost to run a car per mile

The figures on this page, each with its source.

• Average: about 86 US cents a mile for a new vehicle in 2026, $12,863 a year at 15,000 miles (AAA).
• Fuel is about a fifth: 17.3 cents of the 86; depreciation, at $4,422 a year, is the largest single cost (AAA).
• Formula: cost per mile = (fixed costs + variable costs per year) ÷ miles driven per year; the UK example on this page comes to 62.7p a mile.
• Mileage matters: AAA's average is about $1.10 a mile at 10,000 miles a year and 74 cents at 20,000; the average US light-duty vehicle covered 10,787 miles in 2024 (FHWA).
• Petrol only: price per litre × 4.546 ÷ MPG; at an example 175p a litre, a 45 MPG car spends 17.7p a mile.
• HMRC rate: 55p a mile for the first 10,000 business miles from 6 April 2026, then 25p, a rate for business miles, not your actual cost (GOV.UK).

Find your own cost per mile

Log a few months of fill-ups, care work and dues in WrenchTime and your own totals replace AAA's average. The free version covers 1 vehicle with 3 fill-ups and 2 care or dues entries a month, 1 chart and CSV and PDF export, and WrenchTime Pro removes those limits. The car expense tracker guide shows how it organises every cost.