What the drive actually costs, before you set off
Ten calculators for fuel, tolls, commuting, leasing, depreciation and the specs that decide whether a car fits the job. Enter distance and price, get a real figure rather than a rough guess.
Cars are priced in monthly payments and sold on sticker price, which conveniently hides the two numbers that actually decide affordability: what the fuel costs over a year, and what the car is worth when you sell it. Both are straightforward arithmetic that almost nobody does before signing.
These calculators do the boring half of a driving decision. A commute cost over twelve months, a lease against a purchase, depreciation at three and five years, the fuel for a route you are about to drive. All in the browser, all instant, and the link carries your numbers so you can compare two scenarios side by side in separate tabs.
No tool matches that.
Trip Costs
- Fuel Cost Calculator
Find the exact fuel cost of a trip from distance, your car's mpg, and the gas price.
- MPG Calculator
Calculate your real miles per gallon from an odometer reading and how much fuel you added.
- Commute Cost Calculator
See what your daily commute really costs per week, month, and year.
- Road Trip Time Calculator
Estimate total drive time for a road trip, including stops, from distance and average speed.
- Speed Distance Time Calculator
Solve for speed, distance, or time when you know the other two — the classic d = r × t formula.
- Toll Cost Calculator
Estimate the total toll cost of a trip from a per-segment or per-mile rate.
Ownership Costs
- Car Lease Calculator
Estimate your monthly car lease payment from the vehicle price, residual value, and money factor.
- Car Depreciation Calculator
Project your car's resale value over time using a typical depreciation curve.
Vehicle Specs
- Tire Size Calculator
Compare two tire sizes and see the difference in diameter and speedometer accuracy.
- Towing Capacity Calculator
Check whether your trailer weight fits safely within your vehicle's rated towing capacity.
From the blog
Trips, ownership, or specs?
For a specific journey, the fuel cost calculator wants distance, consumption and pump price, and the toll and road trip time calculators fill in the rest of the picture. Together they produce the number worth comparing against a train ticket.
For the commute, the annual figure is the persuasive one. A 40 km round trip at current prices runs into four figures a year before tyres, servicing or parking, which reframes what a shorter commute or a more efficient car is worth.
For ownership decisions, lease versus buy and depreciation answer different halves of the same question. Depreciation is usually the largest single cost of running a car and the one drivers most consistently underestimate, because it never arrives as a bill.
Specs that stop you buying the wrong thing
Tire size and towing capacity are the two checks worth doing before money changes hands. A tire size calculator shows how a different profile changes the rolling diameter, and therefore your speedometer reading and gearing.
Towing capacity is the one where guessing has consequences. The calculator works from the manufacturer's ratings and the loaded weights, so you find out before the caravan is attached rather than on a hill.
Common questions
Do these work with litres per 100 km and miles per gallon?
Yes, both, including the difference between US and imperial gallons, which is a genuine trap: the same car quotes noticeably different MPG figures depending on which gallon a source used.
Are fuel prices built in?
No, you enter the price, which keeps the result accurate to your region and the week you are driving. Built-in price data is either stale or wrong for where you are, and both are worse than typing four characters.
How reliable is the depreciation estimate?
It applies typical depreciation curves by vehicle class, which tracks the market well in aggregate. A specific model can diverge sharply, so treat it as the baseline against which you check a particular car's real resale listings.
Can I compare two cars or two routes?
Yes. Your inputs live in the page address, so run one scenario, copy the link into a new tab, change a value, and you have both open side by side to compare directly.
Is there an account or a paywall?
Neither. Everything runs in your browser, nothing is saved, and clearly labelled ads cover the hosting.