Depreciation is usually the biggest cost of owning a car, not fuel — and most owners never see it broken out. This calculator combines our Car Value and Kfz-Steuer calculators with your real running costs into one honest number.
Depreciation is computed from real market listings for your exact make and model via our Car Value calculator — not a generic percentage. The annual Kfz-Steuer comes from our KraftStG calculator, multiplied by your holding period. Fuel or electricity cost is your annual mileage times consumption times the price per unit.
Insurance and maintenance are the two components we don't compute for you: insurance depends on your Typklasse and Regionalklasse, which are licensed GDV data we don't republish in bulk — enter your real premium, or use the segment default as a rough anchor. Maintenance is a segment-level estimate that you can override with your own numbers.
Six components over your chosen holding period: depreciation (the drop in resale value), Kfz-Steuer (annual vehicle tax), fuel or electricity, insurance, maintenance and tyres, and TUEV/HU inspection fees. Financing costs aren't included in this MVP.
A car loses most of its value in the first few years of ownership — often several thousand euros a year — while fuel for a typical annual mileage costs a fraction of that. Most owners only notice fuel and insurance because those are recurring bills; depreciation is invisible until you try to sell.
It depends heavily on your annual mileage and holding period. Diesel's higher Kfz-Steuer and purchase price are offset by lower fuel cost only at high mileage. EVs have low running costs but their depreciation curve differs from combustion cars. Run your own numbers above rather than relying on a rule of thumb.