Car maintenance cost calculator

Typically £660–£1,040 a year for a car around ten years old, covering a full service, MOT, tyre wear and a realistic repair allowance. Newer cars run £400–£500; ageing premium models can exceed £1,200. Fuel, insurance and tax come on top — this figure is what keeping the car healthy costs.

£55–£85 a month covers maintenance and repairs for most used cars — roughly the annual figure from the calculator divided by twelve. Put it in a separate account by standing order: car costs arrive in lumps, and a funded buffer is the difference between a planned repair and a credit card emergency.

Yes, but gradually: a family hatchback goes from about £480 a year at 3–5 years old to about £910 at 14+, driven almost entirely by the repair allowance as wear items come due. Even that peak is usually far below the depreciation alone on a newer replacement — age raises bills, but rarely enough to beat keeping the car.

Small hatchbacks — Fiesta, Corsa, Polo, Yaris — at around £660 a year for a ten-year-old example: cheaper parts, cheaper tyres, less labour time. Premium models cost most (about £1,040) because every part carries a badge premium and complexity adds labour hours. Reliability records matter too, but part prices set the floor.

Almost always: even £900 a year of maintenance undercuts the depreciation and finance costs of a newer replacement, typically by a wide margin. The balance only tips when a single repair exceeds half the car’s value or breakdowns become frequent — run that specific decision through our worth-fixing calculator.

£140–£280 at an independent garage depending on the model, and it’s the anchor of the annual budget. An interim service costs less but skips items that matter on older engines. The service fee buys the correct oil spec, inspection of wear items, and early warnings — the cheapest of all maintenance.

A typical tyre lasts around 20,000 miles, so at 8,000 miles a year you’re buying roughly one and a half tyres annually once wear is spread across the set — £100–£175 a year depending on the car. Uneven or premature wear is a message, not bad luck: check pressures monthly and alignment after any big pothole.

It mainly accelerates the mileage-driven items — tyres, brakes, clutch — while age drives the rest, like rubber perishing and corrosion. A 15,000-mile-a-year car buys tyres nearly twice as fast as an 8,000-mile one. Very low mileage isn’t free either: short trips punish batteries, and on diesels the DPF.

Fuel, insurance, road tax, parking, finance and depreciation — they depend on your postcode, driving and deal more than on the car’s mechanical needs. Also excluded are scheduled one-offs like a cambelt (£280–£750 roughly every five years on many engines): not annual, but worth a mental fifth-per-year if yours is approaching the interval.

Typically about 50% more for the same routine work, driven by labour rates. Dealers earn their premium on warranty work, recalls and model-specific diagnostics; for servicing, tyres, brakes and exhausts an independent delivers the same outcome for roughly two-thirds of the price. Mixing the two is what savvy owners do.

Yes, measurably — the correct oil at the correct interval is what protects turbos, particulate filters and timing components, and the inspection catches wear items while they’re cheap. Most four-figure engine bills have a skipped or wrong-spec service somewhere in their history. It’s the one cost that reduces the others.

Read its MOT history — advisories are next year’s repairs, pre-announced and free to check. Our reg check prices each advisory for your exact model, which turns the statistical repair allowance in this calculator into a named, costed list. Averages set the budget; your history sets the shopping list.