What Does Every Mile Actually Cost?
Gas is only the beginning. Insurance, tires, depreciation, and repairs pile up per mile — run the full analysis and see how your real cost compares with the IRS rate.
Illustrative vehicle cost analysis
Free, no registration. Replace the starting values with your actual numbers.
Your vehicle, your year
Actual Vehicle Cost Per Business Mile
$0.52
$7,233 in allocated business vehicle costs · 14,000 business miles
IRS standard mileage rate benchmark
$0.76
$0.76
A tax-deduction benchmark — not a payment, and not a method recommendation
Actual cost vs IRS rate
68% of benchmark
Your estimated operating cost is below the IRS mileage benchmark. This comparison does not determine which tax deduction method is best for you.
Cost breakdown — business share (70% of your driving)
Shared costs (insurance, tires, depreciation, registration, cleaning, interest) are allocated by your business-mile share; fuel is computed from business miles directly.
- Fuel (business miles)$2,095
- Insurance$1,260
- Maintenance & servicing$490
- Repairs$350
- Tires$168
- Registration & licensing$280
- Cleaning & detailing$210
- Historical average annual depreciation$1,820
- Vehicle-loan interest$560
- Total annual vehicle cost (business share)$7,233
- Break-even per business mile$0.52
Break-even is the minimum revenue per business mile needed just to cover these vehicle costs — before your time, phone, parking, or tolls.
Know your cost, then plan around it
Drivers who know their true per-mile cost make smarter decisions about which gigs pay, when to buy, and how to document deductions that survive review.
Common questions
Why is depreciation counted but loan principal is not?
Depreciation captures the vehicle losing value over time — that is a real cost even though no check is written. Loan principal is how you financed that purchase; counting both would double-count the same dollars. The calculator includes only the annual interest portion of financing.
Why are costs split between personal and business use?
If the car also takes you to the grocery store, charging all of its insurance, tires, and depreciation to the business overstates your business cost per mile. Shared costs are allocated by your business-mile share; fuel is computed directly from business miles.
Is this the same as the IRS mileage deduction?
No. This calculator measures what your vehicle economically costs you. The IRS standard mileage rate is a tax deduction benchmark that happens to approximate those costs — using it is not the same as receiving a payment. Which method (standard vs actual expenses) benefits you at tax time depends on your facts; we evaluate that with you.
Comparisons use the 2026 standard mileage rates (72.5¢ January–June, 76¢ July–December) as benchmarks only. This calculator is general information, not tax advice for your specific situation.