Car running costs - What you need to know

If you're weighing up whether to buy a car, it's a good idea to know what costs you'll need to pay for it every month or year. In this guide, we'll look at car running costs and what you can expect to pay.

What are the main running costs of a car?

We're splitting costs into two categories, running costs and standing charges.

Running costs

These are your everyday costs like fuel, combined with more substantial yearly costs like your MOT and service.

Fuel

Let's start by looking at the average cost of fuel. At the time of writing, the prices are:

• £1.46 per litre for diesel
• £1.39 per litre for petrol

The price of fuel varies depending on where you buy it. So it's worth looking around to see who sells the cheapest fuel near you.

Other factors affect your fuel usage. For example, your mileage, tyre pressure and how you use your car. If you just use your car for socialising, your fuel usage is likely to be less than someone who drives to work. Use our mileage calculator to work out the rough cost of your fuel over a month or a year.

Your style of driving can also affect your fuel usage. Sudden braking and acceleration can use up more fuel than smooth and steady driving.

If you're buying a new car, you'll have to choose whether you want a petrol or diesel car. This choice depends on what sort of driving you do.

Diesel might be a good option if you're a high-mileage driver and do a fair amount of long drives on the motorway. Whereas, if your commute is only half an hour to 40 minutes a day, then a petrol car may be a better option for you. It could work out cheaper fuel-wise too.

Read our guide on how to save on fuel for more fuel-saving tips.

Tyres

You could go through a set of tyres in four years on average. But again, this depends on your mileage and the roads you're driving on.

According to Kwik Fit, the average cost of a new tyre for a Vauxhall Corsa is £50, but they could go up to £115 for a high-end tyre.

So, depending on the tyres you choose, you could spend between £200 and £460 on new tyres every four years. This could be even more expensive for larger cars and different makes or models.

It's a good idea to regularly check your tyres. You should look at the general condition, pressure and tread depth.

This could also save you money. Checking your tyres regularly means you can spot issues early. Some tyre issues are even fixable if you catch them in time - saving you the cost of a new tyre.

Also, under-inflated tyres mean you use more fuel, so make sure they're inflated to the proper limit.

MOT and service

MOTs are a legal requirement, you need to have one of these every year. According to GOV.UK an MOT for a car with up to 8 passenger seats can cost £54.85.

Servicing your car isn't a legal requirement, but it's a good idea to get one once a year or when your car reaches a certain mileage. Services can pick up on issues before they develop into something more serious.

You can either choose an interim service or a full service. According to FixMyCar, these are the average costs for different models:

Wear and tear

You might encounter a few issues every now and again with your car. For example, changing your brake pads, suspension problems and exhaust issues. You might be able to avoid these costs if you regularly service your car, but sometimes these things just happen. Here's the average cost of some common issues according to FixMyCar:

Parking

Parking might be a decent chunk of your car costs if you drive to work. Generally, council-run car parks are slightly cheaper than private firms like NCP. But it varies.

Sites like Parkopedia can tell you where your local car parks are and their price. A bit of planning in advance might save you some cash.

Park and ride or public transport might be an option too if you want to save. Some train stations even have free parking if you can get to work by train.

Toll roads, congestion charges and low emission zones

If you're on the road regularly you might have to pay a toll or the congestion charge if you're driving through London.

Some cities now have low emission zones, clean air zones or in London, the ultra-low emission zone.

These vary in price. The congestion charge in London is £15, it's £17.50 if you pay it the day after you travel.

The ultra-low emission charge is £12.50 per day, this only applies if the vehicle doesn't meet ULEZ standards though.

Low emission zones in other cities vary from £4 to £12 in some areas. You only have to pay this though if your vehicle doesn't meet the city's emission standards. You can usually find this on the city council's website.

These costs could be avoidable though. You might be able to use navigation apps like Google Maps and Waze to navigate around toll roads and low emission zones. Or drive to a nearby park and ride and get the train or bus to your location.

Standing charges

These are mostly unavoidable costs associated with driving, for example tax and insurance. Here's how much they could cost you:

Tax

How much tax you pay depends on your vehicle's emissions. Generally, lower emission vehicles pay less for tax.

Costs can range from £0 to £190 depending on your emissions. You can find out how much it will cost to tax your car as well as the tax rates on our car tax checker tool.

One of the main plus points of getting an EV was not having to pay tax. But from April 2025, even electric cars will have to pay car tax. You can find out more about this in our EV tax from 2025 guide.

Even if your car tax is £0, you still need to tax your car. If you don't tax your car, it could get towed and you could get a fine.

Breakdown cover

You can pay for breakdown cover as part of your car insurance, or you can ring a breakdown recovery service and they can come and help you.

Either way, you'll need to pay to be recovered. And paying monthly for breakdown cover as part of your insurance can often work out cheaper than a call out on the day.

Breakdown cover cost varies depending on the level of cover you choose, but it can range from £30 to £100.

Car insurance

According to our car insurance price index, car insurance costs around £834. But the price varies depending on your driving history, where you live and what car you drive.

The good news is there are ways to bring down the cost of car insurance, here's how you can do it:

• Be accurate when you declare your mileage
• Buy extra security to protect your car from break-ins
• Check your cover for add-ons you don't need
• Pay for your insurance annually

Read our guide on how to save on car insurance for more information.

Depreciation

Depreciation is one of the biggest costs when it comes to cars. If you buy a car new, it loses up to 10% of its value as soon as you drive it off the forecourt.

The depreciation cost is less if you buy a used car, but it will still lose value over time.

You can minimise the effect of depreciation by:

• Keeping your car in good condition
• Try and keep the mileage low
• Service it when you need to and keep a full service record
• Deal with any issues quickly if you can

Is it cheaper to run an electric car?

In some ways, yes. At the moment you don't have to pay tax on electric cars, but as we've already mentioned, this is due to change from April 2025. You're exempt from paying ULEZ too if you live in London.

Then there's charging your car. To charge an electric car with a 60kWh battery with a 200-mile range, it'll cost about £13 to charge at home. The average cost to fill up a tank with petrol is about £50 for a standard car. You also have to consider electric car insurance, as you need this to legally drive on the roads.

Electric cars are quite expensive to buy outright though, with the average cost at about £20,000. At the minute, there isn't an extensive market when it comes to buying a used electric car.

Tips for cheaper car running costs

Here's how you can save on your running costs:

• Find the cheapest petrol station near you
• Drive efficiently to save fuel, for example, no heavy acceleration and drive at a steady speed
• Make sure you regularly service your car
• Get breakdown cover to avoid an expensive recovery on the day
• Use apps to find cheap parking spaces
• If you have an electric car, try charging it at off-peak times
• When you're buying insurance, be accurate with your mileage, pay annually for your insurance, and buy extra security for your car.

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