Ownership Costs: The Five Year Number Behind the Monthly Payment

A monthly payment is one line of a much longer bill. Depreciation, insurance, fuel, tires, registration, and scheduled service usually add up to more than the interest ever will.

This section runs that math out loud. We publish depreciation patterns by segment, because a compact truck and a full-size luxury sedan behave nothing alike in year three. We show how two trims of the same model can differ by $400 a year in insurance, and why quoting before you buy takes 20 minutes and keeps paying. According to AAA's annual driving cost study, the average new vehicle in the United States costs well over $12,000 a year to own once every category is counted.

Wheel size, tire compound, fuel grade, and warranty length all show up in the totals. So do the boring items. A cabin air filter is a small line. Twelve small lines are not.