How We Calculate Maintenance Costs

Each vehicle's cost-by-age curve (ages 1–10) is built from three layers: the manufacturer's published service schedule priced at typical U.S. independent-shop labor and parts rates; expected wear-item replacement (tires, brakes, batteries, wipers) at segment-typical intervals; and an age-weighted repair expectation drawn from published reliability studies. The headline "average annual cost" is the mean of the ten age-year figures.

The calculator scales every age-year figure by a wear factor of 0.6 + 0.4 × (your miles ÷ 12,000) — costs are partly time-driven, partly mileage-driven, so halving your mileage does not halve your bill. Shop choice applies a flat factor: independent ×1.0, dealership ×1.3, DIY-leaning ×0.75.

Included: scheduled maintenance, wear items, and typical age-related repairs. Excluded: fuel and charging, insurance, collision damage, recalls and warranty work (no cost to the owner), parking, tolls, taxes, and registration. Insurance appears on vehicle pages as a separate national-average line for context.

Inputs come from manufacturer service schedules, parts and labor pricing surveys, and published reliability studies. We do not copy figures from other cost sites. AutoCostIndex is independent: no manufacturer or insurer ownership. Figures update monthly; each page shows its report date.

These are modeled estimates of a typical example — a well-treated car in a mild climate will beat them, a hard-used one will exceed them. Regional labor rates vary roughly ±25% around our national baseline. If your invoice history disagrees with our curve, your history wins; the model exists to set expectations, not to predict a single car.