Discover Your True Commuting Costs

Our default maintenance cost of $0.10 per mile is based on AAA's average cost of owning and operating a vehicle in the United States. This includes routine maintenance, tires, and unexpected repairs. However, actual costs can vary based on your specific vehicle type, age, and local labor rates. You can adjust this figure in the tool if you have more precise data for your vehicle.

Time is a finite resource with real economic value. The hours spent commuting could otherwise be used for paid work, professional development, or personal activities that have value to you. By assigning a monetary value to your commute time, you get a more complete picture of the true cost of your transportation choices. If you're uncomfortable with this approach, you can set your hourly value to $0 to exclude it from calculations.

Parking costs are included in our default vehicle maintenance cost estimate. However, if you pay significant separate parking fees (e.g., downtown parking garages), you should add these costs to your vehicle maintenance cost per mile. For example, if you pay $10/day for parking and commute 20 miles roundtrip, you'd add $0.50 per mile to your vehicle costs.

The savings estimates are calculated by reducing the relevant input (distance, days commuting, or MPG) by the specified amount while keeping all other factors constant. For example, the "working from home 1 day/week" savings shows what you'd save by commuting one fewer day while keeping your distance, vehicle efficiency, and other factors the same. These are simplified estimates meant to illustrate potential savings opportunities.

Absolutely! While designed with work commutes in mind, the tool can analyze any regular trip pattern. Simply adjust the days per week and distance to match your regular trips (e.g., driving kids to school, weekly shopping trips). The same cost principles apply to any frequent transportation need.

Yes, though the calculation differs slightly. For EVs, you should enter your vehicle's efficiency in kWh per 100 miles (available from your vehicle's specifications) and your local electricity cost per kWh instead of MPG and fuel cost. Maintenance costs for EVs are typically lower than gas vehicles (around $0.06-$0.08 per mile), but you may want to research your specific model's costs.

We recommend recalculating whenever your circumstances change significantly: if you get a new job, move homes, change vehicles, or when fuel prices fluctuate substantially. Even without changes, reviewing your costs annually helps you stay aware of this significant household expense.

Currently, our tool doesn't save calculations automatically. We recommend taking a screenshot or noting down your results if you want to compare different scenarios. Future versions may include account-based saving features.

We do include time value for public transportation commutes. The key difference is that many people can productively use transit time (reading, working, relaxing) in ways they can't while driving. If you can productively use your transit time, you might choose to assign it a lower hourly value than time spent driving.

Our blog covers many strategies, but key approaches include: negotiating remote work days, carpooling, using public transportation where practical, moving closer to work, biking when possible, maintaining your vehicle for optimal efficiency, and combining errands to reduce total miles driven. The best solution depends on your specific situation.