2026/27 rates & live fuel prices
Estimate what a car will actually cost to run each year: road tax calculated exactly from current rules, fuel or electricity from today's live average price, plus honest typical ranges for insurance and maintenance.
Only affects tax for cars registered between March 2001 and April 2017. Check your V5C logbook or gov.uk if unsure.
Only affects tax for cars registered before March 2001.
Fill in the form and click calculate to see an estimated annual running cost, built from current 2026/27 tax rates and today's live average fuel price.
How each figure is worked out
Road tax (VED) is calculated exactly from the current 2026/27 rules: £200 standard rate for anything registered after April 2017, the correct CO2 band rate for 2001-2017 cars, and engine-size bands for anything older. New electric cars pay £10 in their first year, then join the standard rate. The £440 expensive car supplement is added automatically if you tick that a car cost over £40,000 (£50,000 for electric) when new.
Fuel cost uses today's live UK average petrol or diesel price, pulled from the same source as our fuel prices page. Electricity cost uses the current Ofgem price cap average domestic rate, since a live per-kWh feed isn't publicly available the way fuel prices are, so this figure is a recent snapshot rather than genuinely live, and your own tariff may differ.
Insurance and maintenance are honest ranges, not calculations. There's no free way to calculate an accurate insurance quote or maintenance bill without your specific details (postcode, driving history, the exact car), so these figures come from published UK-wide averages (ABI paid premium data, and typical servicing/MOT/tyre cost surveys) rather than pretending to a precision we don't have. Getting an actual insurance quote is the only way to know your real figure.
Frequently asked questions
The main ongoing costs are road tax (VED), fuel or electricity, insurance, and servicing/maintenance including MOT and tyres. This calculator estimates all four, though insurance and maintenance can only be given as a typical range rather than an exact figure without your specific details.
Yes, since 1 April 2025. New electric cars pay £10 in the first year, then the standard £200 rate from year two. EVs with a list price over £50,000 also pay an extra £440 a year expensive car supplement for 5 years.