- What your monthly payment looks like based on vehicle price and financing terms
- How much car insurance is likely to cost given your driver profile and coverage level
- How much value the car loses in year one and over its useful life
What you'll figure out
Step preview
1
What will your monthly payment be?
Start with the vehicle price and financing terms
2
What will insurance cost?
Estimate your annual and monthly premium
3
How fast will it lose value?
See what the car is actually worth over time
Start Journey →
Takes about 8 min · Save anytime
Most car buying decisions get made off a single number: the monthly payment. This journey adds the two costs that number leaves out — what insurance will actually run you, and how fast the car is losing value the moment you drive it off the lot — so you're comparing the real cost of ownership, not just the financing.
Who this is for
- First-time car buyers comparing financing options before they visit a dealership
- Anyone who's budgeted for a car payment but never priced in insurance or depreciation
- Buyers deciding between a more expensive car and a cheaper one with lower ongoing costs
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Frequently Asked Questions
How long does this journey take?
About 8 minutes. You can pause and resume anytime within the same browser session, and every step you've completed stays saved.
This calculator is labelled as a lease calculator. Can I use it for a car loan too?
Yes, in spirit — set the residual value to 0% and it functions as a straightforward loan payment calculator, since a $0 residual just means you're financing the full vehicle price rather than a smaller depreciation slice.
Why does the insurance step use my vehicle price instead of asking again?
Vehicle value is one of the biggest drivers of insurance cost, so it's pre-filled from the price you entered in the lease step to keep the two numbers consistent. It's editable if your car's actual value differs from its purchase price.
Why does the depreciation step use my lease step's residual value as the salvage value?
Residual value in a lease calculation and salvage value in a depreciation calculation are the same concept: what the car is estimated to be worth at the end of the period you're modelling. Reusing it keeps both steps working from the same assumption.
Is my data stored anywhere?
No. Everything stays in your browser's session storage and clears when you close the tab. Nothing is sent to thecalcu.com's servers.
Can I change my inputs after completing a later step?
Yes. Go back to any step, change a value, and any step that pulled data from it gets flagged as needing a recalculation, both on that step and on the summary page.
Why does depreciation matter if I'm not planning to sell the car?
It still affects you if you ever trade it in, need to sell in an emergency, or want to know how much equity you actually have versus what you still owe on financing.
Should I choose the straight-line or written-down-value depreciation method?
Straight-line spreads the loss evenly across each year, which is simpler to reason about. Written-down-value front-loads more of the loss into the earlier years, which matches how most vehicles actually depreciate in the real world — try both to see the difference.
How accurate is the insurance premium estimate?
It's a reasonable estimate based on the factors you enter, but actual quotes vary by insurer, state, and specific vehicle model. Use it to compare scenarios (different coverage levels, driving records, or vehicle prices) rather than as a guaranteed quote.
What should I do after completing the journey?
Check the summary page for all three results side by side, then add the monthly payment, the monthly insurance premium, and a rough monthly depreciation cost together for the real all-in monthly cost of owning the car, not just the payment on paper.
Free calculators used in this journey