Car & Vehicle

Cost Per Km Calculator

What a kilometre costs you to drive - fuel alone, or fuel plus the other costs you add.

7 inputs Free, no sign-up

Your figures

Use the figure you actually get, not the showroom one. City driving commonly lands 20-30% below a rated number, and the mileage calculator works yours out from a tank.

The price you actually paid. Pump prices move daily and differ by several rupees between states, so the round number here is a placeholder, not a quote.

Your yearly servicing, tyres and repairs divided by your yearly distance. Leave blank to see fuel alone.

Only if you pay them routinely - a daily highway commute, for instance.

Try an example

Result

Your result

Enter your figures and the result appears here.

Estimates only. Rates, fees and specifications change. Confirm against the official source before you rely on a figure — see our disclaimer.

About this calculator

Cost per kilometre is the number that settles arguments. It does not depend on how far you drive, which is what makes it the right figure for comparing two vehicles, deciding whether a trip is worth taking, or checking whether a reimbursement rate is fair.

Fuel alone is two numbers — the pump price and your mileage. Everything else is optional, and every one of those fields starts blank, because there is no honest default for what your servicing costs.

How to use this calculator

  1. Enter your mileage and the pump price. That gives the fuel cost per kilometre.
  2. To go beyond fuel, add whatever you know. Divide a yearly servicing bill by your yearly distance to get a maintenance figure per kilometre.
  3. Read the total, and the per-100-km figure if that is the scale you think in.

For the full picture in one go — insurance, depreciation and the rest — use the car running cost calculator instead.

The formula

Fuel cost per km = Price per litre / Mileage
Total per km     = Fuel cost per km + the extras you entered

Notice that distance does not appear. Doubling your driving doubles the bill but leaves the cost per kilometre exactly where it was, which is why this is the figure that compares.

SymbolMeaningUnit
Mileage What the vehicle returns km/L or mpg
Fuel price Pump price per litre ₹/L
Extras Your own per-kilometre costs ₹/km

Worked example

Petrol at ₹105, mileage 15 km/L, servicing working out at ₹1.50 a kilometre:

Fuel per km  = 105 / 15   = 7.00
Plus upkeep  = 7.00 + 1.50 = 8.50
Per 100 km   = 850

At ₹8.50 a kilometre, a 40 km errand costs ₹340 in running cost — before parking, and before the car losing another day of its value.

Notes and limits

  • Fuel alone understates what driving costs, often by half. Tyres, servicing, insurance and depreciation are all per-kilometre costs in the long run even though you pay them in lumps.
  • Reimbursement rates are usually meant to cover more than fuel. Comparing an offered rate against the fuel-only figure will make it look generous when it may not be.
  • To get a maintenance figure, take last year's total spend on servicing, tyres and repairs and divide it by last year's distance. It is a backward-looking number, which is the best kind available.
  • Depreciation is not in this page at all unless you add it, and for a newer car it is commonly the largest single line.

What this calculation assumes

  • Every figure is one you entered. Nothing about maintenance, tolls or parking is assumed.
  • Depreciation is not included unless you add it as one of the extras.

Frequently asked questions

How do I calculate cost per kilometre?

Divide the fuel price per litre by your mileage in km/L. At ₹105 and 15 km/L that is ₹7.00 a kilometre for fuel. Add maintenance, tyres and anything else you pay to get a running cost rather than a fuel cost.

Why does the distance not matter?

Because both the fuel used and the distance covered scale together. Cost per kilometre is a rate, and a rate does not change when you travel further - only the total does.

What is a fair per-kilometre reimbursement?

That depends on the vehicle and is not something this page will state. What it will do is show what your own vehicle actually costs, which is the figure to compare any offer against.

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