How much should I charge per mile? Your real cost, US and UK

1. Charge per mile = cost per mile + what you want to earn

Two lines, nothing else. Cost per mile = everything the car costs in a year / the miles it drives in that year: fuel, maintenance and repairs, tyres, depreciation, insurance, tax and registration, parking and tolls, loan interest. Rate per mile = that cost + what you want to earn per mile. The cost per mile calculator does the first line from your own figures and keeps them in your browser; the rideshare driver cost calculator turns it into the break-even pay per mile for a week of work. What follows is the first line worked for the typical US and UK car from published starting values, so you can see the shape of the answer before you type your own.

2. Fuel only: diesel and petrol per mile by mpg and pump price

Fuel per mile = pump price per gallon / mpg. In the UK the price is per litre and mpg is on the imperial gallon, so pence per mile = pence per litre x 4.54609 / mpg. The starred row and column are the diesel starting values of the calculator (41.1 mpg, 190.7p a litre): 21.1p a mile of diesel. Charging that figure covers the pump and nothing else.

* Starting values: European Commission COM(2024) 122, real-world fuel consumption from on-board monitoring, diesel cars registered 2021: 6.88 L/100 km (type-approval 5.82); DESNZ Weekly road fuel prices: ULSD (diesel) 190.72 p/litre, week of 2026-09-14.

The US table is in cents per mile, with the starting diesel pickup (26 mpg) and the EIA diesel price ($6.285 a gallon) starred: 24.2c a mile.

* Starting values: fueleconomy.gov, MY2025 diesel light vehicles: 2025 Chevrolet Silverado 2WD 3.0L diesel, 26 mpg combined (the rest of the list are 23-24 mpg trucks and SUVs); EIA Gasoline and Diesel Fuel Update: on-highway diesel, U.S. average $6.285/gal, week of 2026-09-14 (released 2026-09-15).

Petrol and gas have the same table on the guide to what 100 miles really cost (Table 1, dollars per 100 miles = cents per mile) and on the UK cost per mile guide (Table 4, pence per mile).

3. All in: what a mile really costs by miles a year (US and UK)

Gas is 20% of the typical US car's bill, maintenance and tyres also grow with the miles, and the fixed 67% (depreciation, insurance, registration) is paid whether the car moves or not. The typical US car of the calculator costs $0.837 a mile all in at 13,476 miles a year, of which $0.557 is fixed cost (depreciation, insurance, registration) spread over the miles and $0.280 grows with every mile (gas, maintenance, tyres). Drive fewer miles and the fixed part weighs more: $1.781 a mile at 5,000 miles, $0.530 at 30,000. A rate set from the fuel alone misses most of this.

* FHWA, Office of Highway Policy Information, Average Annual Miles per Driver by Age Group: 13,476 miles per driver per year. The typical US diesel (a 26 mpg pickup at $6.285 a gallon, same other costs) comes to $0.909 a mile at the same miles: a truck's figure, not a car's.

* DfT National Travel Survey, table NTS0901 (updated 2026-09-10): average annual mileage per car in England, 2025: 7,100 miles (petrol 6,200, diesel 8,000). The typical UK diesel car (41.1 mpg at 190.7p a litre, same other costs) comes to 88.5p a mile at the same miles.

A van, a bigger car, a car on a loan or a newer one moves every figure up; a paid-off small car moves them down. The step-by-step article shows where each figure comes from, and the calculator returns this table for your own vehicle.

4. Wear and tear per mile

“Wear and tear” here means three lines: maintenance and repairs and tyres, which wear with the distance, and depreciation, the yearly loss of value (a fixed share of the car's value per year in the calculator, so it is also part of the fixed cost in Table 3). For the typical US car that is $0.411 of the $0.837 a mile; for the typical UK petrol car 56.6p of 88.7p. The standard mileage rates are meant to stand in for all car costs, not only these three lines.

Each line is rounded on its own, so the lines may not add up exactly to the wear and tear row, which is the sum of the unrounded items. Depreciation = the car's value x the share lost in a year (15% US, 20% UK); maintenance and repairs: Derived: AAA Your Driving Costs 2025 puts maintenance, repair and tires at 11.04 cents/mile; the 84 % maintenance share comes from AAA 2016 (maintenance 5.28, tires 1.00 cents/mile); x 13,476 miles (US); NimbleFins, cost of running a car in the UK: repairs and servicing average £503 a year (2025) (UK); tyres: Derived: 16 % tyre share of AAA 2025 maintenance, repair and tires (11.04 cents/mile), share from AAA 2016 (tires 1.00 of 6.28 cents/mile); x 13,476 miles (US); Derived: Kwik Fit (Nov 2023) prices a Corsa tyre at £50 budget to £115 premium, midpoint £82.50; RAC: front tyres last about 20,000 miles, rear 40,000; at 7,100 miles a year that is about £88 (UK).

5. The reference rates: IRS 76c, HMRC 55p then 25p

IRS standard mileage rate, business (Jul-Dec 2026): $0.760 per mile (IRS: 76 cents per mile from 2026-07-01 (IR-2026-29); 72.5 cents Jan-Jun 2026 (IR-2025-128)). HMRC approved mileage rate, cars (2026/27): £0.550 per mile up to 10,000 miles, then £0.250 (HMRC approved mileage allowance payments, cars and vans: 55p per mile for the first 10,000 business miles in the tax year from 6 April 2026 (45p before), 25p per mile above that). They are what an employer may reimburse and what tax rules allow per business mile; whether you may use them, and what you may claim, is for your adviser. For setting a charge they are a useful check: a rate above your cost per mile leaves a margin for your time, a rate below it does not. The tables apply each rate to a year of business miles and subtract the real cost of the same miles at several costs per mile; the starred column is the typical car.

* The typical car of the calculator at the miles shown; its own cost per mile falls as the miles rise (Tables 3 and 4), so the starred column overstates the gap at high mileages. Arithmetic, not tax advice.

6. What to type to get your own figure

Type these into the cost per mile calculator: yearly miles, mpg and pump price, the car's value and the share it loses a year, insurance, servicing and repairs, tyres, tax, parking and tolls, loan interest. It returns the cost per mile and the fixed and variable parts. If you drive for a platform or set a per-mile price for deliveries, the rideshare driver cost calculator turns that figure into the break-even pay per mile and the cost per paid mile; the Pro report puts it on one printable page. The guide on what 100 miles cost shows fuel and all-in side by side for one trip.

Sources of the starting values: US fuel economy, EPA Automotive Trends Report (MY2024): real-world new-vehicle average 27.2 mpg, 1.7 mpg lower without BEVs and PHEVs = 25.5 mpg for a gas car (2026-09-18); US gas price, EIA Gasoline and Diesel Fuel Update: regular gasoline, U.S. average $4.319/gal, week of 2026-09-14 (released 2026-09-15) (2026-09-18); US diesel, fueleconomy.gov, MY2025 diesel light vehicles: 2025 Chevrolet Silverado 2WD 3.0L diesel, 26 mpg combined (the rest of the list are 23-24 mpg trucks and SUVs) and EIA Gasoline and Diesel Fuel Update: on-highway diesel, U.S. average $6.285/gal, week of 2026-09-14 (released 2026-09-15) (2026-09-18); US yearly distance, FHWA, Office of Highway Policy Information, Average Annual Miles per Driver by Age Group: 13,476 miles per driver per year (2026-09-18); UK petrol economy, European Commission COM(2024) 122, real-world fuel consumption from on-board monitoring, petrol cars registered 2021: 7.89 L/100 km (type-approval 6.38); EU figure used for the UK (about 35.8 mpg UK), no UK real-world average is published; UK diesel economy, European Commission COM(2024) 122, real-world fuel consumption from on-board monitoring, diesel cars registered 2021: 6.88 L/100 km (type-approval 5.82); EU figure used for the UK (about 41 mpg UK), no UK real-world average is published; UK petrol and diesel prices, DESNZ Weekly road fuel prices: ULSP (unleaded) 168.14 p/litre, week of 2026-09-14 and DESNZ Weekly road fuel prices: ULSD (diesel) 190.72 p/litre, week of 2026-09-14 (2026-09-18); UK yearly distance, DfT National Travel Survey, table NTS0901 (updated 2026-09-10): average annual mileage per car in England, 2025: 7,100 miles (petrol 6,200, diesel 8,000) (2026-09-18); IRS rate, IRS: 76 cents per mile from 2026-07-01 (IR-2026-29); 72.5 cents Jan-Jun 2026 (IR-2025-128); HMRC rate, HMRC approved mileage allowance payments, cars and vans: 55p per mile for the first 10,000 business miles in the tax year from 6 April 2026 (45p before), 25p per mile above that. The other costs of each car (depreciation, insurance, maintenance, tyres, tax) are the calculator's starting values, listed with their sources on its page.