Running Costs
The Cost of a Single Mile, Item by Item
Add every published figure on this site and one car costs 11.70 a mile at 2,000 miles a year and 3.13 at 10,000. The same spending, divided differently.
Every cost on this site can be sorted into two groups: the ones billed by the year and the ones billed by the mile. Once they are separated, the cost of running a supercar stops being a mystery and becomes a formula. On a car at 250,000, the time based costs come to 21,425 a year and the distance based ones to 0.986 a mile, which produces 11.70 per mile at 2,000 miles a year and 3.13 at 10,000.
The full accounting
Each line below is drawn from a figure sourced elsewhere on this site. Where a range was published, the midpoint is used, and the arithmetic is verified rather than asserted.
| Cost | Basis | At 2,000 miles | At 10,000 miles |
|---|---|---|---|
| Depreciation, year one | 6 % of value | 15,000 | 15,000 |
| Insurance | 1.25 % of value | 3,125 | 3,125 |
| Scheduled service | five year average | 2,925 | 2,925 |
| Tyres | a set every ten years | 375 | 375 |
| Fuel | 22 l/100 km at 1.80 | 1,275 | 6,373 |
| Clutch | 1,100 per 10,000 km | 354 | 1,770 |
| Brakes, steel | 3,000 per 17,500 miles | 343 | 1,714 |
| Total per year | 23,397 | 31,283 | |
| Per mile | 11.70 | 3.13 |
Driving the car five times as far costs 7,886 more a year and reduces the cost per mile by 73.3 per cent. The car that sits still is the expensive one.
The formula underneath it
Four lines do not move with distance at all. Depreciation is a function of the calendar on the published curve, insurance is billed annually, the service interval binds on time below about 10,000 miles a year, and a tyre set replaced on age is a fixed annual cost. Together they are 21,425 a year on this car.
Three lines move only with distance: fuel at 0.64, clutch at 0.18 and brakes at 0.17, so 0.986 per mile. That gives a formula for any distance:
Cost per mile = 21,425 divided by annual miles, plus 0.986.
| Miles per year | Time based, per mile | Distance based | Total per mile |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1,000 | 21.425 | 0.986 | 22.41 |
| 2,000 | 10.713 | 0.986 | 11.70 |
| 5,000 | 4.285 | 0.986 | 5.27 |
| 10,000 | 2.143 | 0.986 | 3.13 |
| 21,735 | 0.986 | 0.986 | 1.98 |
The last row is the crossover: at 21,735 miles a year the time based costs and the distance based costs are equal, at 0.986 each. Below that, and every car in this class is below it, the calendar is the larger half of the bill and driving further is close to free per mile.
The line that dominates everything
Depreciation is 64.1 per cent of the annual total at 2,000 miles and 47.9 per cent at 10,000. It never appears on an invoice, it is the only line an owner cannot pay in instalments, and it is decided almost entirely at purchase.
Two of the choices covered elsewhere on this site move it further than any maintenance decision can. A model that holds value against one that does not can differ by 20 percentage points over three years, and paying a premium over list adds that premium to the loss before depreciation starts. Against those, the difference between a dealer and a specialist on a clutch, real as it is at 7,000, is a smaller lever.
What this calculation is not
It is one car, at one value, at published midpoints, with a steel braking system and no unscheduled repairs. Four things would move it and all of them are covered separately:
- An unscheduled failure. A documented long ownership of an F355 came to about 8 USD per mile including maintenance and depreciation, on a much cheaper car covering roughly 1,031 miles a year. The structure was identical, the level was set by the car's value.
- A carbon ceramic braking system, which removes the brake line almost entirely on a low mileage car and adds a five figure risk on a high mileage or track driven one.
- Depreciation beyond year one, which falls in each subsequent year on a normally produced car, so the second year of this table is cheaper than the first.
- Tyres binding on wear rather than age, which begins above roughly 5,000 miles a year and raises that line from the fixed 375 used here.
Questions readers ask
What does it cost to drive a supercar per mile?
On a car at 250,000 with published midpoint costs, 11.70 per mile at 2,000 miles a year and 3.13 at 10,000. The annual totals are 23,397 and 31,283, so driving five times as far costs 7,886 more a year.
Why does driving more make it cheaper?
Because 21,425 of the annual cost does not move with distance: depreciation, insurance, the time based service interval and a tyre set replaced on age. Only fuel, clutch and brakes scale, at 0.986 per mile combined.
Is there a formula?
On these figures, cost per mile equals 21,425 divided by annual miles, plus 0.986. At 1,000 miles that is 22.41, at 5,000 it is 5.27 and at 10,000 it is 3.13.
What is the biggest single cost?
Depreciation, at 64.1 per cent of the annual total at 2,000 miles a year and 47.9 per cent at 10,000. It never appears on an invoice and it is decided almost entirely at purchase.
When do time and distance costs balance?
At 21,735 miles a year on these figures, where both come to 0.986 per mile. Below that the calendar is the larger half of the bill, and every car in this class is below it.
How does this compare to a documented case?
A long ownership of a Ferrari F355 was calculated at more than 8 USD per mile including maintenance and depreciation, on a car covering about 1,031 miles a year. Lower value, same structure: the calendar costs divided by very little distance.
Sources
- Hagerty UK, modern supercar depreciation, published 19 May 2021, for the 6 per cent year one depreciation used in the table.
- Bavarian Rennsport, Huracán maintenance costs over five years, for the service tiers behind the 2,925 annual average, the tyre set price and the 2,000 to 4,000 USD brakes every 15,000 to 20,000 miles.
- Norton Insurance, how much does supercar insurance cost, published 13 July 2026, for the 1 to 1.5 per cent of insured value benchmark behind the insurance line.
- MotorEU, Huracán fuel consumption, for the 22 litres per 100 km real world figure behind the fuel line.