How do you calculate the cost of a trip?

Divide the miles by your mpg to get the gallons, multiply by the price per gallon, then add tolls, parking and any other cost. 84 miles at 28 mpg is 3 gallons; at $3.40 a gallon that is $10.20, and with $4 in tolls and $12 for parking the trip costs $26.20.

How much does it cost to drive 100 miles?

In fuel alone, 100 miles ÷ your mpg × the price per gallon: at 28 mpg and $3.40 a gallon, about $12.14. An electric car at 30 kWh per 100 miles and $0.17 per kWh uses $5.10. Tolls and parking come on top, and the car's own running costs are a separate figure (see the Cost per Mile Calculator).

How do I split a road trip cost between people?

Enter the number of people sharing the car and the calculator divides the whole trip evenly: fuel, tolls, parking and other costs. If one person should not pay for parking, take it out of the shared total and settle it separately.

Does the IRS mileage rate pay for my trip?

The rate is a per-mile figure that stands for fuel plus the car's running and ownership costs, so it is normally above the fuel cost of a trip. Whether you receive it depends on your employer, and employees cannot deduct commuting or unreimbursed mileage. The calculator shows what the rate values the trip at for the date you pick, as a comparison.

Does the calculator include wear, insurance and depreciation?

No. It shows what the trip costs you out of pocket: fuel or charge, tolls, parking and whatever you add under other costs. Insurance, depreciation, maintenance and tires are spread over the whole year's driving; the Cost per Mile Calculator turns them into a per-mile figure you can add.

Trip Cost Calculator

Enter the distance, what the car burns and what fuel costs, then tolls, parking and anything else. You get the cost of the trip, the cost per mile, the share per person and, if it is a trip you make every week, what it adds up to in a month.

The figures are an example (a 42-mile visit, three times a week). Replace them with your own.

The trip

Units

Distance one way (miles)

Round trip (there and back)

Fuel or charge

Fuel economy (mpg)

Fuel price per gallon ($)

Tolls, parking and other costs

Tolls ($)

Parking ($)

Other costs ($)

Meals, a ferry, a rental: anything else the trip costs. For a meal allowance, see the Per Diem Calculator below.

Split and repeat

People sharing the cost

1 to 50. Leave at 1 if you pay it all.

Trips

How often you make this trip; 0 for a one-off.

What the trip costs

Per trip

$26.20

84 miles driven (round trip)

Per mile

$0.31

Per month

$340.60

13 trips, 1,092 miles a month

Where it goes

Fuel or charge (3 gallons)$10.20
Tolls$4
Parking$12

What the IRS mileage rate values this trip at

Trip date

No IRS rate on file for that date. The calculator carries the rates from 2025 onwards.

That is the rate's value, not a deduction: employees cannot deduct commuting or unreimbursed business mileage. Whether you are paid the rate is your employer's policy.

What you type is not sent to ParrotNotes. Only the numbers go into the page address, so you can share the result.

How to calculate the cost of a trip

Trip cost = fuel (or charge) + tolls + parking + other costs. Fuel is the distance divided by your miles per gallon, times the price per gallon; for an electric car it is the distance times the kWh per 100 miles, divided by 100, times the price per kWh.

The example in the calculator: a 42-mile drive to a customer and back, so 84 miles. At 28 mpg that is 3 gallons, $10.20 at $3.40 a gallon. Add $4 in tolls and $12 for parking and the visit costs $26.20, or about 31 cents a mile. Three visits a week are 13 a month, $340.60.

The figure is the out-of-pocket cost of the drive, not what the car costs you to own. Insurance, depreciation and maintenance are spread over every mile of the year; the Cost per Mile Calculator works those out.

Trip fuel cost: mpg, price and the electric switch

Your real-world mpg is usually below the sticker figure, so use what the trip computer shows over a tank or two, and the price at the pump you actually fill up at. A 10 percent change in either moves the fuel cost by the same 10 percent.

Switch to Electric and enter the kWh per 100 miles your car reports and the price per kWh where you charge. Charging at home and at a fast charger can differ by a factor of two or three, so pick the one you will use on this trip. The same 84 miles at 30 kWh per 100 miles and $0.17 per kWh cost $4.28 in electricity.

You can enter kilometres instead of miles with the unit switch; the fuel economy field then takes l/100 km.

Commute cost: the trip you make every week

Set how often you make the trip, per week or per month, and the calculator shows the monthly total and the miles it adds. A week counts as 52 ÷ 12 of a month, so three times a week is 13 trips a month, not 12.

For a sales territory, enter a typical visit day as one trip and the number of visit days a week: the monthly figure is what the territory costs in fuel, tolls and parking before anything else. Plan the day's order of stops with the Drive Time Calculator.

Road trip cost per person

Enter how many people share the car and the per-person figure splits the whole trip, fuel and extras alike, evenly. Four people in the example car pay $6.55 each for the 84-mile trip.

Add meals, a hotel or a ferry under other costs if you want them in the split; for a daily meal allowance on a work trip, the Per Diem Calculator has the rates.

What the IRS mileage rate values the trip at

Enter the trip date and the calculator looks up the IRS business standard mileage rate for that period, 76 cents a mile from 1 July 2026, from the same table the Mileage Reimbursement Calculator uses, and shows what the rate values the trip at: $63.84 for the 84 miles in the example. The rate covers fuel and the car's running and ownership costs in one figure, which is why it is above the fuel cost alone.

It is the rate's value, not a deduction. Employees cannot deduct commuting or unreimbursed business mileage; whether you are paid the rate, and for which trips, is your employer's policy. To work out a claim for a month of trips, use the Mileage Reimbursement Calculator.

Results are estimates from the figures you enter. Fuel prices and consumption vary by day and by road; this page is not tax advice.

Source (read 14 October 2026):

IRS: Standard mileage rates

The cost is per visit. So are the notes.

Every trip on this page ends at a customer. Record the visit in ParrotNotes, or a voice note in the car right after it, and the summary and follow-up are on your phone before the next stop. Free for 100 minutes of recording a month.

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