Advanced options
Includes 12% depreciation and GBP 250/year for servicing, chain and tyres (sports tyres can double that: a rear can be gone in 3,000 miles). Bike VED is far cheaper than car tax: check the current band for your engine size on GOV.UK. Gear is the hidden startup cost: helmet, jacket, gloves, boots run GBP 500+ before the first ride.
What The Motorbike Cost Calculator Works Out
- Fuel per year: miles divided by mpg gives gallons, multiplied by 4.546 litres and the pump price. Middleweights sit in the 50 to 70mpg band and 125s nudge 100mpg, so 4,000 miles at 55mpg is about 330 litres.
- Total per year: fuel plus depreciation at 12% of the bike's value, GBP 250 for servicing, chain and tyres, and your insurance, tax and MOT, with the all-in cost per mile underneath. A 4,000-mile year on a GBP 5,000 bike comes to around GBP 1,700, roughly 40p a mile and about half a comparable car.
- Breakdown: the four (or five) lines that make up the total. Bike VED is a fraction of car tax, insurance is kind to the mature rider and savage to a 19-year-old on anything sporty, and congestion charges and parking are often free where cars pay.
- Fuel price (advanced): override the 145p default with the price at your local forecourt; premium unleaded, which many bikes prefer, runs 10p to 15p more.
- Depreciation rate (advanced): 12% a year is typical, but evergreen models and well-kept classics hold value far better, while new sports bikes can drop 20% or more in year one. The "value in three years" card compounds your rate forward.
- Servicing, tyres and chain (advanced): consumables are where bikes bite back. Chains and sprockets every 15,000 to 20,000 miles, rear tyres that sporty compounds finish in 3,000 miles, and service intervals that arrive faster than car owners expect. Double the default for a sports bike.
- Gear, security, parking and other (advanced): helmet, CE-rated jacket, gloves and boots are a GBP 500-plus startup cost (a thousand or more with proper textiles for weather), a ground anchor, chain and tracker both deter thieves and discount the premium, and winter storage adds a trickle charger and corrosion-proofing. Spread the annual share here.
- Cash costs excluding depreciation (advanced): what actually leaves your bank account each year, since depreciation is only realised when you sell. Useful for monthly budgeting alongside the "per month" card.
- Saving against a car (advanced): the same miles in a car at the pence-per-mile figure you enter (HMRC's 45p is a fair all-in proxy for an average car) minus the bike's total. The honest commuter comparison also weighs time saved by filtering against a casualty rate per mile the car comparison cannot ignore, which is why advanced training and all-the-gear-all-the-time are the experienced rider's real cost of ownership.