Buy a Car Project
Get the Full Classroom-Ready Project
Buy a Car Project
Everything on this site is the free companion to the complete printable and digital project for middle & high school.
- ✓Real-world activities with full answer keys
- ✓Auto loans, APR, true cost to own & new vs. used
- ✓Editable PowerPoint & Google Slides
- ✓Full project or single lessons
Opens in a new tab · Mister G's Teacher Shop
Free companion site
Buy a Car Project
This is the free companion site for the Buy a Car Project. Both videos are here, along with working loan and cost-of-ownership calculators built for the questions in the packet, and the research tools you will need.
Work through the sections in order, or jump to the one your teacher assigned. Everything here is free to use with your students.
2 videos
Auto loan calculator
True cost to own calculator
Research tools
01
Research
Car Comparison
Before you can price a car, you have to pick one. This tool puts vehicles side by side — price, fuel economy, features, and safety ratings — so you can compare the models you are considering on the same screen instead of guessing.
1. Edmunds Car Comparison & Specs
Choose two or three vehicles and use the comparison page plus each vehicle’s Specs & Features page for the basic details in your packet: year, make/model, MSRP, basic warranty, seating capacity, and overall consumer rating. For a gas or hybrid vehicle, record MPG. For an electric vehicle, record EPA kWh/100 mi.
Open the comparison toolOpens in a new tab · Edmunds · Free, no account needed
2. Edmunds True Cost to Own
Your Research a Car chart also asks for five-year depreciation and five-year maintenance estimates. Open the True Cost to Own page for the same year and trim you researched, then copy those two five-year totals into your chart. You will use the full True Cost table again later in the project.
Open True Cost to OwnOpens in a new tab · Edmunds · Match the same year and trim
Choose realistic vehicles. The project works better when the vehicle is one you could realistically own in a few years, not the most expensive one on the site. The gap between what you want and what you can afford is a large part of the lesson.
02Calculate
Cost to Drive 100 Miles
Your packet asks for this figure for each of the three cars you researched. Use MPG for gas or hybrid vehicles and EPA kWh/100 mi for electric vehicles. Work it out by hand first, then check it here.
Packet: Research a Car
Cost to drive 100 miles$0.00
Cost for one year$0.00
Cost over five years$0.00
Gas or hybrid: 100 ÷ MPG × price per gallon. Example: 100 ÷ 32 × $3.20 = $10.00 per 100 miles.
Keep the comparison fair: use the same gas and electricity prices for every car you compare.
03Research
True Cost to Own
The sticker price is only the beginning. Edmunds estimates what a specific vehicle costs over five years, including the costs that continue after you leave the dealership.
Packet: True Cost to Own — complete two five-year tables, then answer the Check for Understanding questions.
Edmunds True Cost to Own
Choose the same year, make, model, and trim you researched. Copy the figures from the rows that appear in your packet:
- Depreciation
- Taxes & Fees
- Financing
- Fuel
- Insurance
- Maintenance
- Repairs
Opens in a new tab · Edmunds · Match the exact year and trim whenever possible
Use only the rows printed in your packet. If Edmunds displays an additional Federal Tax Credit row, skip it for this project. Your packet and the calculator below use the same seven ownership-cost categories listed above.
03B
Calculate
True Cost of Ownership Calculator
The purchase price is only part of what a car costs. Enter the details for the vehicle you are researching to estimate depreciation, taxes and fees, financing, fuel, insurance, maintenance, and repairs over five years.
Packet: True Cost to Own
Where do I find these numbers?
Look up your specific vehicle at CarEdge or Kelley Blue Book for realistic depreciation, maintenance, and repair estimates. Use those values below.
1 · Your vehicle
2 · Financing
3 · Driving & upkeep
5-Year True Cost to Own
$0
your vehicle
Monthly Payment
$0
loan only
Cost per Mile
$0.00
all-in average
Five-year breakdown
| Category | Year 1 | Year 2 | Year 3 | Year 4 | Year 5 | 5-Yr Total |
|---|
How the year-by-year numbers work
- Depreciation — biggest in Year 1, then gradually declines.
- Taxes & Fees — sales tax and initial fees in Year 1; registration renewals in Years 2–5.
- Financing — interest is calculated from a monthly amortization schedule.
- Fuel / electricity — gas uses MPG; EVs use EPA kWh/100 mi. Year 1 energy cost increases 3% per year.
- Insurance — Year 1 insurance cost increases 3.5% per year.
- Maintenance — more of the five-year total is assigned to later years as the vehicle ages.
- Repairs — costs are weighted toward later years when warranty coverage is less likely.
Use this as a comparison tool, not an exact prediction.
Real ownership costs vary by location, credit, insurance company, driving habits, vehicle condition,
and many other factors. The goal is to see how the different categories combine to create the real
cost of owning a vehicle.
04
Watch
True Cost of a Car Video
The monthly payment is the number everyone shops for, and it is the wrong number. Insurance, fuel, registration, maintenance, and depreciation all arrive whether you budgeted for them or not. This video lays out the categories that make up the real cost.
Packet: True Cost of a Car Video — Check for Understanding
05
Calculate
Car Loan Calculator
Because cars are so expensive, most people borrow money to purchase one. Use the calculator below to work out the monthly payment on a car loan. Enter one row from your packet, write the numbers down, then change the values for the next row.
The fields match the tables in your packet exactly, and nothing is rounded — every figure is exact to the cent.
Auto Loan Calculator
What will your monthly payment be?
$
$
%
(results appear below)
Monthly payment
--
Total finance charge
--
Amount to be financed--
Number of payments--
Total Cost of Loan (packet)--
Total amount paid, including down payment--
Which number goes in the “Total Cost of Loan” row?
Use Total Cost of Loan (packet). It equals the amount financed plus the total finance charge. The down payment is not part of the loan because it was paid up front. Total amount paid, including down payment is shown as additional information so you can see every dollar paid toward the car.
06
Watch
Used vs. New Car
A new car loses a large share of its value the moment you drive it off the lot, and keeps losing value fastest in its first few years. This video walks through what that costs a buyer, how financing differs between new and used, and where the money actually goes.
Packet: Used vs New Car — Check for Understanding
You will need to pause this one.
Your worksheet asks for specific figures — the cost of the car, the APR,
the monthly payment, the interest cost — and they go by quickly. Pause
and rewind as often as you need; that is not cheating, it is how you use a source.
07Compare
The Payment Trap
Tell a salesperson the monthly payment you want and they can reach it with almost any car, simply by stretching the loan. Set a payment below and watch what changes to meet it. The payment stays the same. What you actually pay does not.
The same payment, three different loans
Now add what the finance office offers
Each one is rolled into the loan, so you pay interest on it too. Tick the ones you would say yes to.
Based on a 72-month loan for the add-on figures, the longest term shown above.
Negotiate the out-the-door price, not the payment. Agree what
the car costs in total, including every fee, before financing is discussed at all. A payment tells
you almost nothing on its own, because the same payment can hide thousands of dollars.
08Calculate
What a Car Really Costs You
Complete the Purchase My Own Car calculations in your packet first, then use this calculator to check your work. It includes the loan, insurance, fuel or electricity, taxes and fees, maintenance, repairs, and the car's estimated value after five years.
Packet: Purchase My Own Car
1 · The car and the loan
2 · What it costs to run
Loan payment$0per month while loan is active
Real cost each month$0payment + monthly/averaged ownership costs
5-year cash outflow$0before subtracting resale value
5-year ownership cost$0cash outflow minus value after 5 years
Income you would need$0annual income at the 14% guideline
Energy cost$0gas per year
Where the money goes each month
Loan payment$0
Insurance$0
Gas$0
Taxes and fees (averaged over 60 months)$0
Maintenance and repairs (averaged over 60 months)$0
For an EV: use the EPA kWh/100 mi figure from the vehicle's specifications. Do not convert MPGe. For example, 30 kWh/100 mi at $0.17 per kWh costs 30 × $0.17 = $5.10 per 100 miles.
Budget check: compare Real cost each month with the maximum total monthly car budget in your packet. The loan payment alone is not the full cost of owning the car.
Explore & Extend
Additional Resources
The resources below are not required parts of the project packet. Use them to explore car buying topics in more depth, test different scenarios, or complete extension activities if your teacher assigns them.
09Explore
What Can You Afford?
Not assigned in the packet, but worth running once you have worked out what a car costs. Every other calculator starts with a car and tells you what it costs. This one runs the other way. Put in what you earn and it works out the car you can actually afford, once insurance, fuel and everything else is paid for.
is about the most you should spend on a car
Total car budget
Left for the loan payment
You could borrow
Plus your down payment
Fuel and upkeep means gas, maintenance, repairs and registration averaged over a month.
Notice how much of the budget is gone before the car is.
Insurance and running costs come out first, every month, whatever car you buy. What is left is
what actually pays for the car, and it is usually far less than people expect.
10Explore
Your Actual First Car
Most first cars are far cheaper than the ones used in the rest of this project. Compare saving up and paying cash for an older car against financing something newer. Change any figure and watch both columns update.
Path A: save up and pay cash
Path B: finance a newer car
Running costs means fuel, maintenance, repairs and registration together, without insurance.
The five year totals include the price of the car, so both paths are compared on the same basis.
Look at the monthly cost of the cheap car. Even with no loan
payment at all, an older car still costs several hundred dollars a month to keep on the road.
A car is never free to own, and that is the number worth planning around.
Explore
New vs. Used Car Value Calculator
Want another way to compare buying new with buying used? This optional calculator lets you test how purchase price, financing, depreciation, operating costs, and years of ownership can change the overall cost of each choice.
State Farm New vs. Used Car Calculator
Enter a new-car scenario and a used-car scenario to compare monthly payments, total interest, depreciation, other costs, total costs, and average cost per year.
Open the calculatorOpens in a new tab · State Farm · Optional extension resource