Running Cost Calculator
Estimate realistic annual costs for 36 popular Australian vehicles using manufacturer service intervals, current fuel/electricity benchmarks, and your actual driving distance — then see which costs are worth bundling in the lease.
What this means for your novated lease
Your novated lease bundles expected running costsinto a single pre-tax monthly deduction alongside your finance instalment. When a provider's budget maps closely to reality, you pay for fuel, electricity, registration, tyres, and servicing out of your gross salary before income tax is calculated — that is where the savings hide.
The trap: providers frequently inflate operational categories — comprehensive insurance and maintenance margins are the most common culprits — to artificially pad the monthly contract size.
The play: use the Allocation Optimiser above to pressure-test each line item. If a specific provider estimate looks heavily marked up, you can toggle it completely out of the lease package. While removing a line item slightly narrows your total pre-tax benefit, it allows you to cut out provider retail markups and avoids locking your cash behind their administrative approval firewalls.
Things to watch for
Benchmarks are provider-agnostic estimates
Insurance, tyres, servicing, and rego figures are built from manufacturer capped-price servicing schedules, localised AU tyre pricing, current market rates (CGU/Allianz/NRMA), and verified state transport authority tables. Your actual premium will shift based on your age and driving history — use these numbers to validate your budget, not as a guaranteed quote.
The 2026 EV charging shortcut rate and the double-dip trap
Under ATO PCG 2024/2, the home charging shortcut rate is 5.47c/km for the FBT year starting 1 April 2026 (up from 4.20c/km for periods ending 31 March 2026). While this flat rate beats complex tracking for most standard home tariffs, choosing this shortcut means you cannot claim public DC fast-charging receipts alongside it. Check your energy provider's bill — if your home c/kWh rate is high, calculate your actual cost method instead using the EV Charging Claims Guide.Unspent running-cost pools aren't always free to access
If you drive fewer kilometres than forecasted and over-fund your account, that surplus cash sits inside the provider's trust account. While the money legally belongs to you, it must be reconciled through your employer's payroll and taxed as normal income at lease end. Watch for hidden account closure or reconciliation fees in the fine print designed to extract that surplus on your way out.
Capped-price servicing changes with age and mileage
Most manufacturer schedules mandate a service every 12 months or 15,000 kilometres — whichever comes first. If you are a high-kilometre commuter, you may trip the mileage limit and require multiple services within a single calendar year. Review your vehicle's specific warranty booklet — maintaining your factory warranty requires strict adherence to these intervals.
Complimentary roadside assistance — avoid paying twice
Vehicles from Tesla, BYD, Hyundai, Kia, Genesis, Polestar, BMW, Mercedes-Benz, and Volvo explicitly include complimentary manufacturer roadside assistance during their initial new-car warranty windows. If your leasing provider has bundled a separate retail roadside membership fee into a quote for one of these makes, flag it immediately — you are paying twice for a service you already own.
Fuel benchmarks use real April 2026 averages
The petrol default benchmark is $1.92/L, reflecting the weighted national metropolitan retail average for ULP across April 2026 following the federal fuel excise cuts. Electricity defaults range from 25 c/kWh (off-peak home) to 55 c/kWh (public DC fast-charging). If you have a custom energy plan or charging setup, override these figures manually — a 10 c/kWh variance on a high-use EV can alter your projected annual budget by more than $500.