About IAVTA

Our Mission

The International Association for Vehicle Transparency and Accountability (IAVTA) was founded in 2026 to give car buyers clear, honest data about what vehicles truly cost to own.

Sticker price tells you what a car costs today. It says nothing about insurance, fuel, maintenance, repairs, financing, or how long the vehicle will last. Two cars at the same price can differ by thousands of dollars in total ownership cost.

IAVTA uses a standardized metric called Cost Per Mile Remaining (CPMR). CPMR adds up every ownership expense and divides the total by the vehicle's estimated remaining lifetime miles. The result is a single number, in dollars per mile, that makes any two vehicles directly comparable regardless of age, mileage, or price class.

Why CPMR Is Different

It includes all seven cost categories

Most car-cost tools show only sticker price, or a five-year estimate that omits financing and state fees. CPMR rolls in purchase price, financing, insurance, fuel, maintenance, repairs, and state fees. Nothing is left out.

It accounts for remaining life

A car with 150,000 miles left absorbs its costs very differently than one with 30,000 miles left. CPMR uses brand-level longevity data from survival analyses of over 15 million vehicles to estimate how far each car is likely to go.

It levels the playing field

A $12,000 sedan and a $50,000 truck look nothing alike on a dealer lot. CPMR expresses both in dollars per mile, so you can compare across price ranges, body styles, and model years on equal terms.

It uses real transaction data

Prices come from millions of actual vehicle sales and hundreds of thousands of current listings across the U.S. Interest rates and fuel prices come from FRED (Federal Reserve Bank of St. Louis), updated weekly and monthly.

Methodology

Cost Components

Purchase Price – Fair market dealer and private party prices derived from millions of real vehicle transactions and hundreds of thousands of active listings across the U.S. market. Updated monthly.
Financing – 60-month loan amortization on 90% of the purchase price (10% down payment assumed) using current Federal Reserve commercial bank rates. New car rate for vehicles ≤3 years old; used car rate (new + ~4.5 percentage point spread, validated against Experian and Bankrate data) for older vehicles.
Insurance – Projected lifetime cost of full-coverage insurance (collision, comprehensive, and liability at typical limits). Annual rate starts from per-trim or per-model data where available, then declines with vehicle age using a depreciation-derived curve. When direct data is not available, a multi-variable regression estimates the rate from vehicle price, body style, drivetrain, and crash-test rating.
Fuel – Combined EPA MPG × 12,000 miles/year × current average fuel price. EV and plug-in hybrid costs use MPGe-to-kWh conversion with live electricity prices. Gas and electricity rates sourced weekly from federal energy data.
Maintenance & Repairs – Per-trim repair and maintenance costs sourced from industry five-year cost-to-own estimates covering thousands of individual trims. For vehicles without direct data, an OLS regression trained on 10,000+ trim records predicts costs from make, vehicle age, body style, and drivetrain. Make is the strongest predictor: a Jaguar costs roughly $12,000 more in repairs over five years than a Toyota.
State Fees – National-average estimate: one-time sales tax (6%) plus title, plate, and doc fees at purchase; recurring registration, inspection, and EV/PHEV surcharges summed over the vehicle's remaining life. Value-based fees (property tax, vehicle license) decline as the car depreciates.

Miles Remaining

Total lifetime mileage is estimated by brand, drawing on reliability studies and survival analyses of over 15 million vehicles on U.S. roads. For example, Toyota and Honda are estimated at 250,000 miles, while brands with shorter track records are estimated lower. Current mileage is assumed at 12,000 miles per year from the midpoint of the model year. The remaining-mile estimate floors at 15,000 miles (roughly 15 months of ownership) so near-end-of-life vehicles don't produce misleadingly high per-mile costs.

Data Sources

Vehicle pricing, specs, and ratings derived from millions of real sales and hundreds of thousands of current listings across the U.S. market
Auto loan interest rates from the Federal Reserve Economic Data (FRED) API, updated monthly
Gasoline and electricity prices from FRED weekly energy series
Brand lifetime mileage estimates from published reliability studies and survival analyses of 15+ million vehicles on U.S. roads
State fee data compiled from state DMV and Department of Revenue sources across all 50 states

Disclaimer

IAVTA provides informational analysis only. This is not financial, purchasing, or insurance advice. Actual costs vary based on driving habits, location, vehicle condition, credit score, and many other factors. All data is provided "as is" and may contain estimation errors. Always conduct your own research before making a vehicle purchase.