10 Used Cars That Cost the Least to Own

When they’re shopping, many people pay a lot of attention to the price of the cars they consider. It’s hard not to take that into consideration because most of us have to figure out how we can wedge a car payment into our monthly budget. So the price often is a key factor in deciding to choose one model versus another.

But there’s more to the cost of owning a car than its initial price. You will also have state and local fees, insurance, maintenance, and repairs to pay for. If you finance the car, you’ll have the loan cost (interest) to consider as well. A big cost that many people never even think about is depreciation: the car’s loss in value over time. All of these factors go into a car's cost of ownership, and cost of ownership is — all in — what you really pay for your car. Determining the cost of ownership for used cars is more difficult than for new cars because each used car is unique in the number of miles it has been driven and how it has been taken care of. But one thing is certain — smaller cars have the lowest cost of ownership. For this list, we looked most closely at 2016 model year vehicles, but the recommendations hold true for approximately 2014 to 2019. Here are the 10 used cars that cost the least to own.