Primary data only
No industry averages. Each number comes from a verifiable source: manufacturers, ADAC, Spritmonitor, national tax authorities.
Our methodology: rigour at the service of your decision
Understand how CarPIQ calculates the true cost of a car. Sources, algorithms and transparent validations.
Our approach
Public methodology
All our calculations are documented and reproducible. You can challenge our assumptions and our sources.
Commercial neutrality
No advertising, no affiliate links, no bias towards any manufacturer or powertrain type.
Data sources
CarPIQ relies on primary European sources, verifiable and regularly updated.
- Purchase price
- Manufacturers (official catalogues), DAT (Germany), L’Argus (France)
- Real-world consumption
- Spritmonitor.de (3M European users)
- Maintenance costs
- ADAC Cost Calculator (European reference)
- Depreciation
- Certified resale data by national market
- Taxation
- National tax authorities (7 countries)
TCO algorithms
Total Cost of Ownership (TCO) includes 6 main components. Click on each to understand our methodology.