What owning a car really costs
Most people count fuel, insurance and repairs, and forget the two biggest costs of owning a car: depreciation, the value the car loses every year, and the opportunity cost, what the money tied up in the car would earn if it stayed invested. Both are real even though they never show up on a monthly bill.
An example
A $30,000 car that loses 15% a year is worth about $13,300 after 5 years: $16,700 of depreciation, or about $280 a month. If the same $30,000 earned 4.5% a year invested, it would grow by roughly $7,400 in that time. Add registration, insurance, maintenance, parking and fuel, and owning easily costs $800 to $1,000 a month.
Owning, ride-hailing or subscribing
Ride-hailing has no fixed costs: you pay per trip. That makes it cheaper for people who drive little. A car subscription or lease bundles insurance and maintenance into one fee, avoids the large upfront payment and the resale risk, but charges for miles above the allowance. The calculator finds the monthly mileage at which owning starts to pay off.
What the numbers leave out
Convenience, safety, waiting time, trips with children or luggage and the freedom of having a car at the door all matter. Use the result to know how much you are paying for that convenience, not as the only reason to decide.