VIENNA, Va.– From January 2020 to August 2025, car ownership costs have surged by 40.59%, outpacing the 24.79% rise in overall consumer prices during the same period, according to Navy FCU’s latest Cost of Car Ownership (COCO) Index.
The index is designed to help consumers better understand the changes in costs of vehicle ownership, including gas, insurance, repairs and purchase prices.
More recently, Navy Federal reported that from the end of 2024 through August 2025, car ownership costs increased 0.8%, compared to a 1.8% rise in prices for all goods and services. While the pace of increase for car ownership costs is currently slower than overall inflation, it remains close to the COCO Index’s all-time high, Navy Federal said.
The Key Findings
Key findings from the August 2025 COCO Index reflect changes in car ownership costs from July to August 2025, according to COCO:
• New car prices increased by 0.28%
• Used car prices went up 1.04%
• Gas prices rose 1.91%
• Repair costs jumped 5.0%
Approaching All-Time High
“The cost of owning a car is rising again and is not far from the all-time high hit in January 2025,” Heather Long, chief economist at Navy Federal Credit Union, said in a statement. “The American middle class is already frustrated with high prices, and they are likely to feel pinched even further in the next six months as more of the tariff costs are passed along to consumers. Already, the latest inflation data show that basic necessities for American life – food, gas, rent, clothing and car ownership – are all rising in cost.
“As inflation climbs, it’s eating into paychecks. This is why many Americans are shifting their spending to generic brands and bargain stores as they seek to make every dollar go as far as they can,” continued Long. “While auto insurance costs are finally cooling off, used car prices and auto repair prices are rising sharply as people try to look for cheaper ways to own cars and keep their current car going for longer. Both new and used car prices are almost certainly going to rise further in the coming months, putting more strain on middle- and lower-income households.”
11 Components Tracked
The COCO Index tracks 11 cost components associated with owning a car. The data comes from the Bureau of Labor Statistics, and the Index uses January 2020 as the base benchmark (Index = 100).
