True Cost of Ownership Calculator – User Guide

1. Enter Purchase Price and Annual Maintenance Fee.
2. Select your Time Horizon (10–40 years) and Nights Used per year.
3. Review rental assumptions (defaults: $175/night and 8% annual increase) and adjust if needed.
4. Click Calculate to reveal results and the compounding chart.

• Purchase Price: Your upfront cost. If financing is off, the tool amortizes this across the selected time horizon.
• Points Per Year (optional): Not used in the math yet (Phase 1). It’s included for context and future “cost per point” features.
• Annual Maintenance Fee: Your current annual fee in dollars.
• MF Growth %: Annual increase applied to maintenance fees (default 3%).
• Time Horizon: The number of years the model runs (10–40).
• Nights Used: How many nights you expect to use each year (5–30).
• Rental Cost / Inflation: Used to model the “renting” path over time.

Expand Add Financing only if you want loan math included. When enabled, the calculator uses an amortization schedule (principal + interest) and adds maintenance fees on top.

• Difference (Primary): Color‑coded. Green = ownership advantage. Red = ownership additional cost.
• Total Ownership Cost: Maintenance fees over time + amortized capital (or financed payments).
• Total Rental Cost: Nightly cost compounded over the selected horizon.
• Break‑Even (Annual): First year annual ownership is cheaper than annual renting.
• Break‑Even (Cumulative): First year ownership spend‑to‑date is cheaper than rental spend‑to‑date.

• Change one assumption at a time to show cause‑and‑effect (nights used, MF growth, rental inflation).
• Use conservative settings first. If ownership still wins, credibility goes way up.
• When the model turns red, it’s not “bad” — it’s a signal to revisit assumptions or usage expectations.