Cost-per-mile on your free FSD (Supervised) trial: a calculator walkthrough

Every referral link unlocks the same 3 months of free FSD (Supervised), worth 3 × $99 = $297 at the standalone subscription price (see the full benefit table). That figure never changes. What does change, buyer to buyer, is how many miles you actually cover during those three months — and that's the number that tells you whether the trial is worth using heavily or barely worth noticing.

The formula

Cost-per-mile saved = $297 ÷ miles driven during the 3-month trial

The US Federal Highway Administration puts average annual mileage for a US driver at roughly 13,000–14,500 miles a year, depending on the survey year — call it about 1,150 miles a month as a round, commonly-cited midpoint; your own annual mileage is the number that actually matters, not this average.

Worked example 1 — an average commuter

At ~1,150 miles/month, three months is about 3,450 miles. $297 ÷ 3,450 ≈ $0.086 — just under 9 cents saved per mile driven, on top of whatever the car already costs you to run.

Worked example 2 — a low-mileage second car

If the Tesla is a second vehicle doing light local driving — say 400 miles a month, 1,200 miles over the trial — the same $297 spreads thinner: $297 ÷ 1,200 ≈ $0.25 per mile. The trial is worth exactly as many dollars either way; it's just concentrated over fewer miles.

Worked example 3 — a high-mileage daily driver

A rideshare or long-commute driver covering 2,500 miles a month racks up 7,500 miles across the trial: $297 ÷ 7,500 ≈ $0.0396, roughly 4 cents a mile — the best per-mile value of the three examples, simply because the fixed $297 is spread over the most driving.

What this number is actually useful for

It isn't a reason to drive more than you normally would — that would cost you far more in electricity, tires and time than 4–9 cents a mile is worth. It's useful for one honest comparison: deciding whether to keep FSD (Supervised) subscribed at $99/month after the trial ends. If your driving pattern during the trial felt worth roughly what you calculated above, the ongoing $99/month is buying you the same per-mile value once the free period is over — if it didn't, that's a legitimate signal to let the subscription lapse rather than auto-continue it out of habit.

A road-trip month skews the number, on purpose

If one of your three trial months includes a long road trip — say an extra 1,500 miles beyond your normal driving — your effective cost-per-mile for the whole trial drops further, because the fixed $297 is now spread across more total miles. That's not a coincidence to game; it's simply the same formula responding to more usage. If you know a road trip is coming, timing your referral link's activation to land the trial across that trip (rather than three ordinary commuting months) genuinely gets you a lower cost-per-mile — a small, legitimate piece of timing most buyers never think to plan for.

A quick reference table

Plug in your own monthly mileage from your Tesla app's trip history for a figure that means something for your car, rather than trusting the FHWA average above.

The referral relationship is disclosed in full on our disclosure page; every outbound referral link on this site is rel="nofollow sponsored", and the buyer never pays anything extra.

Related reading: the full referral-value formula this walkthrough builds on, or how to confirm the trial activated.