Auto Loan Calculator
Free auto loan calculator: the monthly car payment, total interest and real cost of the car, with down payment, trade-in, sales tax and fees.
No currency is shown on purpose: the figures come out in whatever unit you type in.
| Loan term | Monthly payment | Total interest |
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What it does
It works out the monthly payment of a car loan from the real numbers of a purchase: the price, what you pay up front, the car you trade in, the tax and the fees. It also shows how much interest the loan costs over its whole life and what the car really ends up costing, and compares the same loan over shorter and longer terms.
How to use it
- Type the price of the car, your down payment and, if you are trading in a car, what the dealer gives you for it and what you still owe on it.
- Add the interest rate, choosing whether it is per year or per month, and the term in months.
- Read the monthly payment, the total interest and the total cost, and look at the table to see what a shorter or longer term would change.
The arithmetic runs in your browser. Nothing you type is sent anywhere and nothing is stored, so you can use these with real numbers.
Frequently asked questions
Why does a longer term cost more if the payment is lower?
Because interest is charged every month on what you still owe. Spreading the same loan over 84 months instead of 48 lowers each payment, but you owe money for almost twice as long, so the total interest grows. The comparison table shows the exact difference for your numbers.
What is negative equity on a trade-in?
It is when you owe more on your current car than it is worth. The dealer pays off the old loan, and the part the car does not cover is added to the new loan, so you start paying interest on a car you no longer have. The calculator warns you when this happens.
Is sales tax charged on the full price or after the trade-in?
In most US states the tax is charged on the price minus the trade-in, which is a real saving; a few states tax the full price. Where the tax is already included in the price, as with VAT in most of the world, leave the tax at 0.
Is the rate here the same as the APR?
The calculator uses a nominal annual rate divided by 12, which is how car loan APRs are quoted. If your lender quotes a monthly rate, choose per month. Fees that the lender rolls into the APR are better typed in the fees field, so you can see them.
Wikipedia — Car finance
Wikipedia — Negative equity
Wikipedia — Sales tax
Wikipedia — Annual percentage rate