Car Loan Calculator
The payment, and where the financed amount actually came from.
Work out a car payment including sales tax, fees, trade-in and any negative equity rolled over, with the full amortisation schedule.
- Vehicle price
- $30,000
- Sales tax on $30,000
- $1,800
- Fees
- $500
- Down payment
- −$3,000
- Amount financed
- $29,300
- Total interest
- $5,511
- Total paid over the term
- $34,811
In the first month $170.92 of your $580.18 payment goes to interest and only $409.26 to the car. That ratio is what makes a long term expensive: stretching to 84 months lowers the payment and raises the total, because you are borrowing more of the price for longer.
How the Car Loan Calculator works
The monthly payment is the easy part and every calculator gets it right. What decides whether a quote surprises you is what goes into the amount financed: sales tax on the vehicle, the trade-in credit that reduces the taxable price in most US states, and negative equity carried over from a previous loan. All three are here, itemised, with the amortisation schedule underneath.
Also known as: auto loan calculator · car payment calculator · monthly car payment · vehicle finance calculator · car loan with trade in
Frequently asked questions
What is negative equity and why does it raise my payment?
It is when the car you are trading in is worth less than you still owe on it. The shortfall does not disappear when you trade the car, it gets added to the new loan, so you finance a new car plus the remains of the old one. It is the commonest reason a dealer quote lands far above what a simple price-minus-deposit sum predicted.
Does a trade-in reduce the sales tax?
In most US states, yes: tax is charged on the price after the trade-in allowance, which is a real saving worth hundreds. A handful of states tax the full price regardless, California and Michigan among them. It is a toggle here rather than an assumption, because getting it wrong moves the answer more than the interest rate does.
Is a longer term cheaper?
The payment is lower and the car costs more. Stretching a loan from 60 to 84 months lowers the monthly figure and raises the total, because you are borrowing more of the price for longer. The page shows the first month's split so the effect is visible: early payments are mostly interest.
How is the monthly payment worked out?
The standard annuity formula: principal times the monthly rate, divided by one minus one plus the monthly rate to the power of minus the number of months. Zero percent finance is handled separately, because the formula divides by zero there rather than tending to it, and zero percent deals are common enough on new cars to matter.
Does this include insurance or maintenance?
No. It covers the loan: price, tax, fees, deposit, trade-in and interest. Insurance, fuel, servicing and depreciation are the larger part of what a car costs and none of them run through the finance agreement.