Auto Loan Calculator

Thinking of buying a new car? If so, there's a lot to consider when it comes to affordability. What will the monthly payments be? What if I'm still making payments on my old car? Can I afford a shorter loan, or should I stretch out the payments? This Auto Loan Calculator gives you a versatile tool to answer all those questions and more. It will not only calculate your monthly payments for you, based on the price of the car, you can also run the process backward, and determine how much car you can buy with a given monthly payment. It also takes into account your trade-in, rebates, taxes and fees, as well as your interest rate and length of the loan. Ready to get started? Just enter your information in the boxes below. If you have questions, see the detailed explanation at the bottom of the page.

By changing any value in the following form fields, calculated values are immediately provided for displayed output values. Click the view report button to see all of your results.
Car payment is $441.57 per month.
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Principal Balances for $18,440 in financing Column Graph: Please view the report to see detailed calculation results in tabular form.
**FIG_GRAPHTITLE** Column Graph: Please view the report to see detailed calculation results in tabular form.
**FIG_GRAPHTITLE** Column Graph: Please view the report to see detailed calculation results in tabular form.

Auto Loan Calculator FAQs

Sales taxes and other fees that typically come with car purchases can be rolled into the auto loan financing. This means that those fees will be calculated alongside the auto price, down payment, loan term, and interest rate. However, in some cases, especially for buyers with low credit scores, the fees might have to be paid upfront.

To make use of the auto loan calculator, input the total purchase price, loan term in months, interest rate, down payment, sales tax, select your state, and registration fees in the boxes provided. If you would like to carry out a trade-in, input the value of the trade-in. Otherwise, leave it at zero. The calculator will display the monthly payments for your loan.

If you already know how much you can afford each month, and want to see the total purchase price that can allow you to borrow, click the ‘purchase price’ tab and follow the same procedure as before, but this time enter your potential monthly payment in the box provided.

Calculating the monthly payment on a $40,000 car loan is pretty straightforward. All you need to do is head over to our auto-loan calculator, input the interest rate on your loan and the length of the loan term, and your monthly payment will be displayed. For $40,000 loans, monthly payments averagely range between $900 and $1,000, depending on the interest rate and loan term.

With an interest rate of 6% and a down payment of $2500, your monthly payment for a $450,000 car loan over a term of 72 months will be $7,859 per month. If you make a down payment of, say, $11,500, then the monthly payment becomes $7,694.

Extended loan terms are becoming increasingly popular, even up to 96 months (8 years). The advantage of extended loan terms is that you get lower monthly payments. But the major downside is that they typically come with higher interest rates.

For a loan term of 60 months and an interest rate of 5%, the monthly payment for a total purchase price of $180,000 will be $3,548.

Paying a $120,000 auto loan over a term of five years (i.e. 60 months), at an interest rate of 6 percent and a down payment of $6,500 will amount to a monthly payment of $2,406.

To make this calculation, you will need to determine the total purchase price of the car. Different states have different tax rates, and you have to find out the tax rate for your state. Then, multiply the tax rate by the total purchase price for the auto loan.

Assume that the state tax rate for your state is marked at 6%, the tax amount which will be financed with your loan is 0.06 X 120,000, which is $7,200.

More often than not, the interest rate you can get will be linked to your credit score. Interest rates at the lower end of the spectrum (0.5% - 3%) are usually only available to the buyers with the best credit.

Using the Auto Loan Calculator

The first step is to choose whether you know the price of the car and want to figure out the monthly payments, or if you know how much you can afford each month and want to see how much that will let you borrow.

To calculate monthly payments:

1) Click on the "Monthly payment" button on the left.

2) Complete the following items in the right column. Use your keyboard's "tab" button or your mouse to click into each of the following fields:

  1. Total purchase price
  2. Interest rate
  3. Fees (taxable)
  4. Fees (non-taxable)
  5. Sales Tax Rate

Your new monthly payment will appear immediately on the left and at the top.

To calculate purchase price, do the same, only click the "Purchase price" button and follow the same steps, but entering the desired monthly payment in the indicated space.

For a trade-in

If you're still making monthly payments on your current vehicle, follow the instructions below to find out how much purchasing power you'll have in today's auto market.

1) Click on the 'Total purchase price' button on the right.

2) Complete the items on the left. Use your keyboard's tab button or your mouse to click into each of the following fields:

  1. Monthly payment
  2. Term in months
  3. Cash down
  4. Trade allowance (check Kelley Blue Book value if you don't have this info)
  5. Amount owed on trade

Your estimated purchase price will now appear on the right and at the top. If you don't want to assume a higher monthly payment than you currently have, choose a vehicle in this price range.

Graph it

If you'd like to see a graph of your results, the graph calculator can plot it for you. Click on the "Schedule" button to see how much the loan principal will decrease over the life of the loan. Enter several different loan terms in the column on the upper left, and then click on the "Terms" button to learn the impact that a longer or shorter loan term could have on your monthly payment amount. Use the "Down payments" button to create a graph depicting the effect of different down payment amounts.

Before you head to the dealership and try to explain your needs to an eager salesperson, use this auto loan calculator to help you determine how much you really want to spend. By taking the time to review your options, you'll be better prepared to select the auto loan that's best for you.

Thinking about buying or refinancing a home as well? Use the "Get Free Quote" button at the top to get rate quotes for a mortgage or home equity loan.

Other Mortgage and Financial Calculators

In addition to the standard mortgage calculator, this page lets you access more than 100 other financial calculators covering a broad variety of situations. Choose from calculators covering various aspects of mortgages, auto loans, investments, student loans, taxes, retirement planning and more.