Home › Loans › Auto Loan Calculator

Auto Loan Calculator

Estimate your monthly car payment, including sales tax, fees, your trade-in and anything you still owe on it. You'll also see how much you'd borrow, the total interest and the cash you need upfront.

Vehicle price ($) The agreed price, before tax and fees.

Down payment ($)

Trade-in value ($) What the dealer offers for your car. Still owe on it? See More options.

Interest rate (%)

Loan term 36 months (3 years) 48 months (4 years) 60 months (5 years) 72 months (6 years) 84 months (7 years)

More options

Sales tax rate (%) Your state and local rate for vehicles.

Title, registration and dealer fees ($)

Amount still owed on trade-in ($) The payoff amount on your current car loan.

Include taxes and fees in the loan My state taxes the full price (no trade-in tax credit)

Monthly payment

—

Amount financed

—

Total interest

—

Total cost with interest

—

Cash needed upfront

—

How your loan amount adds up

Vehicle price	—
Down payment	—
Sales tax	—
Title and fees	—
Amount financed	—

Show amortization schedule (by year)

Year	Principal paid	Interest paid	Balance left

Results are estimates. We assume equal monthly payments, charge sales tax on the price minus your trade-in (or on the full price if you check that box) and don't tax fees. Your contract may differ, so check the dealer's and lender's figures. See our terms of use.

How to use this auto loan calculator

1. Enter the car's price, your down payment and, if you have one, your trade-in value.
2. Add the interest rate and term from your loan offer. If you don't have an offer yet, try a few rates to see a range.
3. Open More options to set your sales tax rate and fees, enter what you still owe on your trade-in, or pay taxes and fees upfront instead of borrowing them.

The results update as you type. Total cost with interest is the price plus tax, fees and all the interest, however you pay it. Cash needed upfront is your down payment, plus tax and fees if you don't finance them.

How your car payment is calculated

The calculator first works out the amount financed, the sum you actually borrow:

Amount financed = price − down payment − trade-in value + amount owed on trade-in + sales tax + fees

Sales tax and fees count only if you roll them into the loan. The monthly payment then comes from the standard loan formula:

M = P × r(1 + r)ⁿ ÷ [(1 + r)ⁿ − 1]

Here P is the amount financed, r is the monthly interest rate (the annual rate ÷ 12) and n is the number of payments.

Example: you buy a $35,000 car with $5,000 down. Sales tax at 6% adds $2,100, and title, registration and dealer fees add $800, so you finance $32,900. At 7% for 60 months, r = 0.07 ÷ 12 ≈ 0.005833, and the payment comes to $651.46 a month. You'd pay $6,188 in interest, so the car's total cost with interest is $44,088.

Many auto loans charge simple interest on the balance you actually owe, so paying a few days early or late changes the interest slightly.

How the loan term changes what you pay

A longer term lowers the monthly payment, but you pay interest for more months. Here's the same $32,900 loan at 7%, with total cost counting the price, tax, fees and interest:

Going from 60 to 72 months saves $90.55 a month but adds $1,298 of interest, and an 84-month loan costs about 2.4 times the interest of a 36-month one. Lenders also weigh the term when they set your rate, so a longer loan may not get the same rate.

Long loans also pay the balance down slowly while the car loses value, so you're more likely to owe more than it's worth. That hurts if the car is totaled or you want to trade it in early.

APR, credit scores and your interest rate

The interest rate is what the lender charges you to borrow, and your payment is based on it. The APR (annual percentage rate) also includes certain loan fees. Every lender must disclose the APR, so use it to compare offers, and compare APRs only with other APRs. Our APR calculator shows how fees change a loan's true cost.

Lenders base your rate on your credit scores and history, your income and debts, the loan amount and term, your down payment compared with the car's value, and whether the car is new or used. Small rate differences add up. On the $32,900 loan above, 5% means a payment of $620.86 and $4,352 of interest. At 10%, you'd pay $699.03 a month and $9,042 of interest, $4,690 more.

Before you sign, the dealer or lender must give you a Truth in Lending disclosure listing the APR, finance charge, amount financed and total of payments. Check that the amount financed doesn't include add-ons you didn't ask for.

Dealer financing vs. getting preapproved

When you finance through a dealer, the dealer sends your application to lenders. A lender that approves you quotes the dealer a rate, called the buy rate, and the dealer may charge you a higher rate as payment for arranging the loan. That rate is negotiable, just like the price of the car.

• Get preapproved first. A bank, credit union or other lender can preapprove you before you visit the dealer. You'll know your budget, and the dealer has a rate to beat.
• Shop for rates within a short window. Credit checks from several auto lenders generally count as a single inquiry if they're made within 14 to 45 days of each other.
• Negotiate each piece separately: the price, the trade-in, the rate and any add-ons. A low monthly payment can hide a longer term or a higher price, so compare offers by their total cost.

How trade-ins and sales tax work

Many states subtract your trade-in from the price before figuring sales tax, so you pay tax only on the difference. In our example, a $10,000 trade-in means tax on $25,000 instead of $35,000. At 6%, that's $1,500 instead of $2,100, a saving of $600, and the payment falls to $441.57.

A few states don't give this credit. California and Virginia, for example, tax the full price even when you trade in a car, and Michigan limits how much of the trade-in value counts. If your state taxes the full price, check the last box under More options. In the example, the tax goes back to $2,100 and the payment rises to $453.45.

Rules on rebates and dealer fees vary too, so check with your state's tax or motor vehicle agency. If you're comparing a trade-in offer with selling the car yourself, count any tax saving as part of the trade-in.

Negative equity: owing more than your car is worth

If you owe more on your current car than it's worth, the difference is called negative equity. A dealer or lender may offer to roll it into your new loan, so you keep paying for your old car, with interest, while you pay for the new one.

Say the dealer offers $10,000 for your trade-in, but your loan payoff is $13,000. The $3,000 of negative equity is added to your new loan. At 7% for 60 months, that adds $59.40 to every payment and about $564 of interest.

It's common, and it's risky. In a 2024 report on loans made from 2018 to 2022 by nine auto lenders, the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau (CFPB) found that 11.6% included negative equity, averaging $5,073 on new-vehicle loans. Those borrowers were more than twice as likely to have their account assigned to repossession within two years as borrowers whose trade-in was worth more than they owed.

If you can, keep your car while you pay the loan down, cover the difference in cash or choose a cheaper car. If you do trade in, get the exact payoff amount first, and afterward confirm with your old lender that the loan was paid off.

How much car can you afford? The 20/4/10 rule

A popular rule of thumb is 20/4/10: put at least 20% down, borrow for no more than 4 years, and keep total car costs, including the payment and insurance, under 10% of your gross monthly income. It's a guideline, not a lender rule.

For our $35,000 car, 20% down is $7,000. Financing the rest, plus tax and fees, over 48 months at 7% gives a payment of $739.94. The payment alone is 10% of a gross income of $7,399 a month, or $88,793 a year, so with insurance you'd need to earn more. If the numbers don't fit, a cheaper car or a bigger down payment is usually a safer fix than a longer loan.

Lenders also weigh your income and existing debts. A common measure is your debt-to-income ratio, which you can check with our debt-to-income ratio calculator.

Do you need GAP insurance?

If your car is stolen or totaled, standard auto insurance pays up to the car's value, which can be less than your loan balance. GAP insurance (guaranteed asset protection) is meant to cover that gap. It matters most when you owe more than the car is worth, such as after a small down payment, with a long term or with negative equity rolled in.

GAP is an optional product. If a dealer says you must buy it, ask where the contract says so. If it truly is required, its cost must be included in the finance charge and the APR. You don't have to buy it from the dealer, since your own auto insurer may offer it. If you finance it, you'll pay interest on it. If you sell, refinance or pay off the loan early, you may be due a refund.

Can you deduct car loan interest?

For tax years 2025 through 2028, you may be able to deduct up to $10,000 a year of interest on a loan for a new vehicle. The main IRS rules:

• The loan must be taken out after December 31, 2024, be secured by a lien on the vehicle and be for personal use, not business. Interest on negative equity rolled into the loan doesn't count.
• The vehicle must be new (its original use starts with you), have had its final assembly in the United States and have a gross vehicle weight rating under 14,000 pounds. Cars, minivans, vans, SUVs, pickups and motorcycles can qualify. Used vehicles and leases don't.
• The deduction shrinks by $200 for each $1,000 (or part of $1,000) of modified adjusted gross income over $100,000, or $200,000 on a joint return.
• You can claim it whether or not you itemize, and you must list the vehicle identification number (VIN) on your return.

The calculator doesn't include this tax saving. Check the current rules on IRS.gov or ask a tax professional.

Frequently asked questions

Last reviewed: October 2026