Auto Loan Calculator

An Auto Loan Calculator computes the monthly payment and total interest cost for financing a vehicle. It accounts for the vehicle's purchase price, your down payment, the value of any trade-in vehicle, the state sales tax, and the interest rate provided by the dealership or your bank.

Anyone planning to buy a new or used car from a dealership or private seller should use this calculator before walking onto the lot. It empowers buyers to negotiate the total price of the vehicle rather than being tricked into negotiating based solely on the monthly payment.

Use this tool to evaluate dealer financing offers versus bank pre-approvals. You can also use it to see how shortening your loan term (e.g., from 72 months to 48 months) increases your monthly payment but saves you thousands of dollars in interest over the life of the loan.

The calculator subtracts your down payment and trade-in allowance from the purchase price, adds state sales tax (on the remaining balance in most states), and amortizes the total financed amount. For the best accuracy, input your exact local sales tax rate and find out if your state taxes the full purchase price or just the price after trade-in.

A frequent mistake buyers make is stretching the loan term to 72 or 84 months just to get a lower payment. This often leads to being 'underwater' on the loan (owing more than the car is worth). Additionally, this calculator does not include recurring costs like auto insurance, gas, or maintenance.

Our calculator runs directly in your browser and updates as you change the assumptions. We do not sell loans or require lead information, so you can compare vehicle-financing scenarios while negotiating at the dealership.