Auto Loan Calculator
Estimate car payments with tax, trade-in and down payment.
How to use
- 1 Enter the vehicle price and your down payment.
- 2 Add any trade-in value and your local sales tax rate.
- 3 Enter the APR and the loan term in months.
- 4 Read the monthly payment, amount financed and total interest.
- 5 Copy the summary to compare against other offers.
About Auto Loan Calculator
The Auto Loan Calculator works out what a car will really cost to finance, not just the sticker price.
Enter the vehicle price, your cash down payment, any trade-in value, the local sales tax rate, the APR your lender is offering and the term in months.
The calculator returns the level monthly payment, the amount actually financed, the sales tax charged, the total interest you will pay and the all-in total cost of ownership over the life of the loan.
It models the way most dealerships structure a deal: sales tax is applied to the price after the trade-in credit, then the down payment and trade-in are subtracted to find the principal that gets financed.
That ordering matters, because a trade-in can meaningfully lower the tax you owe.
The monthly figure uses the standard amortisation formula, and a 0% promotional APR is handled as an even split of the principal across the term.
Use it to compare offers, see how a bigger down payment shrinks the monthly bill, or check whether a longer term that lowers the payment is quietly costing you far more in interest.
All numbers are computed locally in your browser, so nothing about your finances is ever uploaded or stored, and the figures are estimates rather than a binding quote.
FAQ
Is sales tax charged before or after the trade-in?
This calculator taxes the price after subtracting the trade-in value, which is the common rule in many regions and can lower your tax bill.
Does a longer term really cost more?
Usually yes. A longer term lowers the monthly payment but increases the total interest paid, which you can see in the total interest figure.
Are these figures an official quote?
No. They are estimates to help you compare. Your lender’s fees, exact APR and tax rules determine the final numbers.