Auto Loan Calculator
Your real car payment, including sales tax, down payment and trade-in value.
What goes into a car payment
The amount you finance is the vehicle price plus sales tax, minus your down payment and trade-in. That balance is repaid like any fixed-rate loan. In most US states sales tax applies to the price after subtracting the trade-in, which is how this calculator computes it.
60 vs. 72 vs. 84 months
Longer terms are popular because the monthly number looks small, but they cost more in interest and keep you underwater (owing more than the car is worth) for longer. A $27,000 balance at 7% costs about $535/mo over 60 months (~$5,070 interest) vs. $407/mo over 84 months (~$7,220 interest).
Quick rules of thumb
A common guideline is 20/4/10: put 20% down, finance no more than 4 years, and keep total car costs (payment, insurance, fuel) under 10% of gross income. Use the fields above to test how close a deal gets you.