Auto loan calculator

Use this automobile loan calculator to see how the purchase price, down payment, trade-in, sales tax, fees, APR, and loan term affect your payment. The result separates the amount financed from interest and shows where each monthly payment goes. Start with your written purchase and loan quotes, then change one input at a time. The starting loan amount and rate come from a CFPB educational example, not a current offer. Tax and fee fields begin at zero so you can enter your own amounts. The Federal Reserve rate below is a reference, not a rate promised to you.

Starting inputs use official educational examples. Zero tax, fees, cash contributions, and extra payments mean those items are excluded until you enter them. Replace these assumptions with your own transaction amounts.

Worked example

Official CFPB worked example: a $20,000 loan at 4.75% interest. The published figures are rounded to whole dollars. See the original example. The calculator uses unrounded values internally and displays cents.

How it works

"In an amortizing loan, a percentage of your monthly payment is applied to the principal and to the interest."

CFPB auto loan guidance

Amount financed = car price + sales tax + financed fees + trade-in payoff - trade-in value - cash down payment. A negative result is shown as no financing needed. By default, sales tax is applied to the full car price. Select the trade-in tax credit only when it matches the taxable base in your purchase paperwork. The tool does not identify state tax law.

The Federal Reserve explanation of amount financed lists purchase price, prior credit balances, taxes, and down payment among the payment components.

P is the financed principal, r is the monthly rate, n is the number of monthly payments, and M is the regular payment. Each month, interest equals the previous balance multiplied by r. Principal repaid equals the payment minus that interest. The remaining balance falls by the principal repaid. These steps generate the schedule shown by the tool.

This is the standard fixed-payment amortization model described by CFPB auto loan amortization guidance. We use the entered APR as the annual rate for this estimate. APR can include fees; a contract payment based on a separate note interest rate can differ. Use the contract interest rate in the rate field for a closer payment match when it differs from APR. There are no balloon payments, late fees, missed payments, or daily interest adjustments in this model.