Free car loan calculator. Find your monthly auto loan payment including sales tax, down payment, and trade-in value, with a full amortization schedule.
A car loan calculator finds your monthly payment by financing the vehicle price plus sales tax, minus your down payment and trade-in value, over the loan term at your interest rate. The formula is the standard amortized loan payment formula, applied to the net amount financed rather than the sticker price.
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Car Loan Calculator
The sticker price on a car isn't what you finance. Sales tax gets added, and your down payment and any trade-in value get subtracted, before a lender calculates your loan amount. A $30,000 car with 7% sales tax, a $3,000 down payment, and no trade-in works out to a $30,000 + $2,100 tax − $3,000 down = $29,100 loan — not $30,000.
Getting this net amount right matters, because your monthly payment, total interest, and the amortization schedule are all calculated from it, not from the vehicle's sticker price.
Sales Tax on Trade-Ins
In most US states, sales tax on a car purchase applies to the full vehicle price, regardless of your down payment. Trade-ins are handled differently depending on the state: many states offer a "trade-in tax credit," taxing only the difference between the new car's price and your trade-in's value, which can save hundreds or thousands of dollars in tax. Other states tax the full price with no trade-in credit.
This calculator applies sales tax to the full vehicle price as a conservative, widely-applicable default. If your state offers a trade-in tax credit, your actual tax bill — and therefore your loan amount — may be lower than this estimate.
The Trade-Offs
Stretching a car loan from 60 to 72 or 84 months lowers the monthly payment, which is why longer terms have become more common — but it also means paying interest for longer, which increases the total interest paid over the life of the loan, sometimes substantially.
A larger down payment or trade-in has the opposite effect: it reduces the amount financed, which lowers both the monthly payment and the total interest, since interest accrues on a smaller balance from day one. Adjusting the sliders in this calculator shows exactly how much a bigger down payment or a shorter term saves in total interest.
Limitations
This calculator uses a standard fixed-rate amortized loan formula and applies sales tax to the full vehicle price without a trade-in credit — check your state's specific rules if you're trading in a vehicle, since your actual tax owed may be lower. It also doesn't include registration fees, documentation fees, or extended warranty costs some dealers add to the financed amount.
For a lease instead of a loan, see our leasing calculator, which uses a different formula based on the vehicle's residual value rather than full ownership.
Practical Use Cases
Comparing loan offers
Seeing how different interest rates from competing lenders change your monthly payment and total interest.
Deciding how much to put down
Testing how a larger down payment lowers your monthly payment and shortens the time until you own the car outright.
Evaluating a trade-in offer
Seeing how much a dealer's trade-in offer actually reduces your loan amount and monthly payment.
Choosing a loan term
Comparing the total interest cost of a 48-month term against a 72-month term for the same car.
Budgeting before visiting a dealership
Knowing your realistic monthly payment range before negotiating price, to avoid being sold on payment alone.
Most US states tax the full vehicle price before your down payment or trade-in value are subtracted — not the amount you actually finance. Some states give a trade-in tax credit (reducing the taxable amount by your trade-in value), but this varies significantly by state, so this calculator uses the more common full-price method as a conservative estimate.
Yes. Your trade-in value is subtracted from the vehicle price (plus tax) just like a down payment, directly reducing the amount you need to finance and therefore your monthly payment.
60 months (5 years) is the most common new-car loan term in the US, though terms from 36 to 84 months are widely available. Longer terms lower your monthly payment but increase total interest paid and raise the risk of being "underwater" (owing more than the car is worth) for longer.
A common guideline is 10-20% of the vehicle price. A larger down payment reduces your loan amount, monthly payment, and total interest, and helps avoid being underwater on the loan if the car depreciates faster than you pay it down.
This calculator treats the interest rate you enter as the APR directly, applied to a standard amortized loan. If a dealer quotes a rate that excludes certain fees, your effective APR from a lender's paperwork may differ slightly from what a simple calculator shows.