Car Payment & Auto Loan Calculator
Estimate a monthly car payment from the vehicle price, down payment, trade-in credit, financed taxes or fees, APR and repayment term—or enter a known loan amount directly.
Amount financed = vehicle price − down payment − net trade-in credit + financed taxes/fees. Enter taxes or fees manually only if they will be included in the loan; this calculator does not apply jurisdiction-specific tax rules.
About this tool
Builds the amount financed from a vehicle purchase price, deposit, net trade-in credit and optional financed fees, then estimates the monthly payment, total scheduled repayments and total interest. You can also enter a known loan amount directly.
Anyone estimating a conventional fully amortising fixed-rate vehicle loan or hire-purchase style borrowing with no balloon payment. PCP, lease/PCH and balloon-payment finance are outside this model.
All calculations happen in your browser. No financial data is transmitted or stored anywhere.
How a car payment is calculated
This car payment calculator first works out how much of the purchase you are actually borrowing. In vehicle-purchase mode, the amount financed is the vehicle price minus the down payment and net trade-in or part-exchange credit, plus any taxes or fees you choose to finance. The loan payment is then calculated as an equal monthly payment over the selected term using the entered annual rate.
Vehicle price vs amount financed
The purchase price is not always the same as the loan principal. A £30,000 vehicle can produce a much smaller amount financed when you use cash as a deposit or receive net value from a trade-in. Conversely, financing taxes, registration or dealer fees increases the balance that accrues interest.
Deposit or down payment
A larger down payment reduces the amount financed immediately. With the same APR and term, borrowing less lowers both the monthly car payment and the total interest charged.
Trade-in or part-exchange credit
Enter only the net credit that actually reduces the new purchase balance. If an existing vehicle has outstanding finance, use the value left after that settlement rather than the headline trade-in value.
Financed taxes and fees
If taxes or fees are rolled into the loan, add the amount manually. ToolBullet does not calculate sales tax, VAT, registration charges or dealer fees by location because those rules vary by jurisdiction and transaction.
APR, rate and repayment term
A higher borrowing rate increases both the monthly payment and interest cost. A longer term often reduces the monthly payment because the balance is spread across more instalments, but it usually increases total interest because the debt remains outstanding for longer.
Worked example: a 30,000 vehicle price with a 5,000 down payment, 2,000 net trade-in credit and 1,000 of financed fees produces an amount financed of 24,000. At 6% for 60 months, the estimated monthly payment is about 463.99, total scheduled repayments about 27,839.23 and total interest about 3,839.23.
Already know the principal?
Switch to Known loan amount when a dealer or lender has already given you the amount financed. For non-vehicle personal or generic fixed-rate borrowing, use the Loan Repayment Calculator, which includes a month-by-month amortisation schedule.