Auto Loan Calculator
Use this calculator to estimate your monthly auto loan payments or find out how much car you can afford. Enter your details to see a complete breakdown and amortization schedule.
| Total Loan Amount | $20,000 |
| Sales Tax | $0 |
| Upfront Payment | $5,000 |
| Total of 60 Loan Payments | $22,432 |
| Total Interest | $2,432 |
| Total Cost (price, interest, tax, fees) | $27,432 |
| Month | Payment | Principal | Interest | Balance |
|---|
Auto Loan Calculator: Payments, Payoff, and Refinance in One Tool
This auto loan calculator does more than calculate your monthly payment. Toggle between three modes to determine a new loan payment, see how making extra payments can shorten your loan payoff time, or compare your current loan to a refinance offer. Enter your price, down payment or trade, rate and term. Select CAD or USD.
Most calculators online will do one or the other. This accomplishes all three. So if you’re seeking to buy a car, pay off an existing loan faster, or are interested in whether refinancing is a good option for you, you can run the numbers all in one place.
How to Calculate an Auto Loan Payment (Figure Your Auto Loan)
Auto loan calculator are calculated the same way, regardless of whether a bank, credit union or dealer is providing the loan:
Monthly Payment = P * r * (1+r)^n / ((1+r)^n -1)
This is what each letter stands for:
- P = the amount you are actually borrowing (car price less your down payment or trade-in value)
- r = your monthly interest rate (your APR / 12)
- n = number of monthly payments (the length of your loan in months)
Example: You buy a car for $32,000 and pay $4,000 down, you will be financing $28,000. Your rate is 7.5% APR for 60 months.
To get your monthly interest rate of 0.625% divide 7.5% by 12. Plug in $28,000, that rate, and 60 months and the above method will spit out a monthly payment of around $561.24.
So all in all for the full 60 months you will be paying roughly $33.674. But you only borrowed $ 28,000 . That implies you ‘re paying about $ 5,674 total interest over the life of the loan .
Auto Loan Interest Rates: What to Expect by Credit Tier
Your credit score has a lot to do with your interest rate. Here is a list of normal auto loan interest rates for both new and used cars, broken down by credit score. Rates on loans for used cars are usually higher than rates on loans for new cars because lenders are taking on more risk with older cars.
Credit Tier | Typical New-Vehicle APR | Typical Used-Vehicle APR |
Excellent (750+) | 5.5% – 7.5% | 7% – 9% |
Good (700–749) | 7% – 9.5% | 9% – 11.5% |
Fair (620–699) | 9.5% – 14% | 12% – 17% |
Poor (below 620) | 14%+ | 17%+ |
These ranges shift with the broader interest-rate environment, so treat this table as general positioning rather than a live quote. Always check current rates from your bank, credit union, or a national auto-loan rate survey before signing anything.
Auto Loan Payoff Calculator: Paying Off Your Car Early
It’s pretty much the same with car loans and mortgages: any extra money you pay goes straight toward the capital, not interest that will be added in the future. Your interest is recalculated every month based on how much you still owe, so if your amount is lower, your interest charges will be lower every month.
The length of time is different for an auto loan calculator. You have between 15 and 30 years to pay off your mortgage, so extra payments take some time to make a difference. Most car loans only last between 3 and 7 years, so making extra payments pays off much faster.
Example that works: It’s the same $28,000 loan with a 7.5% APR spread out over 60 months. Each month, add an extra $75 to the payment.
Original Loan | With $75/Month Extra | |
Payoff time | 60 months | About 52 months |
Time saved | — | About 8 months |
Total interest paid | About $5,674 | About $5,085 |
Interest saved | — | About $590 |
If you pay an extra $75 a month, you’ll pay off the loan about 8 months early and save about $590 in interest. With a shorter loan like this, you won’t save as much money as with a mortgage, but the percentage difference is still big, especially if you plan to make extra payments for as long as you own the car.
Auto Loan Calculator With Extra Payments: One-Time vs Recurring
There are two ways to make extra payments on a car loan and they don’t work the same.
Recurring extra payments are when you contribute a fixed amount each month — like the $75/month in the example above. This method could save more overall because you are making a dent in the sum early on in the loan.
One-time extra contributions are just that; you put in a lump sum once, maybe from a tax refund or job bonus. By making a one-time payment of $1000 at month 12 (when the total has fallen to about $23200), you cut off about 2 months and save about $123 in interest.
Compare two loans: one with a one off payment and one with a recurring payment of the same amount. The regular payment will usually be better. It lowers the loan balance each month instead of only once. If you can only do one, do it as early as you can in the loan because that is when it has the most months left to multiply its savings.
Refinance Payment Calculator: Is Refinancing Your Auto Loan Worth It?
When you refinance, you get a new auto loan calculator with better terms than the one you already have. Usually, it’s something to think about if:
- Since you took out the loan, your credit score has gone up a lot.
- Rates of interest have gone down since you took out your first loan.
- You want to borrow more money or pay it off faster, so you want to change the length of your loan.
For example, you’re 24 months into the $28,000 loan with a 7.5% APR over 60 months. You still owe about $18,029, and you have 36 months to pay it off. Rates have gone down, and you can refinance at 5.5% APR for the next 36 months. There is a $300 fee to do this.
Keep Current Loan | Refinance at 5.5% | |
Monthly payment | $561.24 | $544.60 |
Remaining interest | About $2,176 | About $1,577 |
Refinance fee | — | $300 |
Net interest saved | — | About $299 |
As you can see, refinancing lowers your monthly payment by about $16.64 and saves you about $299 after the fee. Before making a choice, you should always think about any refinance fees. This is because a small drop in the interest rate on a small amount might not be enough to cover the fee.
Auto Loan Calculator Canada: What’s Different
If you’re financing a vehicle in Canada, a few things work differently than a straight currency swap from USD to CAD.
Sales tax gets rolled into the loan. People using auto loan calculator in Canada usually finance the sales tax as part of the loan amount, unlike people in some US states where tax is handled separately. The tax you have to pay depends on your area. Some provinces charge a Harmonized Sales Tax (HST), while others charge GST and PST separately. In either case, that tax amount is usually added to the price of the car before the loan is calculated.
Credit scoring works a bit differently. Instead of using FICO scores, which are used by most US lenders, Canadian lenders get your credit report from Equifax Canada or TransUnion Canada. The general idea behind credit scores (higher scores mean lower rates) is still true, but the exact score levels and models are different from the US system.
Similar to the US, most auto loan calculator in Canada have terms of 3 to 8 years, and rates are usually between 6.5% and 12%, depending on the type of credit and whether the car is new or used.
Example of work (CAD): In Ontario, where the HST rate is 13%, you’re buying a car that costs $32,000 CAD. It costs $4,160 CAD to tax the car. You borrow $32,160 CAD over 60 months at 7.9% APR with a $4,000
The interest on the loan adds up to about $6,876 CAD over the course of the loan. Your monthly payment is about $650.60 CAD. There is over $4,000 CAD added to your loan amount by the HST, and that’s before any interest is added. That’s why you should use a car finance calculator that includes tax instead of just looking at the price tag to figure out how much your payment will be.
Tips Before You Sign an Auto Loan
- Get accepted ahead of time before you go to the dealer. If your bank or credit union pre-approves you, you can compare the real rate they offer to the dealer’s rate. This gives you more power in negotiations.
- Compare funding from a dealer to what a bank or credit union will offer. Sometimes, dealers offer good deals on prices, so it’s a good idea to check both before making a decision.
- Keep an eye out for extras that are added to your loan. Add-ons like GAP insurance, extra warranties, and others can be added to the principal of your loan, which raises your monthly payment and total interest.
- Don’t make your term longer just to get a cheaper payment. If you take out a loan with a longer term, you may end up owing more on the car than it is worth.
Conclusion
If you want to make a budget for a new buy, pay off your car loan faster, or look at a refinance offer, you should always use an auto loan calculator with real numbers instead of guesses. You don’t have to put together answers from different tools because this calculator does all three in one place, in either USD or CAD. Type in your own price, rate, and term above to see an exact breakdown of your payment, when it will be paid off, and how much you could save. You can save a lot of money over the life of your loan if you use a calculator now. Do the math before you sign anything.
Frequently Asked Questions
Q1. How do I calculate my auto loan payment?
Your monthly payment is equal to [P × r × (1+r)^n] ÷ [(1+r)^n − 1]. Here, P is the amount of your loan, r is the interest rate, and n is the length of your loan in months. It costs about $561.24 a month to pay back a $28,000 loan with an APR of 7.5% over 60 months.
Q2. How much can I save by paying extra on my car loan?
Your rate, balance, and how much extra you pay all play a role. However, even small extra payments can help. For our $28,000 loan, paying an extra $75 a month would have saved about $590 in interest and shortened the loan by 8 months.
Q3. Is it worth refinancing my auto loan?
It’s possible, especially if your credit has gotten better or rates have gone down since you got the first loan. In our case, lowering the interest rate on a $18,029 balance from 7.5% to 5.5% saved us about $299 after taking out the $300 refinance fee. It also lowered our monthly payment. Always compare the benefits to any fees.
Q4. What’s a good interest rate for an auto loan?
It depends on how good your credit is. Rates on new cars are usually between 5.5% and 7.5% for people with good credit, but rates can be as high as 14% or more for people with bad credit. These ranges change as interest rates change in general, so check the most recent numbers before thinking that a certain number applies to you.
Q5. How is sales tax handled on a Canadian auto loan?
In Canada, sales tax (GST/PST or HST, depending on your province) is generally added to the loan amount instead of being paid separately. In other words, the amount you borrow is usually more than the car’s selling price.
Q6. Should I choose a longer loan term for a lower payment?
Your monthly payment will be less if you borrow money for a longer time, but there is a catch. Over the life of the loan, you’ll pay more interest, and you’ll be more likely to owe more than the car is worth for a longer time. This is because cars lose value quickly in the first few years.