Auto Loan Calculator

Almost always because you financed the sticker price and they financed the sticker price plus tax, title, registration and documentation fees. Regulation Z calls that total the "amount financed" — § 1026.18(b) — and § 1026.4(e) keeps taxes and official fees out of the finance charge precisely because they are part of the principal rather than a cost of credit. On a $35,000 car at 6% tax with $500 of fees, that is $2,600 of extra principal and about $52 a month on a five-year loan.

No, and this is the most persistent myth in car buying. Sales tax is assessed on the transaction price, not on the portion you borrow. Putting $20,000 down on a $35,000 car leaves the tax bill identical to putting nothing down. A down payment reduces the amount financed and therefore the interest, which is worth doing — it just does not touch the tax line.

That depends on your state, which is why it is a question on the form rather than an assumption in the arithmetic. Most states levy sales tax on the price net of the trade-in; a handful tax the full price regardless. The difference is real money: on a $35,000 car with a $10,000 trade-in at 6%, the credit saves $600 of tax and about $12 a month. Check your state’s rule before trusting either figure.

The shortfall is rolled into the new loan. A car worth $4,000 with $9,000 outstanding means $5,000 of negative equity added to the new principal, financed at the new rate for the new term — so you start the new loan already underwater on a car that begins depreciating immediately. This calculator shows the number rather than hiding it, because it is the single most expensive thing a car buyer routinely does.

It lowers the payment and raises the total cost, and on a depreciating asset it also keeps you underwater for longer. A $45,000 purchase with 8.25% tax and $725 in fees finances $49,437.50; at 12.9% over 84 months, that costs $25,883.58 in interest. The payment is the number the dealer will steer you toward; the total interest and the amount financed are the numbers worth negotiating on.

The credit is, but it is often offered instead of a cash rebate rather than alongside one. Compare the total cost both ways: the rebate reduces the amount financed on every later calculation, so a $2,000 rebate at a normal rate can beat 0% on a short term while losing to it on a long one. Run the two as separate results and compare the total of payments, not the monthly figure.

"Car payment calculator" and "auto loan payment calculator" describe the same tool, and this one is free either way: no account, no email gate and no limit on scenarios. Enter the vehicle price, down payment, trade-in, APR and term, and it returns the monthly payment plus the full amortization schedule — the same month-by-month math a lender uses, not an estimate. Every result is also a shareable link, so you can send an exact scenario to a co-buyer instead of re-entering numbers.

It separates the four things dealers routinely blend into one payment — sales tax, financed fees, trade-in equity and interest — so you can see exactly which one changed between two offers. Most simple car payment calculators only take price, rate and term and silently ignore tax and trade-in, which is why their number rarely matches what a dealer quotes.