Auto loan affordability calculator

A regular payment, not a lender limit

This page starts from a share of gross monthly income and finds the highest vehicle price whose regular loan payment stays inside that share. The share is a regular-payment allowance. It does not promise that the final installment fits, and it is not an approval.

The allowance is the income times the share, with any leftover fraction of a cent dropped. $6,000.00 at 10% is $600.00. $100.01 at 10% is $10.00. There is no default share. A 10% or 15% figure is not filled in, and it is not a rule from a regulator.

How much can I afford to borrow for a car? treats insurance, fuel and maintenance as part of the budget. This page does not price them. A trade-in that still has a loan can raise the amount financed. That negative equity is not modeled.

How the price is built

The amount financed uses the same identity as the car loan calculator:

vehicle price − down payment + sales tax + fees

Sales tax and fees are dollars you type. This page does not look up a state tax. The monthly rate is the annual rate divided by 12. The regular payment is the annuity, rounded half up to the cent. The search keeps the largest cent whose regular payment is at or below the allowance.

At a 0% rate, half-up can hold that regular payment for several cents past a neat multiple of the allowance. $5,000.00 of income at a 12.5% share is a $625.00 allowance. Over 36 months at 0%, the financed amount is $22,500.17, not $22,500.00. The regular payment stays $625.00. The final payment is $625.17, because the last month pays the remaining cents. The result says so.

A final payment more than twice the regular payment is rejected, with no price. That check is the car loan calculator’s modeling convention. It is not a mortgage Loan Estimate rule. Regulation Z § 1026.18 lists closed-end credit disclosures. This page is not that disclosure.

One worked price

Gross income of $6,000.00, a 10% share, 6% and 60 months, with $2,000.00 down, $1,000.00 of sales tax and $300.00 of fees, has a $600.00 allowance. The vehicle price is $31,735.59. The amount financed is $31,035.59. The regular payment is $600.00, the final payment is $600.34, and interest is $4,964.75. The final payment is $0.34 above the allowance. One more cent of principal would have a regular payment of $600.01, so it is not used.

Entering that price, down payment, tax and fees on the car loan calculator uses the same installment. Comparing auto loan offers is about the term and the total interest as well as the payment. A longer term can lower the payment and raise the interest. This page does not copy that guide’s whole-dollar table.

Debt-to-income stays on the debt-to-income calculator. A refinance of a balance you already owe is on the auto refinance calculator.

Educational estimate only. It is not a lender approval or a full vehicle-ownership budget.