Your monthly payment is only part of the cost. This calculator compares personal loan, HP, PCP, lease or paying cash on your own numbers, then shows what the car really costs you once fuel, insurance, tax, servicing and lost value are counted.
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The car and the money
Part-exchange
Fees and final payment
Leave blank to estimate it from the depreciation model below.
Estimate only. Override it with a real valuation if you have one.
Running costs editable estimates
How are you paying for it?
What it costs
Monthly payment
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True monthly cost of ownership
The payment leaves your account. The rest of this leaves your account too, just less obviously.
Your biggest opportunity
Same car, different term
Finance types side by side
What you owe vs what the car is worth
Payment schedule
How much car can I afford?
Work backwards from the payment you are comfortable with. Planning indicator only — not a lender affordability assessment.
Notes for your country
How the calculation works
The amount you finance is the cash price of the car, plus any sales tax and fees, minus your deposit and minus the net value of anything you part-exchange. If you still owe finance on the car you are trading in, that debt is subtracted from its value first; when the debt is larger, the shortfall gets added to the new loan instead, which is why negative equity quietly makes the next car more expensive.
From there the tool runs the loan month by month rather than using a single approximation. Each month interest is charged on the balance that is actually outstanding, the payment is applied, and the remainder carries forward. The monthly payment itself comes from the standard annuity formula, adjusted so that any balloon payment is still standing at the end of the term. A 0% APR deal is handled separately: the amount financed is simply divided by the number of payments, with no division by an interest rate that does not exist.
Depreciation is the estimate, not the maths. The default curve assumes the car loses roughly a fifth of its value in the first year and about 13% of the remaining value each year after that, which is a reasonable middle-of-the-road assumption for a mainstream car with average mileage. Real cars vary enormously by model, condition, mileage and market timing, so treat the end-of-term value as a placeholder and overwrite it with a real valuation whenever you can. Everything else the tool shows about total interest and total cost is exact arithmetic on the figures you enter.
Frequently asked questions
PCP, HP, personal loan or cash — what is the actual difference?
A personal loan is money borrowed from a bank or lender in your own name: you buy the car outright, own it from day one, and can sell it whenever you like. Hire purchase spreads the full price of the car over the term, but the finance company holds legal title until the last payment clears, so you cannot sell it mid-agreement without settling first. PCP lowers the monthly payment by parking a large chunk of the car's value in a final optional payment, which means you are only paying off the expected depreciation during the term, and at the end you either pay the balloon, hand the car back, or trade whatever equity has built up into the next deal. Paying cash has no borrowing cost at all, but it uses money you might want or need elsewhere. None of these is universally best: the comparison table above ranks them on your own figures instead of on a general rule.
How big should my deposit be?
Bigger is cheaper, but the useful question is how much cheaper. Every unit of deposit removes the same amount from the balance that interest is charged on, for the whole term, so the saving compounds with both the rate and the length of the agreement. Use the deposit slider above to see the effect on your own numbers rather than guessing. Two practical caveats: keep enough cash back for the running costs and the first unexpected repair, because putting your last savings into a deposit and then borrowing again at a card rate is a bad trade. And on some advertised finance deals a specific deposit level unlocks a contribution or a lower rate, so check whether the headline offer has a threshold before optimising past it.
What is a balloon payment, and can I afford it?
A balloon payment is a large final amount deferred to the end of the agreement. On UK PCP it is usually called the Guaranteed Future Value or Optional Final Payment, and it is the finance company's estimate of what the car will be worth when the term ends. Because you are not repaying it during the term, your monthly payment is lower, but you are still paying interest on it every month. When the term ends you choose: pay the balloon and keep the car, hand the car back and walk away, or use any equity above the balloon as the deposit on your next car. The results panel shows the balloon as a percentage of the car's price and suggests a monthly amount to set aside if you want the option of keeping it, which is a planning idea rather than advice.
What if I still owe finance on my part-exchange?
Then only the difference matters. If the trade-in is valued above the settlement figure, the surplus is real equity and works exactly like extra deposit. If the settlement figure is higher, you have negative equity, and rolling it into the new agreement means you are borrowing for two cars at once while owning one. This tool shows that shortfall as a plain number instead of burying it in the amount financed, because it is the single most common way a car purchase quietly gets thousands more expensive. Always get the exact settlement figure from your current lender rather than relying on your remaining balance, since it can include interest or fees to the settlement date.
Is a longer term a bad idea?
Not automatically, but it costs more than most people expect and carries a specific risk. Stretching from four years to six lowers the payment and raises the total interest, because you are borrowing the same money for longer. The bigger issue is the gap between what you owe and what the car is worth: on a long term with a small deposit, the balance can sit above the car's value for years, so selling, writing off or changing the car early leaves you paying for something you no longer have. The term table above flags exactly how many months you spend in that position for each option.
APR, flat rate and 0% deals — which number should I compare?
APR, always. It is designed to include the interest plus the compulsory fees expressed as a yearly rate, so it is the only figure that lets you compare two offers fairly. A flat rate looks lower than it is because it is charged on the original amount rather than the falling balance, so a flat rate of 5% is roughly a 9 to 10% APR on a typical car term. Genuine 0% finance is handled correctly here with no division-by-zero problem, but check what you are giving up for it: a cash discount you lose by taking the finance can easily be worth more than the interest you save, so run both through the calculator before deciding.
Car loan calculator for Canada: how does provincial tax change the numbers?
A lot, because tax is charged on the vehicle price and then usually financed along with it. Ontario applies HST, Quebec applies GST plus QST, Alberta applies GST only, and Nova Scotia and the other Atlantic provinces apply HST at their own rate, so the same sticker price produces a different amount financed depending on where you register the car. Choosing your province above loads the commonly quoted combined rate as a starting point, and the rate stays editable on purpose: rules differ between dealer and private sales, some provinces add surtaxes on higher-value or fuel-inefficient vehicles, and rates change. Confirm the figure that applies to your purchase with the dealer or your provincial authority rather than trusting any calculator's default, including this one.
India: what is the difference between ex-showroom and on-road price?
The ex-showroom price is the price of the car itself, including GST and cess but nothing else. The on-road price is what you actually hand over: ex-showroom plus road tax and registration, plus the first year of insurance, plus handling and any extras or accessories. The gap is commonly around a tenth of the ex-showroom price but varies significantly by state, because road tax is a state levy and differs. This matters for your EMI because lenders usually finance a percentage of the ex-showroom price, not the on-road price, so the shortfall becomes part of your down payment whether you planned it or not. Enter the ex-showroom price above and set the on-road extras percentage to match your quotation.
What does the calculator include in true monthly cost?
Six things: the value the car loses over the term, the interest and fees you pay to borrow, fuel or charging, insurance, road tax or registration, and servicing and repairs. It deliberately does not add depreciation on top of the finance payment as though they were separate, because that double counts: on a financed car your payments are largely buying back the depreciation already. Instead the cost of the car itself is calculated as everything you hand over minus what the car is still worth at the end, then split into the value lost and the cost of borrowing. That is why paying cash still has a real monthly cost here even with no payment to make.
How much car can I afford on my salary?
This tool answers the version of the question you can actually control: given a monthly amount you are comfortable with, a deposit, a rate and a term, what does that make the maximum price of the car? Tick the running-costs box and it reserves the fuel, insurance, tax and servicing out of that same budget first, which is the step most calculators skip and the reason people end up with a payment they can meet and a car they cannot run. Treat the output as a planning indicator. A lender will assess your income, existing commitments, credit file and their own policy, and may offer more or less than the figure shown here.
Disclaimer
This calculator is provided for general information and educational purposes only. It is not financial advice, and CalcNest is not a lender, broker, dealer or regulated adviser. Results are estimates based on the figures you enter and the assumptions described above; the figures in a lender's or dealer's own quotation are the ones that count. Tax rates, registration costs, insurance premiums, depreciation, fees and lending criteria vary by product, location and individual circumstances and change over time. Nothing here should be taken as a statement of the tax or regulatory position in any country: confirm anything that affects your decision with the dealer, your lender or the relevant authority, and consider speaking to a qualified adviser before signing a finance agreement.
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