Three questions, one formula. What the monthly payment will be; how much car a payment you can live with buys; and how much is still owed on a loan you already have — the one that matters when you sell, because the lender is paid before the title comes free. The formula and a fully worked example sit under the calculator, so any figure it gives you can be checked.
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The payment, the interest and a year-by-year schedule appear here.
A fixed-rate car loan is repaid in equal monthly payments, each covering that month's interest on the balance plus some of the balance itself. The payment that brings the balance to exactly zero on the last month is:
Worked through for $25,000 at 6% over 60 months: r = 6 ÷ 12 ÷ 100 = 0.005. Then (1.005)60 = 1.34885, so (1.005)−60 = 0.741372 and 1 − 0.741372 = 0.258628. The top line is 25,000 × 0.005 = 125, and 125 ÷ 0.258628 = $483.32 a month.
Sixty payments at that figure come to $28,999.20. Worked month by month with each month's interest rounded to the cent, as the calculator does it, the last payment comes out at $483.35, the payments total $28,999.23 and the interest $3,999.23.
The balance after any number of payments k comes from the same pieces:
After 24 payments on the example loan that is $15,887.21. The What a budget buys tab runs the first formula backwards — amount you can borrow = payment × (1 − (1 + r)−n) ÷ r — so $400 a month for 60 months at 6% borrows $20,690.22.
Because interest is charged on whatever is still owed, the early payments are the interest-heavy ones. On the example loan, the first payment is $125.00 of interest and $358.32 of principal; the last carries $2.40 of interest. The balance does not fall below half of the $25,000 until payment 33, not payment 30.
$25,000 at 6% APR for 60 months, year by year, computed to the cent.
| Year | Paid | Interest | Principal | Balance at end |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | $5,799.84 | $1,379.77 | $4,420.07 | $20,579.93 |
| 2 | $5,799.84 | $1,107.12 | $4,692.72 | $15,887.21 |
| 3 | $5,799.84 | $817.73 | $4,982.11 | $10,905.10 |
| 4 | $5,799.84 | $510.43 | $5,289.41 | $5,615.69 |
| 5 | $5,799.87 | $184.18 | $5,615.69 | $0.00 |
That slow start is how a loan can end up larger than what the car would sell for, and a longer term stretches the slow part out. After three years the 60-month version of this loan is down to $10,905.10, while an 84-month loan of the same $25,000 still stands at $15,551.06. How quickly the car's own value falls over those years is in how fast a car loses value.
The same $25,000 at 6% over different terms. Stretching from 60 to 84 months lowers the payment by $118.11 and adds $1,678.77 of interest.
| Term | Monthly payment | Total interest | Total paid |
|---|---|---|---|
| 36 months | $760.55 | $2,379.70 | $27,379.70 |
| 48 months | $587.13 | $3,182.00 | $28,182.00 |
| 60 months | $483.32 | $3,999.23 | $28,999.23 |
| 72 months | $414.32 | $4,831.23 | $29,831.23 |
| 84 months | $365.21 | $5,678.00 | $30,678.00 |
And the same loan over 60 months at different rates. The 7.14% row is the Federal Reserve's G.19 consumer credit release of September 8, 2026: commercial banks' average rate on a 60-month new-car loan for the second quarter of 2026, down from 7.65% for 2025 and 8.16% for 2024, and against 4.82% in 2021. The Fed describes it as a simple unweighted average of each bank's most common rate in the first week of the middle month of the quarter, so it is a benchmark, not a quote. For the same quarter the release puts banks' 72-month loans at 6.97%, and finance companies' new-car loans at 6.3% with an average term of 67 months and $41,705 financed.
| APR | Monthly payment | Total interest |
|---|---|---|
| 3% | $449.22 | $1,952.99 |
| 5% | $471.78 | $3,306.87 |
| 6% | $483.32 | $3,999.23 |
| 7.14% (G.19 average) | $496.68 | $4,801.04 |
| 9% | $518.96 | $6,137.53 |
| 12% | $556.11 | $8,366.71 |
| 15% | $594.75 | $10,684.88 |
| 18% | $634.84 | $13,090.05 |
The calculator builds the amount financed the way a purchase contract does: price, plus sales tax and any fees you roll in, minus the down payment and the trade-in's value, plus whatever is still owed on the car you are trading. When that last figure is bigger than the trade-in's value, the gap is negative equity, and it becomes part of the new loan. Carry $3,000 of it into the example and the payment at 6% over 60 months goes from $483.32 to $541.32, with interest charged on the old car's debt for another five years.
Sales tax is optional: enter your state and local rate, or leave it at zero. The checkbox decides whether the tax falls on the full price or only on what is left after the trade-in. Most states tax only the difference and a few give no trade-in credit at all; the state-by-state picture is in trade-in vs. selling privately.
A car with a loan on it can be sold, but the lender holds the title, or a lien on it, until the loan is cleared. The What I still owe tab gives the balance the schedule says you should have after a given number of payments; on the example loan, 24 payments in, that is $15,887.21, with $2,486.89 of interest already paid. Put in an offer for the car and it shows whether the sale clears the loan with money left over or leaves a gap to cover.
The schedule is an estimate. It assumes every payment went in on time and in full; late payments, extra payments and the days since your last payment all move the real figure. The number to sell against is the lender's written payoff quote. Selling a car that still has a loan on it covers how to get one, how the lien comes off, and what to do when the car is worth less than the loan.
With the standard amortization formula: payment = P × r ÷ (1 − (1 + r)−n), where P is the amount financed, r is the APR divided by 12 and by 100, and n is the number of months. For $25,000 at 6% over 60 months, r is 0.005 and the payment is $483.32.
At 6% APR it is $760.55 over 36 months, $587.13 over 48, $483.32 over 60 and $414.32 over 72. Each extra year lowers the payment and raises the total interest.
Only month to month. On $25,000 at 6%, stretching 60 months to 84 cuts the payment by $118.11 but adds about $1,678.77 of interest, and the balance falls more slowly, which matters if you sell before the loan ends.
Use the What I still owe tab with the amount you borrowed, the APR, the term and the number of payments made; it gives the balance the schedule says you should have. The number that actually releases the lien is the lender's written payoff quote, which our guide to selling a car with a loan explains how to get.
The APR on your loan offer or contract. For a sense of scale, the Federal Reserve's G.19 release of September 8, 2026 put commercial banks' average rate on a 60-month new-car loan at 7.14% for the second quarter of 2026. That is an average across banks, not a quote, and the rate a lender offers you can sit well above or below it.
Yes. The loan is paid off out of the sale, and the lender then releases its lien on the title. If the payoff is more than the car sells for, the difference has to be covered at the sale. Selling a car that still has a loan on it walks through each step.