Car loan calculator
Enter the car price, down payment, annual rate and term to get the loan amount, monthly payment, total interest, total repayment and total outlay, with vehicle purchase tax estimated at the 10% rate in force since 1 July 2019 plus an annuity versus equal-principal comparison.
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Car loan inputs
Vehicle purchase tax follows the Vehicle Purchase Tax Law of the PRC (in force since 1 July 2019): 10% of the taxable price, which is the price divided by (1 + VAT rate). Both rates are editable; the defaults are references only.
All money is integer cents; interest is rounded to the cent on the opening balance and the final instalment is trued up.
Result
60,000.00140,000.00176,991.1517,699.125,000.00222,699.124,164.574,164.574,164.550.375000%9,924.50149,924.50232,623.62Repayment method comparison
Car loans are short, so the interest gap between the two methods is usually only a few hundred; equal principal just bites harder in the first months.
9,924.509,712.50212.00249.32Repayment schedule
36 instalments in total; only the first 12 are listed.
| Period | Payment | Principal | Interest | Balance |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | 4,164.57 | 3,639.57 | 525.00 | 136,360.43 |
| 2 | 4,164.57 | 3,653.22 | 511.35 | 132,707.21 |
| 3 | 4,164.57 | 3,666.92 | 497.65 | 129,040.29 |
| 4 | 4,164.57 | 3,680.67 | 483.90 | 125,359.62 |
| 5 | 4,164.57 | 3,694.47 | 470.10 | 121,665.15 |
| 6 | 4,164.57 | 3,708.33 | 456.24 | 117,956.82 |
| 7 | 4,164.57 | 3,722.23 | 442.34 | 114,234.59 |
| 8 | 4,164.57 | 3,736.19 | 428.38 | 110,498.40 |
| 9 | 4,164.57 | 3,750.20 | 414.37 | 106,748.20 |
| 10 | 4,164.57 | 3,764.26 | 400.31 | 102,983.94 |
| 11 | 4,164.57 | 3,778.38 | 386.19 | 99,205.56 |
| 12 | 4,164.57 | 3,792.55 | 372.02 | 95,413.01 |
What this tool does
- Know the payment before you walk into the dealership: a 200,000 car with 30% down at 4.5% over 36 months costs 4,164.57 a month and 9,924.50 in interest.
- Get the on-road price too: with 10% vehicle purchase tax and 5,000 of insurance and plate fees, a 200,000 car lands at 222,699.12.
- Compare finance offers: equal instalment and equal principal differ by 212.00 of interest but 249.32 in the first month — decide with your cash flow, not the headline.
- Check a "zero interest" pitch: set the rate to 0 and see whether the payment and interest really are zero before comparing the fees.
Example
Input
Car price 200,000, 30% down payment, 4.5% annual rate, 36 months, 10% purchase tax, 13% VAT, 5,000 of other fees
Output
Down payment 60,000.00; loan 140,000.00; taxable price 176,991.15; vehicle purchase tax 17,699.12; other fees 5,000.00; on-road price 222,699.12; monthly payment 4,164.57; total interest 9,924.50; total repayment 149,924.50; total outlay 232,623.62
The taxable price of 176,991.15 is 200,000 ÷ 1.13 and the tax is 10% of that, which is how the Vehicle Purchase Tax Law has worked since 1 July 2019; total outlay is the on-road price plus interest.
Frequently asked questions
How is the purchase tax calculated — why not 10% of the price?
The taxable price excludes VAT, so the price is divided by (1 + VAT rate) first: a 200,000 car at 13% VAT has a taxable price of about 176,991.15, giving a tax of 17,699.12 — roughly 8.85% of the sticker price. That rate has applied since the Vehicle Purchase Tax Law took effect on 1 July 2019; exemptions such as those for electric vehicles depend on current local rules.
Equal instalment or equal principal for a car loan?
Over a short term the two are close: on a 140,000 loan at 4.5% over 36 months the equal-instalment plan costs 9,924.50 in interest and the equal-principal plan 9,712.50 — a gap of just 212.00, while the equal-principal first payment is 249.32 higher. If cash is tight, equal instalment is easier; if you can absorb the early months and want the lowest interest, equal principal wins.
Does the monthly payment include insurance and plates?
No. Insurance, plates and similar costs are listed separately and added to the on-road price and the total outlay, but they are not part of the loan principal. Dealers sometimes roll insurance or service fees into the loan — if that happens here, add those amounts to the car price or lower the down payment to model it.
Is a "zero interest" loan actually cheaper?
Set the rate to 0 and you will see the payment and total repayment with no interest at all; compare that with the arrangement fee or service charge the zero-interest offer carries. If the fee exceeds the interest you avoided, the real cost of funds is higher. This tool does not compute IRR, but you can treat the total fee as a cost in the ROI calculator.
What happens with invalid input?
The price must be greater than zero, the down payment between 0% and 100% (100% means cash, which the tool rejects as it needs a loan), the term an integer from 1 to 120 months, the annual rate and both tax rates between 0 and 100, and other fees non-negative. Out-of-range values show the matching message instead of a result.
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