Car Loan Calculator

Sales tax in this calculator is computed directly on the Vehicle Price, before any down payment or trade-in is applied, mirroring how most states calculate vehicle sales tax on the purchase price itself. Down payment only reduces the LOAN AMOUNT -- the portion of the total cost you're borrowing -- so increasing it lowers what you finance and the resulting monthly payment, but it does not change the tax bill.

In this calculator's realistic input ranges, yes -- Vehicle Price has the largest practical span (from $1,000 to $200,000) of any input feeding into the Sales Tax calculation, so it swings the sales tax total by more than adjusting the tax RATE within its typical 0-15% range does. Both inputs multiply together in the formula (Sales Tax = Vehicle Price × Sales Tax Rate), so either one raises sales tax when increased.

A longer term spreads the same loan amount across more monthly payments, so each individual payment covers a smaller slice of principal. The tradeoff is that interest keeps accruing on the outstanding balance for more months, so while the monthly payment drops, the total interest paid over the full life of the loan is typically higher on a 72- or 84-month term than on a 36- or 48-month term for the same loan amount and rate.

Both Trade-In Value and Down Payment reduce the loan amount in exactly the same way in this calculator's formula -- Loan Amount = Vehicle Price + Sales Tax - Down Payment - Trade-In Value -- so a dollar of trade-in equity lowers the amount financed just as much as a dollar of cash down payment does. The practical difference is where that value comes from, not how it's applied to the loan math here.