Auto loan term comparison

Compare repayment lengths while keeping principal and APR the same. The table calculates a payment, interest total, and full repayment total for each term. These are scenarios for comparing the effect of time, not a statement that every term is offered for your vehicle. Enter different amounts and rates to match the written offers you are considering.

Starting inputs use official educational examples. Zero tax, fees, cash contributions, and extra payments mean those items are excluded until you enter them. Replace these assumptions with your own transaction amounts.

Start with the amount financed

Use the loan amount after down payment, trade-in equity, tax, and financed fees. The purchase price alone may differ from that figure. The homepage calculator can build the financed amount from those components. Keeping the amount constant here isolates the effect of the term. If two quotes finance different amounts, compare that difference before attributing the payment change to repayment length.

Read across all columns

The monthly payment tells you how much the modeled loan requires each month. Total interest shows the financing cost over the full schedule. Total payments combines the financed principal and interest. These measures answer different questions: a payment can fit a monthly budget while still carrying a higher total cost. The table is intentionally small so you can compare every term without having to calculate each offer separately.

Use a common rate to isolate time

The APR field applies to every row. If actual quotes have different rates, run the table once for each rate and compare the row for the offered term. A lender's longer-term proposal can have different pricing; the calculator does not predict that pricing. It also treats the entered annual rate as the amortization rate, so a fee-inclusive APR can produce an estimate that differs from a payment based on the contract interest rate.

Check the official worked example

The CFPB example below uses the same principal and rate as the starting inputs. Its published payments and interest totals are rounded to whole dollars. Our tool calculates without rounding each monthly step and then displays cents, so a visible difference from a whole-dollar source figure does not automatically indicate a different formula. It is useful to compare the shape of the result across terms as well as the exact payment in your written quote.

Consider the balance as well as the payment

For equal principal and a positive annual rate, stretching repayment leaves the balance outstanding longer and increases total interest in this model. CFPB also discusses the risk of owing more than the vehicle is worth with longer loans. This table does not forecast resale value or depreciation. Use the negative equity tool with a value you supply if you want to compare your payoff balance with a current sale or trade figure. Use the affordability tool to explore a budget ceiling before choosing a term.

Worked example

Official CFPB worked example: a $20,000 loan at 4.75% interest. The published figures are rounded to whole dollars. See the original example. The calculator uses unrounded values internally and displays cents.

How it works

P is the financed principal, r is the monthly rate, n is the number of monthly payments, and M is the regular payment. Each month, interest equals the previous balance multiplied by r. Principal repaid equals the payment minus that interest. The remaining balance falls by the principal repaid. These steps generate the schedule shown by the tool.

This is the standard fixed-payment amortization model described by CFPB auto loan amortization guidance. We use the entered APR as the annual rate for this estimate. APR can include fees; a contract payment based on a separate note interest rate can differ. Use the contract interest rate in the rate field for a closer payment match when it differs from APR. There are no balloon payments, late fees, missed payments, or daily interest adjustments in this model.

For each selected term, the tool computes M independently from the same P and r. Total payments = M x n, and total interest = total payments - P. A zero-rate loan repays only the principal; its payment changes with term but its interest remains zero.