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Printed July 20, 2026 · https://trycleartally.com/car-affordability-calculator
Estimates for educational purposes only — not financial advice. See https://trycleartally.com/disclaimer.
Car Affordability Calculator
Start with what you can comfortably spend each month and work backwards to the car price it actually buys — after insurance, sales tax, and dealer fees take their cut.
Reviewed by the ClearTally editorial team · Last updated July 19, 2026 · Methodology & sources
Everything you'd spend on the car each month.
Taken out of the budget before financing. Set to 0 to budget the payment alone.
Doc, title, and registration charges.
Car you can afford
$25,848
Sticker price, before tax and fees
Loan amount
$22,457
$450.00/mo for 60 months
Total interest
$4,543
Out-the-door price
$28,457
Price + sales tax + fees
Your real borrowing power depends on credit approval, and the rate you're quoted may differ from the one entered here. Sales tax rules vary by state — some tax the price after a trade-in credit rather than before, which would let you afford slightly more. Estimate only, not financial advice.
Car Affordability Worksheet
Car you can afford
$25,848
Depends on credit approval and the rate you're actually quoted. State sales-tax treatment of trade-ins varies. Not financial advice.
Calculated using the standard formulas described at https://trycleartally.com/methodology — for educational estimates only, not a quote or financial advice. Verify with your lender or financial institution before making decisions.
Found your number? The auto loan calculator runs it the other way — enter a specific car's price and see the payment and full amortization. If you're not sure what you can spend, start with your actual take-home pay.
How it works
Most car shopping runs the wrong direction: you find a car, then find out what it costs per month. This runs it the way a budget actually works. Your monthly figure sets how much you can borrow, your down payment and trade-in add to that, and sales tax and fees come off the top — what's left is the sticker price you can afford.
Two things make the answer smaller than people expect. The first is that a car payment isn't the cost of owning a car. Insurance, fuel, and maintenance are real monthly money, and if you budget $600 without accounting for them, you'll end up spending well past $600. That's why they get their own field here and are subtracted before anything is financed. The second is tax and fees. They're charged on top of the price, so every dollar they take is a dollar of car you don't get.
Example: a $600 monthly budget with $150 going to insurance and fuel leaves $450 for the payment. At 7.5% APR over 60 months that borrows $22,457. Add $4,000 down and a $2,000 trade-in, subtract $800 in dealer and registration fees, and after 7% sales tax it works out to a car priced around $25,848 — about $28,457 out the door, with $4,543 of that being interest.
Stretching the same budget to a 72-month loan lifts the affordable price to roughly $29,184. That's $3,300 more car for the same monthly payment, which is exactly why long terms are offered so readily — but it costs $6,374 in interest instead of $4,543, and you spend two extra years owing money on a depreciating asset. A longer term buys a nicer car, not a cheaper one.
Sources & further reading
FAQ
There's no official standard, and anyone quoting one precise percentage is repeating a rule of thumb rather than a rule. The commonly cited version is to keep the total of all car payments near or under 10% of your take-home pay, put 20% down, and finance no longer than four years. It's a reasonable starting point, not a law — someone with no other debt and a short commute can justify more than someone carrying student loans. The more useful test is whether the payment still works on a bad month, not an average one.