Calculator / Vehicle
Car loan calculator with sales tax and trade-in
Estimate a Canadian car-loan payment with trade-in, sales tax, fees, and common payment schedules.
Canadian car loan
Your payment and total cost of the loan
Ordinary dealer purchase at current rates, with an eligible trade-in. Private sales, rebates, luxury taxes, BC vehicles at $55,000 or more, and vehicles over $100,000 are outside this estimate. Fees are assumed to include any tax on them.
Estimated monthly payment
$830.5860 payments · 60-month term · 13% estimated sales tax
- Amount financed 85%
- Interest 15%
- Estimated sales tax
- $5,460.00
- Amount financed
- $42,460.00
- Total interest
- $7,374.79
- Total loan payments
- $49,834.79
Sales tax is estimated on the vehicle price less trade-in. Dealer, used-vehicle, rebate, and provincial rules can differ; confirm the contract before relying on this figure.
Before you rely on it
What to know
The assumptions and limits behind this estimate.
01
Canadian assumptions
The calculator uses the annual percentage rate divided across the chosen payment schedule and estimates sales tax on the price less trade-in. Your retail contract remains authoritative.
02
Using a vehicle for work?
Delivery, rideshare, and other self-employed vehicle use can have tax implications. Deductions depend on business use and records; a loan payment is not automatically fully deductible.
The method
How it's calculated
The steps the calculator follows, in order.
01
Work out the sales tax
Your province's combined rate applies to the vehicle price minus any trade-in. The rates are shown in the province list.
02
Work out the amount financed
Price, minus trade-in and down payment, plus sales tax and any fees added to the loan. Fees are entered with their tax included.
03
Find the payment
The annual rate is divided by the number of payments a year, and a standard loan formula spreads the amount financed into equal payments over the term.
04
Add up the cost
Total loan payments are the payment times the number of payments. Whatever is above the amount financed is interest.
Example
A worked example
The calculator's starting values, worked through so you can check the result above.
Take a $42,000 vehicle in Ontario with $5,000 down, no trade-in and no fees, at 6.49% for 60 months, paid monthly.
HST at 13% on $42,000 is $5,460. The amount financed is $42,000 minus $5,000 plus $5,460, which is $42,460. The tax is borrowed along with the car.
At 6.49% a year, about 0.541% a month, the payment is $830.58. Over 60 payments that adds up to $49,834.79, of which $7,374.79 is interest.
Stretching to 84 months lowers the payment to $630.30, but total interest rises to $10,485.33, which is $3,110.54 more.
A $10,000 trade-in instead cuts the taxable price to $32,000. HST falls by $1,300 to $4,160, the amount financed to $31,160 and the payment to $609.54.
The rate, fees and tax on your contract are what count, so check them before you sign.
Questions
Common questions
Short answers to what people often ask about this estimate.
Unless you pay it upfront, the sales tax is borrowed along with the price, so you also pay interest on it. Putting more down, or paying the tax in cash, lowers the amount financed.
Yes. In every province and territory, when you trade in a vehicle you own as part of a dealer purchase, sales tax is charged on the price minus the trade-in. The trade-in has to be on the same sales agreement. In BC the PST rate is still set by the price before the trade-in, and in Quebec the QST on a used vehicle can be based on its estimated value instead of its price.
It lowers the payment but raises the total interest. A longer loan also makes it more likely that you owe more than the vehicle is worth for part of the term.
A little. Here bi-weekly payments cover the same term, 26 a year, and the balance falls slightly sooner. In the example above they save about $61 of interest. They are not accelerated payments.
Only fees added to the loan, such as administration or documentation charges, with any tax already included. Fees you pay upfront don't belong here.
BC's PST on vehicles rises in steps from $55,000, and a federal luxury tax applies to some vehicles over $100,000. The calculator doesn't model either, so it stops at those prices.
Methodology
Methods and sources for every calculator
Every calculator documents its method, its assumptions and the official sources behind its rules.