LendingCalculators

Car loan payoff calculator: pay off your auto loan early and see what you save

By , LendingCalculators

Free car loan payoff calculator for your current auto loan: see what paying extra saves and get the full schedule, no sign-up.

Your loan

From your statement or the lender's app. Not the original loan or the car's price.

From your statement or loan agreement.

What do you know?

Count the scheduled payments you have left.

Defaults to next month.

Extra payments

Applied to principal only.

Leave blank to skip. Adds a column showing the payment needed.

Show more options

Options
Payment schedule

Biweekly here means half the monthly payment every two weeks, which is 13 monthly payments a year.

Try the $22,000 exampleAdd a $2,000 lump sumPay it biweekly

This assumes a simple-interest loan, which most auto loans are. If your contract says precomputed interest or Rule of 78, early payoff saves less than shown.

Estimates only. Your lender's statement is the number that counts. Read how we calculate.

Car loan amortization schedule

Every remaining payment on your auto loan, split into interest and principal, with the balance after each one. Pick a plan above the table to see how extra payments change the rows.

Schedule view

This tool starts from the balance on your statement, not the car's price or the original loan. It assumes simple interest, which is how most auto loans charge.

On this page

How it works

How to use this calculator

Enter the balance from your statement or the lender's app, the rate, and the months left or your payment. Add an extra monthly amount or a lump sum to compare plans, or switch to biweekly. The schedule below the chart is your car loan amortization table; print it or download the CSV.

Enter your balance and rate, plus either the months left or your current payment; the page derives the other with the standard amortization formula (Calculator.net loan calculator). Each plan in the comparison then reruns the same monthly loop from the same balance: interest on the opening balance, principal, then any extra you entered.

Simple interest versus precomputed. Most auto loans are simple interest: interest accrues on the remaining balance, so extra payments reduce it directly. Some contracts, more often older or subprime ones, are precomputed, sometimes using the Rule of 78s, a sum-of-digits method that assigns more interest to the early payments. On those loans, paying off early earns a rebate of unearned interest that favors the lender, so the savings are smaller than the table shows (Rule of 78s, Wikipedia). Look for the words precomputed or Rule of 78 in your agreement.

Biweekly means two different things. The version that saves money is accelerated biweekly: half your monthly payment every two weeks, which is 26 half-payments a year, or 13 monthly payments instead of 12. That is what this calculator models. A loan that simply splits the same annual total across 26 payments saves nothing. One more catch: some lenders hold a half payment until the second half arrives, which removes the benefit, so ask before you switch.

Payoff amount today is your balance plus interest since your last payment at the daily rate. Your lender's written payoff quote governs and may include a fee.

Sources

  1. Calculator.net loan calculator
  2. Rule of 78s, Wikipedia

Worked examples

A $22,000 balance at 7.5% with 48 months left, computed with this page's engine
PaymentPaymentsTotal interestInterest savedTime cut
Current plan$531.9448$3,532.92
Extra $100 a month$631.9440$2,887.26$645.668 months
$2,000 lump sum in payment 3$531.9444$2,917.99$614.934 months
Accelerated biweekly$265.97 every two weeks95 periods (about 44 months)$3,171.01$361.91about 4 months

Cedrick Reese built this calculator. The current-plan figures come from the standard amortization formula, whose $250,000 base case matches figures published by several independent calculators to the cent, and the page states its simple-interest assumption rather than hiding it, because precomputed contracts exist and behave differently. No live rate data is used. If your lender's schedule differs by more than rounding, send the inputs through the contact page.

Last reviewed: .

FAQ

Can you pay off a car loan early?

On a simple-interest auto loan, which is most of them, yes, and doing so cuts the interest you pay because interest is charged on the remaining balance. Check your contract for two things first: a prepayment penalty, and the words precomputed or Rule of 78, which mean interest was set up front and early payoff saves less than the simple-interest math shows.

Is it better to pay off a car loan early?

It saves interest, and on a small balance the savings arrive quickly. Whether it is better than another use of the money depends on the loan's rate, other debts, and whether you have savings to fall back on. This page shows the interest side on your numbers and does not make the decision for you.

How do extra payments work on a car loan?

Mark the extra amount as principal-only, otherwise some lenders treat it as an early next payment. Once applied, it lowers the balance, so the next month's interest is smaller and more of your regular payment reduces the loan. On a $22,000 balance at 7.5% with 48 months left, $100 extra a month saves about $646 and eight months.

What is a car loan amortization schedule?

It is the table below: every remaining payment, split into interest and principal, with the balance after each one. Early rows are interest-heavy because the balance is largest at the start. The schedule updates with any extra payment you enter, and you can print it or download it as a CSV.

Does paying off a car loan early hurt your credit score?

Closing an installment account can nudge the factors that go into a score, such as the mix of account types and the average age of accounts, and any change is usually small and temporary. There is no fixed number of points involved, and paying on time until payoff is what matters most. This page does not track credit and cannot predict your score.

What is a precomputed or Rule of 78 loan?

A precomputed loan calculates the total interest at signing and spreads it across the schedule. Under the Rule of 78s, more of that interest is assigned to early payments, so if you pay off early the rebate on unearned interest is smaller than the simple-interest savings. The contract will say precomputed or Rule of 78 if that applies; this calculator assumes simple interest.

Does this work for 72 and 84 month loans?

Yes. Enter the months you have left and the rest works the same. Longer terms carry more total interest, so the same extra payment saves more dollars on an 84-month loan than on a 48-month one, and the schedule will show it.