A car loan is secured against the vehicle, so rates are usually lower than personal loans but higher than home loans. Tenures are typically 3–7 years. Enter the amount you are actually borrowing — the on-road price minus your down payment.

Every rupee you pay upfront is a rupee that never accrues interest. A larger down payment lowers both the EMI and the total interest. Try reducing the loan amount here to see the effect.

EMI = P × r × (1 + r)n / [ (1 + r)n − 1 ] with r the monthly rate and n the tenure in months. In the example below, ₹7 lakh at 9.5% over 60 months gives r = 0.007917 and an EMI of about ₹14,700. The same formula drives the Personal Loan and Home Loan calculators; only the typical rates and tenures differ.

Suppose a car has an on-road price of ₹9,00,000 and you pay ₹2,00,000 down, borrowing ₹7,00,000 at an assumed 9.5% for 5 years (60 months). The monthly rate is 9.5 ÷ 12 ÷ 100 ≈ 0.00792, giving an EMI of about ₹14,700. Over 60 months you repay roughly ₹8,82,000 — about ₹1,82,000 of it interest.

Stretching the same loan to 7 years cuts the EMI to about ₹11,450 but pushes total interest to roughly ₹2,61,000. Alternatively, raising the down payment to ₹3,00,000 (borrowing ₹6,00,000 over 5 years) gives an EMI near ₹12,600 and total interest of about ₹1,56,000. Enter your own quoted rate — these figures only illustrate the trade-offs.

The EMI covers principal and interest only. Budget separately for processing fees, comprehensive insurance (usually renewed yearly), registration, extended warranty and running costs such as fuel and servicing. Some lenders also charge foreclosure fees if you repay early — check the loan agreement, and use the Loan Prepayment calculator to see whether prepaying is worth it after any charge.

Lenders typically finance a smaller share of a used car's value, for a shorter tenure and at a higher rate than for a new car, because the collateral is older. If you are comparing a new and a used option, run both here with the rates actually quoted to you rather than assuming they match.

The calculator assumes a fixed rate for the whole tenure and a standard reducing-balance schedule. Floating-rate car loans, step-up EMIs, balloon-payment structures and manufacturer subvention schemes need to be modelled with the specific terms your lender provides. Vehicle depreciation — which often outpaces principal repayment in the first years — is not shown.