Calculate your car finance repayments
One of the more common ways to finance a car purchase, aside from buying it outright, is to use a car loan. Car loans charge an interest rate in exchange for funding some or all of the car’s purchase price, which you pay back in regular instalments.
Our car finance calculator can help you calculate your potential car loan repayments, based on your interest rate, car price, loan term and payment frequency. You can use our car repayment calculator to help you work out what you can (and maybe what you can’t) afford when the time comes to purchase your next set of wheels.
Savings.com.au’s car loan repayment calculations are estimates only; consider speaking to a professional to get dedicated car loan advice.
Car loan calculator with balloon payment
A balloon payment or “residual value” is an agreed-upon lump sum that you will pay to your lender at the end of the car loan term. Effectively, the balloon amount builds over the period of the loan by diverting a portion of your interest payments into it, so that your monthly payments (from a cash perspective) are reduced. Balloons are usually a significant lump of your loan amount (eg. 30-50%), which is why they have the ability to reduce the amount of your monthly repayments in such a substantial way.
How balloon payment is calculated
Example: if you took out a $30,000 car loan for 5 years at 6% interest and had a (30%) balloon of $9,000, your monthly payments would be reduced from $579.98 (no balloon) down to $451. At the end of the loan term, you would then have to pay the $9,000 sum left over in full.
It’s important to remember that while car loan balloon payments are helpful because they reduce your monthly repayments, they do in effect charge you more in interest across the term of the loan.
| Cost of $30,000 5-yr car loan at 6% interest rate (excl. fees) | 30% balloon | No balloon |
| Monthly repayments | $450.99 | $579.98 |
| Total repayments after 5 years (repayments + balloon) | $36,059.40 | $34,798.80 |
| Interest costs | $6,059.40 | $4,798.80 |
| Cost difference | +$1,260.20 |
