{
  "slug": "car-affordability",
  "title": "Car Affordability Calculator",
  "heading": "Car Affordability Calculator",
  "category": "financial",
  "url": "https://www.revenuelab.fyi/toolbox/car-affordability",
  "summary": "The car price your budget really supports.",
  "description": "Work backwards from a comfortable monthly payment to a purchase price, including your trade-in and down payment. The widely used guardrail is keeping total car costs under 15% of take-home pay.",
  "formula": "Loan capacity is back-solved from the payment, then price = loan + down payment + trade-in.",
  "dateModified": "2026-09-30",
  "run_url": "https://www.revenuelab.fyi/api/public/calc?tool=car-affordability",
  "inputs": [
    {
      "id": "payment",
      "label": "Comfortable monthly payment",
      "kind": "number",
      "hint": null,
      "default": 450,
      "unit": "$",
      "min": 0,
      "max": null
    },
    {
      "id": "rate",
      "label": "APR",
      "kind": "number",
      "hint": null,
      "default": 7.2,
      "unit": "%",
      "min": 0,
      "max": null
    },
    {
      "id": "months",
      "label": "Term",
      "kind": "number",
      "hint": null,
      "default": 60,
      "unit": "months",
      "min": 6,
      "max": null
    },
    {
      "id": "down",
      "label": "Down payment + trade-in",
      "kind": "number",
      "hint": null,
      "default": 4000,
      "unit": "$",
      "min": 0,
      "max": null
    }
  ],
  "outputs": [
    {
      "id": "price",
      "label": "Affordable car price",
      "format": "currency",
      "hint": null,
      "primary": true
    },
    {
      "id": "loan",
      "label": "Loan amount",
      "format": "currency",
      "hint": null,
      "primary": false
    },
    {
      "id": "interest",
      "label": "Total interest",
      "format": "currency",
      "hint": null,
      "primary": false
    },
    {
      "id": "totalPaid",
      "label": "Total of payments",
      "format": "currency",
      "hint": null,
      "primary": false
    }
  ],
  "worked_example": {
    "inputs": [
      "Comfortable monthly payment: 450 $",
      "APR: 7.2 %",
      "Term: 60 months",
      "Down payment + trade-in: 4000 $"
    ],
    "outputs": [
      "Affordable car price: $26,617.96",
      "Loan amount: $22,617.96",
      "Total interest: $4,382.04",
      "Total of payments: $27,000.00"
    ]
  },
  "how_to": {
    "title": "How to use this",
    "steps": [
      "Enter comfortable monthly payment ($).",
      "Enter apr (%).",
      "Enter term (months).",
      "Enter down payment + trade-in ($).",
      "Read your affordable car price on the right — it updates as you type.",
      "Hit Share to keep the scenario or send it to someone."
    ]
  },
  "scenarios": [
    {
      "name": "Conservative",
      "description": "Lower-end numbers — what if things land soft?",
      "values": {
        "payment": 270,
        "rate": 7.2,
        "months": 36,
        "down": 2500
      }
    },
    {
      "name": "Typical",
      "description": "Defaults — the most common real-world setup.",
      "values": {
        "payment": 450,
        "rate": 7.2,
        "months": 60,
        "down": 4000
      }
    },
    {
      "name": "Ambitious",
      "description": "Higher-end numbers — what if things really pop?",
      "values": {
        "payment": 720,
        "rate": 7.2,
        "months": 96,
        "down": 6500
      }
    }
  ],
  "limitations": [
    "Results are estimates before tax, fees, and inflation unless an input explicitly covers them.",
    "Rates are treated as fixed for the whole period — variable-rate products will drift from this projection.",
    "This is educational maths, not financial advice. Check anything contractual with the lender or your accountant."
  ],
  "faq": [
    {
      "q": "How does the car affordability calculator work?",
      "a": "Work backwards from a comfortable monthly payment to a purchase price, including your trade-in and down payment. The widely used guardrail is keeping total car costs under 15% of take-home pay. The underlying maths is: Loan capacity is back-solved from the payment, then price = loan + down payment + trade-in."
    },
    {
      "q": "What do I need to enter?",
      "a": "4 values: comfortable monthly payment, apr, term, and down payment + trade-in. Each field starts with a sensible default, so you can change one number at a time and watch the result move."
    },
    {
      "q": "What does the affordable car price result mean?",
      "a": "It is returned as a money amount in US dollars and updates live as you edit the inputs, so you can compare two or three versions of a scenario in a few seconds."
    },
    {
      "q": "Is this calculator free, and do I need an account?",
      "a": "Yes, it's free, and no account is required. Nothing you type is stored on our servers — the maths runs entirely in your browser."
    },
    {
      "q": "How accurate is the result?",
      "a": "It applies the standard formula exactly, so the arithmetic is precise. Results are estimates before tax, fees, and inflation unless an input explicitly covers them."
    },
    {
      "q": "Who is this tool for?",
      "a": "It's built for anyone comparing money scenarios before committing — budgeting a payment, sanity-checking a quote, or seeing what a change in rate or term actually costs."
    }
  ],
  "related": [
    "https://www.revenuelab.fyi/toolbox/auto-loan",
    "https://www.revenuelab.fyi/toolbox/lease-vs-buy-car"
  ],
  "license": "CC-BY-4.0",
  "citation": "RevenueLab — Car Affordability Calculator (https://www.revenuelab.fyi/toolbox/car-affordability)"
}