{
  "id": "car-loan-payoff",
  "version": "990e19f0c037",
  "status": "published",
  "name": "Car Loan Payoff Calculator",
  "question": "When is my car loan payoff date?",
  "summary": "Computes how many monthly payments are left on a car loan, the interest still to pay, and the time and interest an extra monthly payment saves.",
  "category": "finance",
  "subcategory": "loans",
  "url": "https://www.acalculator.org/finance/car-loan-payoff-calculator",
  "markdown": "https://www.acalculator.org/finance/car-loan-payoff-calculator.md",
  "kind": "schedule",
  "method": "Each month, interest = balance × APR ÷ 12, and the rest of the payment (plus the extra) lowers the balance, until the balance runs out; the same run without the extra gives the savings.",
  "assumptions": [
    "The rate stays the same until the loan is paid off, and interest is charged monthly at APR ÷ 12.",
    "The next payment is one month after today’s date, and every payment is the same until the last one.",
    "The extra is paid with every payment and goes straight to the balance.",
    "The last payment is whatever is left.",
    "The page follows the loan for up to 50 years (600 payments).",
    "Values are not rounded to the cent between months; only the display is rounded."
  ],
  "inputs": {
    "$schema": "https://json-schema.org/draft/2020-12/schema",
    "type": "object",
    "properties": {
      "balance": {
        "title": "Current balance",
        "description": "What you still owe on the loan today.",
        "type": "number",
        "x-unit": "USD",
        "minimum": 0,
        "maximum": 10000000
      },
      "rate": {
        "title": "Interest rate (APR)",
        "description": "The yearly interest rate of the loan. The monthly rate is this divided by 12.",
        "type": "number",
        "x-unit": "percent",
        "minimum": 0,
        "maximum": 50
      },
      "payment": {
        "title": "Monthly payment",
        "description": "The payment you make each month now.",
        "type": "number",
        "x-unit": "USD",
        "exclusiveMinimum": 0,
        "maximum": 10000000
      },
      "extra": {
        "title": "Extra each month",
        "description": "An extra amount paid with every payment. It goes straight to the balance.",
        "type": "number",
        "x-unit": "USD",
        "minimum": 0,
        "maximum": 10000000
      },
      "start": {
        "title": "Today’s date",
        "description": "The day the balance is from. The next payment is one month later. Leave it empty to count payments without dates.",
        "type": "string",
        "format": "date"
      }
    }
  },
  "outputs": {
    "months": {
      "label": "Payments left",
      "description": "How many monthly payments it takes to pay off the balance, with the extra.",
      "format": "integer"
    },
    "time": {
      "label": "Time to pay off",
      "description": "The payments left, in years and months.",
      "format": "duration"
    },
    "payoff": {
      "label": "Paid off in",
      "description": "The month of the last payment, when today’s date is given.",
      "format": "month-year"
    },
    "interest": {
      "label": "Interest left to pay",
      "description": "The interest you pay from today until the loan is paid off, with the extra.",
      "format": "money"
    },
    "paid": {
      "label": "Total left to pay",
      "description": "The balance plus the interest left to pay.",
      "format": "money"
    },
    "baseMonths": {
      "label": "Payments left without the extra",
      "description": "How many monthly payments it takes at the monthly payment alone.",
      "format": "integer"
    },
    "baseInterest": {
      "label": "Interest without the extra",
      "description": "The interest left to pay at the monthly payment alone.",
      "format": "money"
    },
    "saved": {
      "label": "Interest you save",
      "description": "The interest the extra monthly amount saves.",
      "format": "money"
    },
    "sooner": {
      "label": "Time you save",
      "description": "How much sooner the loan is paid off with the extra monthly amount.",
      "format": "duration"
    }
  },
  "defaultAnswer": {
    "inputs": {
      "balance": 30000,
      "rate": 6.5,
      "payment": 500,
      "extra": 100,
      "start": "2026-10-05"
    },
    "outputs": {
      "months": 59,
      "time": {
        "years": 4,
        "months": 11
      },
      "payoff": "2031-09-05",
      "interest": 5081.862443818285,
      "paid": 35081.86244381829,
      "baseMonths": 73,
      "baseInterest": 6379.274046448679,
      "saved": 1297.4116026303936,
      "sooner": {
        "years": 1,
        "months": 2
      }
    },
    "text": "A $30,000.00 balance at 6.5% APR, paid $500.00 a month plus any extra, is paid off in 4 years, 11 months, with $5,081.86 of interest left to pay."
  },
  "examples": [
    {
      "given": {
        "balance": 35000,
        "rate": 8.5,
        "payment": 700,
        "extra": 300,
        "start": "2026-10-01"
      },
      "expect": {
        "months": 41,
        "interest": 5365.430790563525,
        "baseMonths": 62,
        "baseInterest": 8359.989683773156,
        "saved": 2994.5588932096307,
        "payoff": "2030-03-01"
      },
      "source": "hand calculation in content.mdx, checked month by month in Python (docs/progress/WP-21/python/car_payoff.py); Consumer Financial Protection Bureau, Can I prepay my loan at any time without penalty? https://www.consumerfinance.gov/ask-cfpb/can-i-prepay-my-loan-at-any-time-without-penalty-en-843/"
    },
    {
      "given": {
        "balance": 30000,
        "rate": 6.5,
        "payment": 500,
        "extra": 100,
        "start": "2026-10-01"
      },
      "expect": {
        "months": 59,
        "interest": 5081.862443818285,
        "baseMonths": 73,
        "baseInterest": 6379.274046448679,
        "saved": 1297.4116026303936,
        "payoff": "2031-09-01"
      },
      "source": "hand calculation in content.mdx, checked month by month in Python (docs/progress/WP-21/python/car_payoff.py); Consumer Financial Protection Bureau, Can I prepay my loan at any time without penalty? https://www.consumerfinance.gov/ask-cfpb/can-i-prepay-my-loan-at-any-time-without-penalty-en-843/"
    },
    {
      "given": {
        "balance": 20000,
        "rate": 6,
        "payment": 450,
        "extra": 0
      },
      "expect": {
        "months": 51,
        "interest": 2675.063919296715,
        "paid": 22675.063919296714
      },
      "source": "hand calculation in content.mdx, checked month by month in Python (docs/progress/WP-21/python/car_payoff.py); Consumer Financial Protection Bureau, Can I prepay my loan at any time without penalty? https://www.consumerfinance.gov/ask-cfpb/can-i-prepay-my-loan-at-any-time-without-penalty-en-843/"
    },
    {
      "given": {
        "balance": 10000,
        "rate": 0,
        "payment": 300,
        "extra": 200
      },
      "expect": {
        "months": 20,
        "interest": 0,
        "baseMonths": 34,
        "saved": 0
      },
      "source": "hand calculation in content.mdx: at 0% APR, 10,000 ÷ 500 = 20 payments and 10,000 ÷ 300 = 33.3, so 34; Consumer Financial Protection Bureau, Can I prepay my loan at any time without penalty? https://www.consumerfinance.gov/ask-cfpb/can-i-prepay-my-loan-at-any-time-without-penalty-en-843/"
    }
  ],
  "sources": [
    "Consumer Financial Protection Bureau, What is the difference between a loan interest rate and the APR? https://www.consumerfinance.gov/ask-cfpb/what-is-the-difference-between-a-loan-interest-rate-and-the-apr-en-733/",
    "Consumer Financial Protection Bureau, Can I prepay my loan at any time without penalty? https://www.consumerfinance.gov/ask-cfpb/can-i-prepay-my-loan-at-any-time-without-penalty-en-843/",
    "Regulation Z (Truth in Lending), 12 CFR 1026.22, determination of annual percentage rate. https://www.consumerfinance.gov/rules-policy/regulations/1026/22/",
    "Loan amortization (interest on the balance each period, the rest to principal): S. A. Broverman, Mathematics of Investment and Credit, chapter 3."
  ],
  "related": [
    "auto-loan",
    "credit-card-payoff"
  ],
  "changelog": [
    {
      "date": "2026-09-29",
      "note": "Worked examples name a published reference for their rule."
    },
    {
      "date": "2026-10-01",
      "note": "The sentence gives the time to pay off in years and months (“1 month”, not “1 payments”)."
    }
  ]
}