Honest car finance calculators
Five fast tools built with the numbers real UK lenders use. No sign-up, no credit search — just clear, illustrative figures you can trust.
4.8/5·Trustpilot·FCA regulated
All figures are illustrative only and not a personalised quote. Representative APRs vary with lender, credit profile and vehicle.
In short
Use the affordability calculator first to find a realistic monthly budget, then the PCP vs HP comparator to pick the right product, then total cost of ownership to check the car is affordable once insurance, tax, servicing and fuel are added. Every tool is free, instant and runs no credit search.
- Tools
- 5 free calculators
- Time each
- 20–60 seconds
- Credit search
- None — nothing recorded
- Output
- Illustrative figures only
Which tool should you use first?
The tools are designed to be used in order. Start with what you can afford, then decide how to borrow, then sanity-check the car itself. Jumping straight to a monthly payment is the most common way people end up with a car that stretches them.
| Your question | Use this tool | Takes |
|---|---|---|
| What can I actually afford each month? | Affordability calculator | ~30 seconds |
| Should I take HP or PCP? | PCP vs HP comparator | ~45 seconds |
| Is a bigger deposit worth saving for? | Deposit impact | ~30 seconds |
| What will this car really cost me? | Total cost of ownership | ~60 seconds |
| Will a lender fund this specific car? | Can I finance this car? | ~20 seconds |
How the calculators work
Each tool uses standard UK amortisation maths: the monthly payment is derived from the amount borrowed, the annual rate and the number of months, with PCP additionally deferring a balloon amount to the end of the term. Nothing you enter is sent to a lender and no credit search is performed.
- Rates can be set by credit tier — excellent, good, fair or building — or entered manually if you already have a quote.
- You can work forwards from a car price or backwards from a monthly budget.
- Results update live as you move the sliders, so you can see the effect of term, deposit and rate immediately.
Getting an accurate answer
- Use net income — what actually lands in your account — not gross salary.
- Include every committed outgoing: rent or mortgage, other credit, childcare, subscriptions.
- Use your real annual mileage. Estimating low makes PCP and lease figures look better than they will be.
- Get an insurance quote on the specific car before you decide it is affordable.
- Compare total payable, not the monthly figure, when you change the term.
Common mistakes to avoid
Treating a calculator result as an approval.
Calculators show what a payment would look like. Run a soft-search eligibility check to see what a lender would actually offer you.
Entering gross salary into the affordability tool.
Use take-home pay. Lenders assess affordability against net income and real outgoings.
Comparing a PCP monthly payment against an HP monthly payment and stopping there.
Compare total payable including the balloon. The comparator tool does this for you side by side.
Sources and review
Last reviewed 5 August 2026 by the WeCarFinance editorial team. Figures on this page are illustrative and are not a personalised quote.
Frequently asked
Do these car finance calculators run a credit check?
No. Every tool on this page is a pure calculator — nothing is submitted to a lender and no search of any kind is recorded on your credit file.
How accurate are the results?
The maths is the same standard amortisation lenders use, so the figures are accurate for the inputs you give. What varies is the rate: until a lender assesses you, the APR is an assumption rather than an offer.
Which calculator is best for a first-time buyer?
Start with the affordability calculator to find a sensible monthly budget, then use 'Can I finance this car?' to check that the specific car you like is the kind of vehicle lenders will fund.
Can I work backwards from a monthly budget?
Yes. The calculators support budget-first mode, so you can enter what you can afford each month and see the car price that fits, rather than the other way round.
Ready to turn a number into a real quote?
Soft search, under a minute, no impact on your credit score.
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