Buying a vehicle is a big step for most people. It allows them to get around town to work, school or social events. They can run errands as needed or participate in hobbies and join clubs without having to rely on friends or public transportation. Saving up money to buy a vehicle is a challenge in itself. Car dealerships, including those in Norfolk, Virginia, offer financing on vehicles, which makes them more affordable. Many people finance their vehicles. They can drive it in the meantime, and once it is paid off, they are the true owners. This eliminates the problem of trying to come up with large sums of money to buy a vehicle outright.

Some used car dealers in Norfolk have a loan calculator on their website to help people who want to buy used cars for sale in Norfolk. This helps them to determine how much they can afford, depending upon the type of financing they have. Determining the monthly car payment can be done in five steps when using a website payment calculator.

Price
Determine the price of the vehicle and enter the amount. Most dealerships will display a suggested or firm retail price for their pre-owned cars on the vehicle or on the website. Used vehicles are less expensive than new vehicles, making the payments lower. This is one of the most popular reasons for people to buy used vehicles instead of new ones.

Time
Enter the number of months the loan will last. It may be just one year, or for five or more years. The higher the number of months it takes to pay off the loan, the lower the monthly payments are. However, the higher the payments, the sooner it belongs to the buyer. If the buyer does not plan on keeping the vehicle for more than a few years, it would not make sense to make payments on a vehicle long than it will be in their possession.

Interest
Enter the interest rate. The interest on loan is the percentage of money which the lender charges the borrower. Depending on the state of the economy, the quality of a person's credit history and who is supplying the loan, the interest rate varies. The longer the loan lasts, the more money is paid in interest to the lender.

Offset
The amount of money paid up front for the car is called a down payment. When a down payment is higher, the amount needed from the lender to purchase the vehicle is lower. When someone trades in their old car for a new one, the dealer will compensate for the value of the old car. The down payment and trade-in amount are added to the loan payment calculator, which lowers the amount of the monthly payments in a loan.

Total
Once all of the factors of the loan have been entered, the calculator does its job. It will calculate and display how much the monthly payments will be. Changing the interest rate, length of loan and amount of down payment will affect the total.