Skip to content
RealityCheckStart

Can I afford this car?

A car is rarely one number. There is the price, the loan, the fuel, the insurance, the servicing, the parking, the tolls, and the value it quietly loses every year.

Tell RealityCheck about your finances and the car you are considering, and it will show you what the whole thing costs, what it does to your monthly cash flow and your emergency buffer, and what would have to change for the decision to sit comfortably.

How this calculator thinks about a car

Most affordability tools answer a lending question: what EMI will a bank approve? That is a question about the bank's risk, not yours. A lender is comfortable as long as you keep paying; whether you can still take a holiday, absorb a medical bill or change jobs afterwards is not its concern.

RealityCheck asks a different question. It works out the full monthly cost of the car, measures it against your take-home income, then checks what is left: how much of your savings the down payment consumes, and how many months your remaining savings would cover if your income stopped tomorrow. That last figure is measured against your total monthly outgo including the new EMI, because a car loan does not pause when your salary does.

The result is a score out of 100 with every component visible, a price range that would sit comfortably on your finances, and a list of specific changes with the actual score movement each one produces.

Questions about this calculation

How much of my salary should go toward a car?
A common rule of thumb puts the total monthly cost of a car at under 15% of take-home pay, and treats anything past 25% as aggressive. RealityCheck uses that shape but scores the whole picture: total cost includes fuel, insurance, servicing, parking and tolls, not the EMI alone, and the score also weighs your savings, existing EMIs and emergency buffer.
Why is the monthly cost higher than the EMI I was quoted?
Because the EMI is only part of what a car costs. Fuel or charging, insurance, servicing, parking and tolls continue every month for as long as you own it, and they typically add a substantial amount on top of the loan payment. RealityCheck shows the combined figure because that is what actually leaves your account.
How is the total cost of ownership calculated?
Down payment, plus every EMI paid during your ownership period, plus any loan still outstanding when you sell, plus all running costs, minus the resale value you expect to recover. Running costs are held in today's money, so a long ownership period is if anything understated.
Is an EV cheaper to own than a petrol car?
Usually the running costs are lower — charging and servicing both cost less — but the purchase price is often higher and resale value is currently less certain. Switch the drivetrain in the calculator and the defaults change with it, so you can see the trade-off on your own numbers rather than in the abstract.
Should I take a longer loan to lower the EMI?
It lowers the monthly payment and will usually raise your score, but it increases the total interest and means you may still owe money when you want to sell. The calculator shows both effects: the score movement and the extra interest, so the trade-off is explicit rather than hidden.
Does RealityCheck store the numbers I enter?
No. The calculation runs entirely in your browser. Your figures are kept in your browser's local storage so a refresh does not lose your progress, and they leave your device only if you deliberately copy a share link.

RealityCheck is a decision-support tool, not financial advice. Results depend entirely on the figures and assumptions you enter, and are a starting point for your own thinking rather than a conclusion.