Vehicle EconomicsCar Equity Calculator
Your equity, and the loan-to-value ratio that tells you how exposed you are.
Why this comes up
Equity is the gate for almost every downstream vehicle decision: whether a trade-in helps or hurts, whether refinancing makes sense, whether you're free to sell without writing a check. It's a simple subtraction, but people rarely check it until they're already mid-negotiation, when it's too late to plan around.
How we calculated this
Equity is market value minus loan payoff. Loan-to-value (LTV) is payoff divided by market value, expressed as a percent, the risk signal that matters more than the raw dollar gap because it's comparable across any vehicle price.
Worked example, using this page's own defaults ($22,000 value, $17,000 payoff): equity is $5,000, LTV is 77%. Run the calculator above with your own numbers.
What this means
- An LTV above 100% means negative equity, you owe more than the car is worth, see Negative Equity Calculator for exactly what that gap costs if rolled into a new deal.
- Positive equity here is a real trade-in asset, but only if a dealer's offer reflects actual market value, a lowball trade offer can still leave you with less equity than this calculator shows.
- Equity changes every month as you pay down principal and the vehicle depreciates, revisit this periodically rather than relying on a stale check.
Limitations
Market value is your own estimate, not a live valuation feed; this site does not provide vehicle valuations. See Methodology.
Methodology
This engine is built on Vehicle Economics' equity and depreciation projection model: your value and loan payoff projected forward from your own depreciation figure until they cross. See Methodology for the full detail.