About CarFinanceCalculator.uk
We're a free, independent UK car finance calculator hub. We sell no finance, take no commission and run no claims.
CarFinanceCalculator.uk is an independent set of free tools and plain-English guides that work out the true cost of UK car finance. We're not a lender, a broker or a claims firm, and we earn no commission on anything you see here.
Everything we publish is built on standard, published finance maths and the rules set by the Financial Conduct Authority (FCA) and the Consumer Credit Act 1974. We show our working on how we calculate, and we update our facts as the regulatory picture changes — including the motor-finance commission redress work the FCA is running through 2026.
What we do
We help UK drivers calculate, compare and understand car finance — before, during and after a deal.
Our calculators show the monthly payment and the total amount payable for PCP, HP, leasing and loans, so you can see the true cost of a deal, not just the headline monthly. The APR & true-cost calculator turns any monthly quote back into an APR and a total, which is the figure that actually tells you whether a deal is cheap or expensive.
Our guides explain how each product works in plain English — how a PCP balloon is set, how voluntary termination lets you hand the car back at 50%, how to check a car's finance status, and how to claim mis-selling redress yourself, for free, without a claims company taking a cut. Every guide links to the relevant calculator so you can act on what you've read.
We also cover the deal landscape — 0% finance, manufacturer offers, low-rate deals — and the comparisons that matter, like PCP vs leasing and finance vs cash. The goal is the same throughout: give you the numbers and the context to make a confident decision, whoever you end up borrowing from.
How we make money
We're funded by display advertising, not by selling finance.
That keeps us independent: we have no reason to push one product, one lender or one route over another, because we earn the same regardless of which deal you choose. We never run a claim, take a commission on finance, or pass your details to a finance company. Ads are clearly labelled and never sit between a question and its answer.
We chose display advertising deliberately. Most car-finance sites are lead-generation machines — their job is to funnel you to a lender or broker who pays them, which shapes what they recommend and how. We do the opposite. Our revenue doesn't depend on you taking any particular action, which means our calculators and guides can be honest about catches, alternatives, and deals that look good but aren't.
Why independence matters here
Car finance is a market full of brokers, lenders and claims firms — all with something to sell. We're the opposite: we just show the maths.
Our figures are based on FCA rules and the Consumer Credit Act 1974, and we show our working. See exactly how we calculate for the formulas, the assumptions and the sources behind every number on the site. If a calculator says you'll pay £3,695 in interest on a £20,000 car at 9.9% APR over 48 months, you can check that figure against the formula and reproduce it yourself.
Independence matters most in a market where the people giving advice often have a financial stake in the outcome. A broker earns commission if you take the loan they recommend; a dealer earns commission if you take their finance; a claims firm takes a cut of any redress. None of those is inherently wrong, but each shapes the advice. We have none of those incentives, so our advice can be blunt: take the deal with the lowest total amount payable for a car and term that suit you, and walk away from anything else.
Our editorial standards
Every page follows the same editorial rules: numbers first, sources cited, no hype, and the true cost always shown alongside the monthly.
We fact-check every regulated figure before we publish, and we refresh our claims and redress pages as the FCA's motor-finance work develops through 2026. If we get something wrong, we'd rather hear about it and fix it — see contact us.
- Numbers first: every answer leads with the figure, then explains it — because this is a calculator site and numbers are the product.
- Sources cited: facts about rights, rates and redress cite the FCA, the Consumer Credit Act 1974, or the relevant regulator — not a lender's marketing.
- No hype or forbidden words: we don't say 'amazing', 'guaranteed', 'hack', or 'you could be owed £££'. We state facts.
- True cost always shown: every calculator contrasts the monthly payment with the total amount payable, so a cheap-looking monthly can't hide an expensive total.
- Plain English, Grade 7–9: we write for a UK driver who wants to understand, not for a finance professional who already does.
What we cover — and how it's organised
The site is built around four kinds of page: calculators that work out the numbers, comparison pages that weigh one route against another, deal pages that explain the offer landscape, and guides that explain how everything works.
The calculators are the heart of the site — PCP, HP, leasing, loans, APR, settlement, affordability, and more — each turning the figures you enter into a monthly payment and a total amount payable. Every calculator links to a plain-English explainer so you understand what the maths is doing, not just what number it spits out.
The comparison pages put two finance routes head-to-head with a hero table, a worked example in pounds, and a clear verdict on who each suits. The deal pages explain how each kind of offer really works — 0% finance, no-deposit, manufacturer deals, low-rate — and the catch behind the headline. The guides and managing-your-finance pages cover the lifecycle: how car finance works, how to check a car's status, how to settle early, how to use voluntary termination, and how to claim redress free.
Everything interlinks so you can move from a question ('is 0% finance cheaper than cash?') to a calculator (the APR tool) to a deeper guide (the methodology) without leaving the site. The internal structure is designed for a reader who wants to understand the whole picture, not just grab a single number and leave.
Our stance on the motor-finance commission redress
We're independent of the motor-finance commission redress scheme, but we cover it closely — because it's the biggest consumer-finance story in the UK right now, and most people affected don't know they're owed anything.
Between 2007 and early 2021, many car-finance agreements included undisclosed commission paid to brokers and dealers under 'discretionary commission arrangements' — which incentivised them to charge customers higher interest. The Supreme Court's ruling on 1 August 2025 found that this commission should have been disclosed, and the FCA is running a redress scheme through 2026 to compensate affected customers.
We're not a claims firm. We don't run compensation claims, we don't take a cut of any redress, and we don't pass your details to anyone. What we do is explain — clearly and factually — who's affected, how to claim yourself for free, and what to expect. Our how to claim guide walks you through the process step by step, and our FCA scheme page tracks the scheme's development. If you've had PCP or HP in the affected period, you may be owed money, and you can claim it without paying anyone 30% to do it for you.
Who we're not
We're not a lender, a broker, a dealer, or a claims-management company. We don't sell finance, arrange finance, or run compensation claims.
That means we can't give you a quote, approve you for finance, recommend a specific lender, or claim mis-selling redress on your behalf. What we can do is give you the tools and the knowledge to do all of those things yourself — and to walk into any conversation with a lender, broker or dealer knowing what a good deal looks like in pounds.
If you need regulated financial advice, contact MoneyHelper, the free government-backed service. If you have a complaint about a lender, the Financial Ombudsman Service can help. And if you want to claim motor-finance commission redress, you can do it yourself for free — our how to claim guide walks you through it.
Our history and why we built this
We built CarFinanceCalculator.uk because the car-finance market is opaque, full of conflicts of interest, and hard for ordinary buyers to navigate. Most 'information' online is really lead generation dressed up as advice.
The UK car-finance market is enormous — most new and many used cars are bought on finance — but it's also a market where the people explaining it to you usually have a financial stake in what you decide. Brokers earn commission, dealers earn commission, comparison sites earn referral fees, and claims firms take a cut of any redress. None of those is inherently dishonest, but each shapes what you're told, and the cumulative effect is a landscape where honest, independent, numbers-first information is hard to find.
We set out to be the opposite. Our revenue comes from clearly-labelled display advertising, not from selling you finance, so we have no incentive to push one product over another. Our maths is published and verifiable, not proprietary. Our rights content cites the FCA and the Consumer Credit Act, not a lender's FAQ. The result is a site where the answer to 'is this a good deal?' is genuinely 'let's look at the total in pounds' — not 'yes, because we get paid if you take it'.
We've grown the site calculator by calculator and guide by guide, responding to what readers ask for. Several of our tools started as questions in our inbox — 'how do I work out whether to settle early?', 'what's the true cost of an EV once you add charging?', 'how much is this PCP really costing me?'. If there's a calculator or a guide you'd find useful that we don't have yet, tell us — see contact us.
Frequently asked
Is CarFinanceCalculator.uk independent?
Do you sell car finance or run claims?
How does CarFinanceCalculator.uk make money?
Can you give me a car finance quote?
Are your calculators accurate?
Who regulates CarFinanceCalculator.uk?
How often do you update your content?
Sources
We cite regulators and official UK sources only.
- MoneyHelpermoneyhelper.org.uk
- Financial Ombudsman Servicefinancial-ombudsman.org.uk
Work out your next step
Independent calculators — pick the one that fits your situation.