To use the car finance calculator, enter:
The car price
Your deposit
Term length (in years)
The calculator shows HP and PCP results side by side, including monthly payments and, for PCP, the optional final lump sum if you choose to keep the car.
Compare the costs of personal contract purchase vs. hire purchase side-by-side
Tell us how you'd like to finance your car, the size of your deposit and the price of the car and we'll calculate your costs in seconds.
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Choose PCP and you'll pay an initial deposit and monthly payments to cover the remaining value of the car, plus interest. At the end of the term, you can buy the car or walk away.
At the end of your PCP, you will have the option to keep the car if you pay lump sum. We've estimated this to be taking your total cost to .
Find car finance loanChoose HP and you'll make monthly payments and usually pay a deposit. At the end of the contract term, you'll own the car.
If hire purchase or personal contract purchase isn't right for you, use our loan calculator to estimate the cost of an unsecured loan.
Which car finance option will be cheapest for you will depend on a range of factors. You should also consider what you want from the deal and vehicle ownership as the cheapest route may not always be the most suitable for your needs.
PCP may suit you if the car you're eyeing is more expensive than average, or you're planning to change your car every few years. Typically PCP requires a smaller deposit too, which is handy if you don't have a big lump sum to hand.
Hire purchase is likely your best bet if you want to keep the car you're looking to finance. Because there are no mileage limits, HP could also be apt if you're a heavy car-user. And unlike PCP, you can use HP to buy a used car too.
An Annual Percentage Rate (APR) is the interest rate at which you pay back money you’ve borrowed. It takes into account the actual interest rate you pay, plus any other fees or charges involved in the deal.
In the case of car finance, you’re borrowing the vehicle and your monthly repayments go towards paying off its cost and the added interest (APR).
When you see a rate advertised as the representative APR, the lender is required to offer this rate to at least 51% of applicants, but it doesn’t mean you’re guaranteed to receive this interest rate yourself.
The cheapest way to finance a car depends on a few factors, including whether you want to own the vehicle or not.
For example, with like-for-like cars, you could save money by leasing (PCH), but you’d have to return the car at the end of the deal.
In contrast, with hire purchase or a car loan you will make bigger payments but get to own the car.
Alternatively, personal contract purchase often have lower monthly payments compared with hire purchase, but keeps the option of buying the car at the end of the deal open.
Yes, car finance is likely to be more expensive with bad credit because having a bad credit score pushes up the cost of borrowing.
To get cheaper car finance it’s worth keeping on top of your credit rating and seeing how you can improve it.
As long as it's over the dealer's minimum required amount, how much deposit you put down on a car finance deal is largely up to you.
The more deposit you put down, the cheaper the monthly repayments or the less interest you pay overall. For example:
If the price of the car is £15,000 and you put down a £3,000 deposit on a 5 year term, your monthly repayments on a PCP deal are £183 per month.
If you put down £2,000 instead, your monthly repayments are £204.
There’s no specific credit score that is needed for car finance because each lender will have its own criteria of whether to approve an application or not.
It’s always worthwhile making sure your credit score is as high as it can be. You can check it for free with our Credit Score.
It's possible to part exchange your car before the end of the agreement - but you need to contact your current car financing provider and ask for a settlement figure.
Your settlement figure is what you owe, including any interest payment. If you're in positive equity, you can put that towards your new car. If you're in negative equity, you'll need to make up the difference.
You work hard to earn your money, and we don’t think you should waste a penny of it paying over the odds on your household bills. That’s why at MoneySuperMarket, we’re on a mission to save Britain money.
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So how do we make our money? In a nutshell, when you use us to buy something, we get a reward from the company you’re buying from.
You might be wondering if we work with all the companies in the market, or if our commercial relationships with our partners might make us feature one company above another. We’ve got nothing to hide, and we want to give you clear answers when it comes to questions like these, so we’ve pulled together everything you need to know on this page.
Reviewed on 12 Dec 2025 by
