Financial experts generally recommend capping auto payments and related expenses at 10%–15% of monthly income. Beyond the sales price, buyers should also budget for other expenses like repairs, registration, and insurance.
To find out how much car you can afford with this 36% rule, simply multiply your family's income by 0.36. So if you earn $100,000, for example, you could afford to take out a car loan of up to $36,000 — assuming you don't have any other debt.
Financial experts recommend that your monthly payment should be around 10% to 15% of your monthly take-home pay. Additionally, your total monthly car expenses should be no more than 20% of your monthly income, and this includes your car payment, insurance, maintenance and gas.
Whether you're paying cash, leasing, or financing a car, your upper spending limit really shouldn't be a penny more than 35% of your gross annual income. That means if you make $36,000 a year, the car price shouldn't exceed $12,600. Make $60,000, and the car price should fall below $21,000.
Experts typically recommend spending no more than 20 percent of take-home pay on a car purchase. This recommended spending limit includes the cost of car payments, fuel, insurance and more. Determining affordability requires finding a balance between meeting your vehicle needs and staying within your budget.
It's typically recommended that you buy a car worth no more than 35% of your gross annual income— so if you make $60k per year, you can afford a new car that is worth $21,000 or less.
Expert estimates range broadly. Greg McBride, a senior vice president, chief financial analyst at Bankrate.com, advises that a car payment should equal no more than 15 percent of your pretax monthly pay. That means that if you make $50,000 a year, your monthly car payment could be as much as $625.
The 50% rule
Some experts believe that spending 50% of your salary on a vehicle should be affordable. With a salary of $75k this would give you $35,000 to spend on a car which is enough for a brand new car.
It doesn't matter so long as the car costs 10% of your annual gross income or less. If you make the median per capita income of ~$42,000 a year, limit your vehicle purchase price to $4,200. If your family earns the median household income of $68,000 a year, then limit your car purchase price to $6,800.
If you have a monthly income of Rs 30,000 and aspire to buy a car, you can get a list of models including Tata Tiago, Tata Indica eV2, Maruti Suzuki Celerio, Hyundai i10 to choose from.
If you make $75,000 per year, your total loan payments shouldn't exceed $2,250 per month. The 20/4/10 rule: Put down 20% on a car, finance the car for no more than 4 years, and keep your car payment less than or equal to 10% of your salary.
How much should you spend on a car? If you're taking out a personal loan to pay for your car, it's a good idea to limit your car payments to between 10% and 15% of your take-home pay. If you take home $4,000 per month, you'd want your car payment to be no more than $400 to $600.
If you're trying to figure out just how much of a car that you can afford, then a good general rule of thumb is to spend around 35% of your annual income (before taxes).
The frugal rule: 10% of your income
For many people, I think that will be between 10–15% of their income. So if you earn $25,000 a year, that's going to be a high-mileage used car for $2,500–$3,000. If you earn $80,000, that's a used car for around $10,000 or $12,000.
Most of the millionaires surveyed said they never spent more than $65,000 on an automobile. Over 50 percent of these cars are American made with 3 in 10 millionaires driving a Ford F-150 pickup.
As a general rule of thumb, the total value of your vehicles (anything with a motor in it) should never be more than half of your annual household income. Dave doesn't recommend buying a new car—ever—until your net worth is more than $1 million.
Financial experts say to not spend more than 35% of your annual income on the car itself and the costs that come with your purchase. Below you'll find a breakdown of what to consider when buying a new or used car and how much you should spend.
It is advised to customers that they restrict their car loans to not more than 20 percent of their monthly income. For example, if you make Rs. 40,000 per month, your monthly car loan EMI should not exceed Rs. 8,000.
Rather than looking at monthly transportation costs, Dave recommends buying cars that cost no more than 50% of your annual income. So if you make $50,000 a year, you should not spend more than $25,000 for a car(s).
According to the Bureau of Labor Statistics, a 60k annual income is the median US income. This means that half of all workers in the US make more than 60k per year, and half make less. However, 60k per year is generally considered to be a good salary.
According to experts, a car payment is too high if the car payment is more than 30% of your total income. Remember, the car payment isn't your only car expense! Make sure to consider fuel and maintenance expenses. Make sure your car payment does not exceed 15%-20% of your total income.
“It's the single worst financial decision millennials will ever make.” That's because the moment you drive it off the lot, the vehicle starts to depreciate: Your car's value typically decreases 20 to 30 percent by the end of the first year and, in five years, it can lose 60 percent or more of its initial value.
Before you hit the dealership you should take a moment to decide what monthly car payment you can afford. To cut to the chase, it's smart to spend less than 10% of your monthly take-home pay on your car payment, so you can keep your total car costs below 15% to 20% of your income.
On a $20,000 car, that would be up to $2,000 down. There's another common adage for down payments though, and it mostly holds true. If you're financing a used car, you should aim to put down at least 10%; put down 20% or more on a new car if you can.
The pandemic and resulting supply-chain issues, inflation, rising interest rates all play a part. Depending on whom you ask, the average car buyer in the U.S. is paying $657 (Edmunds.com) or $712 (Moody's) a month for their new vehicles.