If you need to purchase a new or used car, truck or other type of vehicle but don't know exactly how much you can fit into your budget, there is help. Online calculators help determine how much car you can afford and are usually free to use.

Online calculators to help car buyers are used to generate estimates of payments on a car loan. There is no guarantee that you will get the exact numbers down to the penny, but you will get a very good idea of how much you can expect to pay on your vehicle loan each month.

Use any search engine and search for the term 'car purchase calculator' to find many online calculators you might use. Once you locate an online calculator, you'll be ready to enter some personal information to let the online calculator have the facts that will be taken into account to determine your financial ability to pay for a car of a specific price range.

You'll be asked to input your income, either in weekly, monthly or yearly numbers. While you may not know exactly how much you will earn in the coming year, enter the best guess that you can without inflating the figure. It is better to use a lower number than to overestimate and end up buying a car that is too expensive.

You'll be asked to provide information about your expenses such as mortgage or housing payments, utilities and other expenses that remove funds from your spendable income. Be sure to be realistic here as well. Take into account any taxes, business and professional fees, the cost of operating a vehicle, child care expenses and anything else that you must spend money on each pay period. Allow some money for unexpected expenses such as repairs and maintenance.

Next, you'll enter the interest rate. Most online calculators will not operate with the input of interest rate of zero percent, but if you believe you will get a zero percentage rate new car loan, simply input an interest rate of 0.01% to allow the calculations to occur correctly. To get the current interest rate on car loans for the type of vehicle you are planning to buy, call your local bank and they will be happy to give you a good idea of the interest rates you can expect to be offered. You'll also need to input the number of months you wish to finance the vehicle. This can range from as little as 12 months in the case of a low priced used vehicle to as many as 60 months or more in the case of a brand new vehicle.

Finally, you'll input the amount that you plan to finance on the car. If the calculator you have selected has a place to input the down payment, then you can enter the entire purchase price. But, if there is no place for this information, simply deduct the amount you plan to pay as a down payment from the purchase price to get the amount you wish to finance.

After you enter all the information into the online calculator, you can allow the tool to figure out the amount you can afford to pay for a new or used car, pickup truck or other type of vehicle. The amount may be returned in a total purchase price along with a suggested interest rate or it may be returned to you as a maximum monthly payment figure.

Let an online calculator help determine how much car you can afford. Once you have the facts, you can become a smart shopper. After you learn how easy these online calculators are to use, you'll search for one before you make any major purchase such as a house or other big-ticket item.