UTV and side by side loan calculator
At the desk you are usually not picking a rate. You are picking between two offers the manufacturer already wrote down. One is a promotional APR over a term the program fixes. The other is cash off the price with whatever standard rate you would otherwise be given. Enter both and this page prices them, names the one that costs less, says by how many dollars, and solves the standard rate at which the answer flips.
Taking the promotional APR costs $3,874.89 less than the other offer. The smaller monthly payment belongs to the cash rebate.
The verdict, offer by offer
These are example figures, not yours, and not anybody’s current program. They are arbitrary numbers chosen to show the arithmetic. Replace every one of them with what is on your own dealer sheet.
- Price $26,000
- Rebate $2,000
- Down $3,000
- Financed fees $400
- Promo 0% for 36 mo
- Standard 9.99% for 60 mo
| What you are comparing | Promotional APR | Cash rebate |
|---|---|---|
| Rebate taken | $0.00 | $2,000.00 |
| Amount financed | $23,400.00 | $21,400.00 |
| Rate and term | 0.00% for 36 mo | 9.99% for 60 mo |
| Monthly payment | $650.00 | $454.58 |
| Total interest | $0.00 | $5,874.89 |
| Total of payments | $23,400.00 | $27,274.89 |
| Total cost, down payment included | $26,400.00 | $30,274.89 |
| Which costs less | Costs less | Costs more |
On these figures, taking the promotional APR costs $3,874.89 less across the whole term. The promotional offer finances the full $23,400.00 because the rebate is forfeited when the promotional rate is taken. The rebate offer finances $21,400.00 and pays $5,874.89 of interest to do it. Both figures include the same $3,000 of cash down, so the difference between them is the difference between the offers and nothing else.
Where the answer flips
Holding the price, the rebate, the promotional offer and the standard term where they are, the two offers cost exactly the same when the standard APR is 3.57%. Below that rate the rebate wins, above it the promotional APR wins. That rate was solved by bisection on total cost, not by a formula, because the rate sits inside a power in the payment equation and cannot be isolated. The search took 20 steps and stopped when the two totals agreed inside a cent, at $26,400.00 each.
The promotional term trap
The offer that costs less is not the offer with the smaller payment. $195.42 a month separates them, and the cheaper offer is the more expensive one to carry each month. That gap is the whole reason a buyer walks out with the worse deal, because the payment is the number said out loud at the desk and the total is the number that is not.
A zero percent promotional rate over 36 months and a rebate financed over 72 months are not a like for like comparison. One of them is finished in three years and the other is not. The better decision rule is total cost, because that is the only figure that counts every dollar you will actually hand over. Use the payment as a constraint on top of it, not as the answer. If the cheaper offer has a payment you cannot make every month, it is not the cheaper offer for you, and the honest move is to say so rather than to pretend the totals are equal.
What a longer standard term does
Only the standard term changes below. The price, the rebate, the cash down and both rates are held, so every row can be reproduced by hand from the figures above.
| Standard term | Rebate offer payment | Rebate offer total cost | Cheaper offer | By |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 36 mo | $690.42 | $27,855.02 | Promotional APR | $1,455.02 |
| 48 mo | $542.66 | $29,047.51 | Promotional APR | $2,647.51 |
| 60 mo | $454.58 | $30,274.89 | Promotional APR | $3,874.89 |
| 72 mo | $396.35 | $31,536.84 | Promotional APR | $5,136.84 |
| 84 mo | $355.15 | $32,833.00 | Promotional APR | $6,433.00 |
Adding to every payment
The full month by month schedule for the offer you selected
Showing the promotional APR offer. Change the selector above to print the other one.
| # | Payment | Interest | Principal | Balance |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | $650.00 | $0.00 | $650.00 | $22,750.00 |
| 2 | $650.00 | $0.00 | $650.00 | $22,100.00 |
| 3 | $650.00 | $0.00 | $650.00 | $21,450.00 |
| 4 | $650.00 | $0.00 | $650.00 | $20,800.00 |
| 5 | $650.00 | $0.00 | $650.00 | $20,150.00 |
| 6 | $650.00 | $0.00 | $650.00 | $19,500.00 |
| 7 | $650.00 | $0.00 | $650.00 | $18,850.00 |
| 8 | $650.00 | $0.00 | $650.00 | $18,200.00 |
| 9 | $650.00 | $0.00 | $650.00 | $17,550.00 |
| 10 | $650.00 | $0.00 | $650.00 | $16,900.00 |
| 11 | $650.00 | $0.00 | $650.00 | $16,250.00 |
| 12 | $650.00 | $0.00 | $650.00 | $15,600.00 |
| 13 | $650.00 | $0.00 | $650.00 | $14,950.00 |
| 14 | $650.00 | $0.00 | $650.00 | $14,300.00 |
| 15 | $650.00 | $0.00 | $650.00 | $13,650.00 |
| 16 | $650.00 | $0.00 | $650.00 | $13,000.00 |
| 17 | $650.00 | $0.00 | $650.00 | $12,350.00 |
| 18 | $650.00 | $0.00 | $650.00 | $11,700.00 |
| 19 | $650.00 | $0.00 | $650.00 | $11,050.00 |
| 20 | $650.00 | $0.00 | $650.00 | $10,400.00 |
| 21 | $650.00 | $0.00 | $650.00 | $9,750.00 |
| 22 | $650.00 | $0.00 | $650.00 | $9,100.00 |
| 23 | $650.00 | $0.00 | $650.00 | $8,450.00 |
| 24 | $650.00 | $0.00 | $650.00 | $7,800.00 |
| 25 | $650.00 | $0.00 | $650.00 | $7,150.00 |
| 26 | $650.00 | $0.00 | $650.00 | $6,500.00 |
| 27 | $650.00 | $0.00 | $650.00 | $5,850.00 |
| 28 | $650.00 | $0.00 | $650.00 | $5,200.00 |
| 29 | $650.00 | $0.00 | $650.00 | $4,550.00 |
| 30 | $650.00 | $0.00 | $650.00 | $3,900.00 |
| 31 | $650.00 | $0.00 | $650.00 | $3,250.00 |
| 32 | $650.00 | $0.00 | $650.00 | $2,600.00 |
| 33 | $650.00 | $0.00 | $650.00 | $1,950.00 |
| 34 | $650.00 | $0.00 | $650.00 | $1,300.00 |
| 35 | $650.00 | $0.00 | $650.00 | $650.00 |
| 36 | $650.00 | $0.00 | $650.00 | $0.00 |
For reference, the U.S. Prime Rate is currently 7.00% (source: Federal Reserve H.15, as of 2026-10-13). Powersports paper is priced above it by a margin the lender sets from your credit, the machine and the term. It is context only, it never enters the math on this page, and your standard rate is whatever your own lender actually quotes.
What to enter from the dealer’s sheet
The cash price before any incentive
Ask for the agreed price of the machine with no incentive applied, and ask for it in writing. Both offers start from that number. If the sheet already has the rebate subtracted, add it back before you enter it here, or the rebate will be counted twice.
The rebate
The cash off the price you would receive if you did not take the promotional rate. The Federal Trade Commission describes these as manufacturer incentives and says a dealer “may offer manufacturer incentives, like lower finance rates or cash back on certain makes or models” (Financing or Leasing a Car). Enter the figure written on your sheet. If more than one incentive is on the table, enter only the one you would lose by taking the promotional rate.
The promotional APR and its term
Both come from the program, not from you. Enter 0 for a zero percent program. The term is the part buyers skip, and it is the part that moves the payment most. The Consumer Financial Protection Bureau notes that these deals “often require you to pay back the loan in a relatively short period of time, such as 36 months” (How do I qualify for an advertised 0% auto financing?). Its guidance is written about cars, and the structure at a powersports desk is the same one.
The standard APR and term
The rate and term you would actually be given if you took the rebate instead. Use a real quote, from the dealer, your bank or your credit union. A guess here is the one input that can reverse the verdict, which is why the page also solves the rate at which it reverses.
Cash down and financed fees
Cash down comes off both offers equally and does not change which one wins, only the size of the loan. Financed fees are anything rolled into the loan rather than paid at the desk, including tax and documentation charges if your dealer is financing them. Leave a box blank if it does not apply. A blank box is read as missing, not as a zero you typed.
Why the choice between a promo rate and a rebate keeps flipping
The two offers are alternatives, not additions
The CFPB describes both as manufacturer incentives, noting that dealers and manufacturers “may offer special incentives on certain vehicles when there’s a large inventory they need to sell” and that these “may include 0% APR auto loans and manufacturer cash rebates”. In practice a program makes you pick one. That is what makes the question arithmetic rather than opinion. Take the rebate and you finance a smaller number at a rate you have to pay. Take the promotional rate and you finance a larger number at a rate that may cost nothing. Which is smaller depends entirely on the size of those two numbers, and both of them are on your sheet.
What actually moves the answer
Three things. The size of the rebate relative to the price, because that is the head start the rebate offer gets. The standard rate, because that is the price of the head start. The standard term, because interest accumulates for longer. Raise the standard rate and the promotional offer gains. Raise the rebate and the rebate offer gains. The crossover figure above is the point where those two forces cancel, and it is solved from your own numbers rather than asserted from a rule of thumb.
Why a big loan and a small loan behave differently
A rebate is a fixed number of dollars. Interest is a percentage of a balance. On a small loan a fixed rebate is a large share of the price and usually wins. On a larger loan the same rebate is a smaller share while the interest saved by a promotional rate keeps growing with the balance, so the promotional offer catches up and passes it. That is why advice of the form “always take the zero percent” is wrong about half the time. The rule depends on figures that change with every machine and every buyer.
The term is doing work nobody looks at
A promotional program usually fixes a shorter term. A shorter term means a larger payment even at zero percent, and a larger payment is what a buyer feels. The table above holds everything and moves only the standard term, so you can watch the payment fall while the total cost rises. That is the trade being made when a longer term is offered as a way to make the machine affordable, and it is worth seeing in your own numbers before you agree to it.
Where this page stops
It compares two offers on the money you hand over. It cannot evaluate eligibility for either one. The CFPB is direct about that, saying that “in general, only consumers with the highest credit scores qualify for 0% financing offers”. Qualification, dealer fees you have not been shown yet, insurance requirements and the trade-in valuation are all outside this arithmetic and can be worth more than the gap it reports.
How the math works
The formula
Monthly payment = P × r / (1 − (1 + r)−n)
P is the amount financed on that offer, r is the annual rate divided by 12 and by 100, and n is the term in months. At a zero percent rate the formula divides by zero, so that case is handled separately as the principal divided by the term. Interest in any month is the remaining balance times r, and principal is the payment minus that interest. The last row of every schedule absorbs the residual cent, so the balance lands exactly on zero and the schedule reconciles to the summary.
The amount financed on each offer
The promotional offer finances the price, less your cash down, plus the fees you are financing. The rebate offer finances the same thing with the rebate subtracted first. The rebate is applied to the promotional offer as zero, because taking the promotional rate forfeits the cash. That single asymmetry is the whole comparison.
Total cost
Total cost is your cash down plus the sum of every monthly payment on that offer. Both offers carry the same cash down, so it cancels out of the difference and is included only so the figure means something on its own. Nothing is discounted to a present value, because the page will not pick a discount rate on your behalf.
The crossover
The rebate offer’s total cost rises steadily as its rate rises, while the promotional offer does not move at all. So there is at most one rate where the two are equal, and it is found by bisection. The search brackets the answer between 0 and 40 percent, halves the interval, and stops when the two totals agree inside a cent. The number of steps is capped in code. A search that does not converge inside that cap returns nothing rather than the last midpoint, and a pair of offers that never meet inside the range is reported as having no crossover rather than extrapolated past it.
One implementation, two places
The worked example built into this page and the calculator you type into call the same functions in the same file. There is no second copy of this arithmetic, so the example and the tool cannot disagree. The module has its own test script that checks the zero percent case, a rebate case, an exact tie, the crossover, and every rejection, against figures worked out independently.
Who built it
I build and run the calculators on this site, including the in browser tools that print their own schedule and reconcile every row back to the summary. I added this comparison because the payment is the number a dealer says out loud and the total is the number that decides it. I am Michael Lip.
Questions buyers ask
Is zero percent always the better deal
No. A zero percent rate on a larger balance can cost more than a modest rate on a balance the rebate made smaller. Enter both and read the total cost row. The answer changes with the price, the rebate, your standard rate and both terms, which is why this page solves it rather than stating a rule.
Can I take the rebate and the promotional rate together
That is a question for the dealer, and the answer is normally no. Manufacturer programs typically make the two alternatives, which is the assumption this page is built on. If your program does allow both, enter the promotional APR with the rebate in place and the comparison stops being useful, because there is only one offer left.
Why does the cheaper offer have the bigger payment
Because a promotional rate usually comes with a shorter term. The same balance repaid over 36 months instead of 60 has a much larger payment even at zero percent. The result block shows both readings so the two cannot be confused, and the total cost is the one that answers which offer is cheaper.
What standard rate should I enter if I have not been quoted one
Get quoted first. This page will not fill it in for you, because a rate we invented would decide your answer. If you want to see how much the answer depends on it, read the crossover rate. It tells you how far your standard rate has to move before the verdict reverses, which is often a more useful number than any single quote.
Does the down payment change which offer wins
Only through the size of the loan. It comes off both offers by the same amount. A larger down payment shrinks both balances, which shrinks the interest the promotional rate saves you, so it tends to move the answer towards the rebate. The calculator recomputes both offers when you change it, so you can see the size of that shift rather than guess it.
What about tax, freight, setup and documentation charges
Put anything you are financing into the financed fees box and anything you are paying at the desk into cash down. Both offers get charged the same way, so these do not usually change the winner. They do change the payment and the total, which is why they belong in the arithmetic rather than in a footnote.
Does this work for a quad or a dirt bike
The arithmetic is the same for any fixed rate instalment loan. This page is written for side by sides, and the ATV loan calculator covers quads and four wheelers, so the two do not compete for the same buyer. The motorcycle loan calculator handles road bikes.
What this page is and is not
Use this UTV loan calculator when a manufacturer has put a promotional rate and a cash rebate in front of you on a side by side and you have to pick one. If you only want the plain payment and schedule on a single offer, the ATV loan calculator does that for quads, the snowmobile loan calculator adds what a riding day costs once the off season payments are counted, and the jet ski loan calculator does the same for a personal watercraft. If the machine you are pricing is a golf cart or a street legal low speed vehicle, the golf cart loan calculator counts the battery pack replacements that fall inside the loan term, which is the cost that decides that purchase.
Asset Loan Calculator is not a lender, a broker or a financial adviser, and does not give a quote. Results are estimates from the numbers you enter. Eligibility and pricing are the lender’s decision. Nothing on this page states any manufacturer’s current program, any rate band or any price, because those change constantly and this site does not publish market rates. The comparison ignores depreciation, insurance, maintenance and resale, and it does not discount future payments to a present value.