Compare car loan and auto finance options from top banks across the UAE and Dubai using our car loan calculator. Explore conventional and Sharia-compliant Islamic auto finance, compare flat and reducing rates, estimate your monthly instalment (EMI), and find options based on your car value, down payment and salary.
A car loan, or auto finance in Islamic terms, is financing secured against the vehicle itself, repaid over up to 5 years, far shorter than a mortgage but often quoted in a way that trips people up: many UAE banks price car loans on a flat rate rather than reducing balance, so the headline percentage alone can be misleading. With 9 banks and finance houses compared on this page, each with its own rate basis, financing limits, and fee schedule, choosing the right one is genuinely consequential. Here's how UAE car loans actually work, what to check before you sign, and how to tell a genuinely cheap loan from one that just sounds cheap.
Adjust the loan amount, rate and tenure to estimate your own monthly instalment, total interest (or profit) paid, and total amount repayable over the full term.
Enter a reducing-balance rate and this calculator prices your EMI (Equated Monthly Instalment) the standard way: EMI = P × r × (1+r)ⁿ ÷ [(1+r)ⁿ − 1], where P is the loan amount, r is the monthly rate (annual rate ÷ 12) and n is the total number of monthly instalments, with interest charged only on the balance still outstanding. Many UAE car loans are instead quoted as a flat rate, interest charged on the full original amount for the whole tenure, which produces a noticeably higher instalment than the same headline percentage would under reducing balance. Check each bank's rate basis on its card below before comparing numbers.
The example shown in the Car Loan EMI Calculator is not a loan offer or quotation and is for illustrative purposes only. Figures are estimated on a reducing-balance basis from the loan amount, rate, tenure and down payment you enter, and do not include processing fees, insurance or other bank-specific charges. If a bank quotes your rate as flat rather than reducing balance, your actual instalment will be higher than this calculator shows at the same headline percentage. Your actual monthly instalment, rate and eligibility depend on the lender's own assessment, documentation and prevailing pricing at the time you apply. Use this calculator as a guide, not a final figure.
A car loan, or auto finance, is secured financing used to buy a new or used vehicle in the UAE. Like a mortgage, it's collateralised, the bank places a mortgage (lien) on the car with the RTA and can repossess the vehicle if repayments stop, but unlike a mortgage it's a short, fast facility: tenures cap at 5 years, decisions often come back in hours rather than weeks, and there's no property valuation or land registration step to wait on.
You repay the financed amount in monthly instalments over an agreed tenure, priced either flat (interest calculated on the full original amount for the whole term) or reducing balance (interest calculated only on what you still owe). What you're actually offered depends on your salary, whether it's transferred to the lending bank, your Debt Burden Ratio, your Al Etihad Credit Bureau history, and whether the car is new or used, since older or used vehicles are financed more conservatively than new ones.
This is the single most important thing to understand before comparing car loan rates in the UAE, because the two aren't directly comparable at face value, and most car loans here are priced flat while every mortgage on our sister page is priced reducing balance:
Interest is calculated on the full original loan amount for the entire tenure, even as your outstanding balance shrinks every month. It's how most UAE car loans are advertised, and the headline percentage looks deceptively low next to a reducing-balance rate for that reason.
Finance AED 72,000 at 2.50% flat over 5 years and the instalment is roughly AED 1,350/mo, the same rate expressed on a reducing balance would actually be closer to 4.7%.
Interest is calculated only on what you still owe, so it drops every month as you repay principal, the same method every mortgage on this site uses. A handful of UAE car loans, mostly from conventional banks, are quoted this way, and it's the fairer basis to compare against a flat rate.
The same AED 72,000 financed at 4.70% reducing over 5 years costs roughly the same AED 1,350/mo, the true, apples-to-apples cost of that 2.50% flat offer above.
Banks price and structure financing differently depending on whether the vehicle is brand new or used, largely because a used car's resale value, and therefore the bank's security, is harder to predict:
New cars typically qualify for the lowest advertised rates, the highest financing percentage (commonly up to 80% of the vehicle's value), and the full available tenure of up to 5 years. Used or certified pre-owned cars are usually financed more conservatively: a lower maximum financing percentage (often 70–75%, meaning a bigger down payment from you), sometimes a slightly higher rate, and a shorter maximum tenure, since most banks cap the total age of the car at loan maturity somewhere around 8 to 10 years, so an older used car simply can't be financed over the full 5 years.
The "starting from" rate a bank advertises isn't necessarily the rate you'll be offered. What you actually pay is priced against several factors together:
This is exactly why the calculator on this page asks for your own car value, down payment and salary rather than showing one generic rate, your actual offer depends on how your profile lines up against these factors at each individual bank.
UAE banks cap how much of a car's value they'll finance based mainly on whether it's new or used, and the rest comes from you as a down payment:
It's simply the percentage of the car's price the bank lends you, the rest is your down payment. An 80% financing rate means the bank finances AED 80,000 of a AED 100,000 car, and you cover the remaining AED 20,000 yourself as the down payment. A lower financing percentage (a bigger down payment from you) means less risk for the bank, which is often rewarded with a better rate.
Up to 80% financing (20% down payment) at most banks on this page, over the full available tenure of up to 5 years.
Financed more conservatively, typically 70–75% (25–30% down payment), with tenure often capped by the car's age at loan maturity.
Assessed on verified business cash flow rather than a salary certificate, usually at a somewhat higher rate and a more conservative financing percentage.
Some banks on this page will buy out your existing car loan at a better rate; weigh the new processing fee against the interest you'd actually save.
Beyond the down payment, budget for the bank's processing fee (typically around 1% of the financed amount), comprehensive car insurance (mandatory for the full loan term, typically 2–5% of the car's value per year), and RTA registration and vehicle mortgage registration fees on top.
Both routes finance the same car, structured differently to meet different needs:
A conventional interest-bearing loan secured against the vehicle, priced flat or reducing balance, structurally the simplest and most widely offered option.
Sharia-compliant structures where the bank effectively buys the car and either leases it to you (Ijara, ownership transfers as you pay) or sells it to you at an agreed profit margin (Murabaha), avoiding interest entirely while achieving a comparable effective cost.
Beyond the financing limits above, banks assess every applicant against a broadly similar set of criteria before approving a car loan or auto finance facility:
21 at application; the loan must be fully repaid by around age 60 for expats, up to 65 for UAE Nationals.
Most banks look for roughly AED 3,000–10,000 per month; some preferential new-car tiers ask for AED 50,000+.
Total monthly obligations generally capped near 50% of your income.
Typically 6 months to 1 year in your current role.
A clean Al Etihad Credit Bureau record materially helps.
Required alongside a valid UAE residence visa for expats, or Emirates ID for Nationals.
Meeting these criteria doesn't guarantee approval, each bank weighs them slightly differently and layers on its own internal policy, which is why the same applicant can be offered different rates, or approved by one bank and declined by another.
Here's the general document checklist banks ask for when processing a car loan or auto finance application:
A decline isn't necessarily final, it's usually tied to one or two fixable factors. The most common reasons on this page's lenders are:
Missed payments, high credit-card utilisation or existing defaults on your Al Etihad Credit Bureau report are among the most common reasons for a decline.
If your car loan instalment plus existing obligations pushes you over the ~50% DBR cap, the bank can't approve the amount requested, even with a strong salary.
A recent job change, a probation period, or income the bank can't fully verify (common for the self-employed without complete financials) can trigger a decline or a lower approved amount.
If the car's age at loan maturity would exceed the bank's policy, typically around 8 to 10 years, it will only finance a shorter tenure, or decline the request outright.
MySilah is an independent financial comparison service based in Dubai. This page brings together car loan rates, financing limits, fees, and eligibility details from banks and finance houses across the UAE so you can compare them side by side in one place, instead of visiting a dozen separate bank websites.
Comparing car loans on MySilah is free. Some of the banks and finance houses on this page may pay us a referral fee if you apply through a link here and your application is approved; others are listed at no cost to us. That relationship never changes where a car loan appears or how it's ranked, since every position on this page is driven purely by the numbers, cheapest real monthly cost first, not by who pays us.
MySilah is not a bank, lender, or licensed financial advisor, and nothing on this page is financial advice. Rate, fee, and eligibility information is sourced from banks' own published materials and other publicly available resources; MySilah does not own this content and doesn't guarantee it is complete, current, or error-free, since banks can change their terms at any time without notice.
Bank names, logos, and trademarks shown on this page remain the property of their respective owners and are used here solely to identify each lender's products. Their presence doesn't imply endorsement of, partnership with, or approval of MySilah by that bank.
Always confirm current rates, fees, and eligibility directly with the bank or an authorised representative before applying, and treat the figures here as a starting point for comparison, not a guaranteed offer.