Buying a car in Hawaii
Every figure below is sourced to Hawaii’s own revenue or motor vehicle publications and dated. Estimates only.
Auto loan calculator
The real out-the-door number — including whether your state credits your trade-in against the sales tax.
Auto lease calculator
Money factor, residual, and the payment — taxed by your state's actual method, since some states tax a lease's full value upfront instead of each payment.
Loan payoff calculator
What paying extra actually saves you — in interest and in months — on a car loan, a personal loan, or anything else that amortizes.
0% APR vs. cash rebate
Which dealer offer actually costs less over the life of the loan, and the rate at which they tie.
Personal loan calculator
Payment, total interest, and the effective APR once an origination fee is deducted from what actually reaches your account.
Debt consolidation calculator
Whether one loan actually beats paying your existing debts off as they are — measured against the best you could do without consolidating.
Auto refinance calculator
Whether refinancing your car loan is worth it — including whether a lower payment is being bought with a longer term on a depreciating asset.
Lease vs. buy a car
The same car both ways over the same months, with the resale value credited to the buyer — the part most comparisons leave out.
Hawaii at a glance
- State sales tax
- 4%
- Local tax is added on top in most states — treat this as a floor.
- Trade-in credit
- No credit
- You are taxed on the full price even when you trade a car in.
- Dealer doc fee
- Not confirmed
- We have not confirmed a cap for this state, so we do not claim one.
- Title and registration
- $367.00
- $367.00 registration.
Local tax in Hawaii
Hawaii has no conventional sales tax. The General Excise Tax is a privilege tax on the BUSINESS's gross income rather than a tax on the customer — DOTAX: 'the GET is a tax on the business for the privilege of doing business in Hawaii, whereas a sales tax is a tax on the customer that is collected by the business.' The retail rate is 4.0%. All four counties now add a 0.5% surcharge, so 4.5% is effective statewide: Honolulu (2007), Kauai (2019), Hawaii County (2020), Maui (2024). SCHEDULED CHANGE: every county surcharge is set to expire 2030-12-31. A business may visibly pass the GET on but is not required to, and the pass-on is capped at 4.7120% — above 4.5% because the passed-on amount is itself part of the dealer's taxable gross income. A dealer that does not pass it on 'cannot say that there is "no tax"' (HRS 237-49).