Contractor Financing Dealer Fee Calculator
See what a financing dealer fee actually takes out of a job and the break-even price that recovers it. Covers absorb, gross-up and cash-discount surcharge modes.
How this is calculated
Net proceeds = job price × (1 − dealer fee). On a $10,000 job at a 12% dealer fee, net proceeds = $10,000 × 0.88 = $8,800.
Break-even price = cash price ÷ (1 − dealer fee). To net $10,000 after a 12% fee: $10,000 ÷ 0.88 = $11,363.64. The lender takes $1,363.64, you receive $10,000.
Surcharge / cash-discount framing: the same break-even formula, presented as a cash discount off a higher base. The financed price is $11,363.64; cash customers pay $10,000. The math is identical.
Margin comparison: when you enter your job cost, the calculator shows the margin on the cash price (before the fee), the margin on net proceeds (after absorbing the fee), and the margin on the break-even price (after grossing up). If absorbing the fee drops you below zero, the warning tells you.
Every fee on this page is a starting point you enter. No lender is named and no rate is preset.
What a financing dealer fee does to your margin
When you offer customer financing through a third-party lender, the lender pays you the full ticket minus a dealer fee. That fee is a percentage of the financed amount, and it comes out of your proceeds before you see them. On a $10,000 job at a 12% dealer fee (used here as an example rate, not a market figure), you receive $8,800. The question this calculator answers is whether to absorb that cost, build it into a higher financed price, or offer a cash discount that frames the same adjustment from the other direction.
The three modes
Absorb: you keep the listed price and eat the fee. Net proceeds = price x (1 minus fee). On the worked example above, $10,000 x 0.88 = $8,800 in your pocket. If your job cost is $6,000, your margin drops from 40% on a cash job to about 31.8% on the financed one.
Gross-up: you raise the financed price so that after the lender takes its cut, you still net the original cash price. Break-even price = cash price / (1 minus fee). On the same example, $10,000 / 0.88 = $11,363.64. The customer pays more, you net $10,000, and your margin stays at 40%.
Surcharge (cash-discount framing): the same math as gross-up, presented as a cash discount off a higher base rather than as a surcharge on top of a lower one. The financed price is $11,363.64, and customers who pay cash get a discount to $10,000. Check your state law on surcharges before using this mode.
How the fee compares to your margin
Enter your job cost and the calculator will show your margin before the fee, after absorbing it, and on the break-even price. If the fee is wider than your margin, the job loses money on a financed ticket, which the service profit margin calculator will confirm from the other direction. The markup vs. margin converter translates between the two if your estimating system thinks in markup.
A dealer fee is not the same as a card processing fee. The FSM payment processing fee calculator prices the card-processing side. Whether to offer financing at all, and how to price it, depends on the same job-level math the HVAC job pricing calculator runs for equipment installs.
What this calculator does not do
Every fee on this page is operator-entered. No lender is named, no rate is preset, and no figure is presented as a market fact. The only formula is arithmetic: net proceeds = price x (1 minus fee), break-even = price / (1 minus fee).