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What is actually hiding inside your solar loan?

Quick answer: multiply your loan amount by the dealer fee percentage. That dollar figure funds the door-to-door dealer commission stack, not the physical system. Enter your numbers below and see what that same money could buy in direct appointments instead.

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Sourced defaults, no signup Runs entirely in your browser
22%
Avg Dealer Fee (2026)
$5,700+
Added To A Typical Loan
20-35%
Dealer Fee Range
$200-500
Booked Solar Appointment Range
The Calculator

Loan amount, times fee percent.

Set your loan amount and dealer fee percentage to see the embedded fee dollars, the effective system cost without it, and how many direct appointments that fee could have bought instead.

Your Inputs

Defaults to a typical financed system and IntegrateSun's published average dealer fee.

Defaults to EnergySage's average residential system cost example, a 12 kW system at roughly $2.58 to $2.95 per watt.

IntegrateSun cites an average dealer fee of about 22%, within a published 20 to 35% range.

Enter the rate you pay or are quoted. VA Horizon sets its rate on a short call.

What's Embedded

Estimate based on the inputs you set. Not a guarantee.

Embedded Dealer Fee
$6,850
Fee as % of loan 22%
Effective system cost without the fee $24,285
Direct appointments that fee could buy at your rate 22
What This Fee Could Buy Instead
Appointments at your rate22
Dollars spent on whole appointments$6,600
Left over after whole appointments$250
How The Math Works

One percentage, applied to one loan.

This tool runs a simple multiplication, then compares the result against a direct appointment purchase.

Embedded fee dollars

Loan amount multiplied by dealer fee percent. A $31,135 loan at 22% has $6,850 embedded in it.

Effective system cost

Loan amount minus the fee dollars. That is the portion of your loan actually going toward panels, inverters, and labor.

Appointments the fee could buy

Fee dollars divided by your per-appointment price, rounded down to whole appointments, since a fractional appointment cannot be purchased.

Leftover after appointments

Whole appointments multiplied by your per-appointment price, subtracted from the fee dollars, showing what is left over.

This is a comparison of what the dealer fee could fund if spent directly on booked appointments, not a claim that a dealer fee and an appointment purchase are functionally identical. A dealer network's commission stack pays for a full in-home sales process, including the closer who signs the contract. An appointment purchase only buys the booked, double-confirmed consultation itself.

Appointment counts are rounded down, not up, because you cannot spend a partial appointment's worth of fee dollars on a whole appointment.

Sources

Every default, traced to a source.

No number on this page is invented. Here is exactly where each default came from.

  • Average dealer fee (~22% in 2026, cited range 20 to 35%, adding $5,700+ to a typical loan): IntegrateSun, solar dealer fees, the hidden cost.
  • Average residential system cost example (~$31,135 for a 12 kW system, ~$2.58 to $2.95/W before incentives): EnergySage, local solar panel cost data.
  • Setter, closer, and regional manager override commission structure: Everstage, solar sales commission.
  • Per-appointment price (visitor-entered, default within the $200 to $500 range seen for pre-set and booked solar appointments): enter the rate you pay or are quoted. VA Horizon sets its rate on a short call.
FAQ

Dealer fees, answered.

What is a solar dealer fee?
A dealer fee is a percentage the lender deducts from a solar loan to fund the commission stack behind a door-to-door dealer network: the setter, the closer, and the regional manager override. It is embedded in your loan balance rather than shown as a separate line item, so most homeowners never see it broken out.
How is the embedded fee dollar amount calculated?
Multiply your loan amount by the dealer fee percentage. A $31,135 loan at a 22 percent dealer fee has $6,850 embedded in it, funding the sales commission stack rather than the physical system.
Why is the average dealer fee rising in 2026?
IntegrateSun's analysis puts the average solar loan dealer fee at roughly 22 percent in 2026, within a cited 20 to 35 percent range, as rising customer acquisition costs and margin compression push installers to lean harder on the dealer-fee-funded commission structure to keep 1099 sales reps in the field.
What does the dealer fee actually pay for?
It funds the entire door-to-door dealer network commission stack: the setter who books the appointment, the closer who runs the in-home consultation and signs the contract, and the regional manager override on top of that. None of it goes toward panels, inverters, or labor.
How does this compare to buying appointments directly?
This calculator divides your embedded fee dollars by the per-appointment price you enter, which defaults to a typical market rate for booked solar appointments, to show how many appointments that same money could buy directly, with no dealer network commission stack in between. It is a comparison of what the fee funds today against what it could fund instead, not a claim that every dollar converts one for one.

Skip the dealer network. Buy the appointment directly.

VA Horizon books exclusive, double-confirmed solar consultation appointments. Pay per booked appointment, with pricing set on a short call. No-shows are replaced free. Book a 15-minute call to see your exact rate.

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