How to Refinance a Car Loan

The process involved during car loan refinancing is often seen as being murky, confusing, and otherwise unclear. But it really isn’t too difficult to understand once you’ve got the basics down. That’s what we here at the Ryan Family Dealerships finance center are here to help you with; we want you to better understand how to refinance a car loan so you can get approved for a more favorable loan rate and save yourself some money. So, how do you refinance your car to get better monthly payments? Let’s find out! Contact us in the meantime if you have any questions.

How Do You Refinance a Car Loan?

Before we discuss the process of refinancing a car loan, let’s talk about the goal of refinancing in the first place. Why would you bother going through with the effort of attempting to refinance a car loan? Generally speaking, refinancing is useful to the extent that it helps you reduce your monthly car payments. Now that you know, here’s what to do to refinance your car loan with savings in mind:

1. Check Your Credit Score: Since you purchased your car, have you made payments more or less on time, as a rule? If so, there is a good chance your credit score has improved and you could benefit from refinancing. If not, you may wish to consider waiting to refinance at a more favorable time later.
2. Start Applying: Apply to several automotive refinance companies to ensure you get the best rate. Make sure you submit all applications within a 14 day period to minimize the negative impact on your credit score. The best part of choosing a dealer like Ryan Family Dealerships is that regardless of which of our locations you patronize, we do this part for you!
3. Evaluate Offers: Want to see which offer is best for you? Don’t skip the step of evaluating refinancing options! You can use our monthly payment calculator to help.
4. Decide Loan Term: Shorter loan terms often require larger monthly payments, but you will pay less interest in total. Sometimes, refinancing can involve paying more on the loan in total or stretching it out further to get a lower interest rate and lower monthly payments. Make sure to evaluate carefully what’s most important to you when comparing total amount paid vs. interest rate vs. monthly payments. 

What to Know When Refinancing Your Car

Stuck on what to do next when attempting to refinance a vehicle? Here are some things to keep in mind:

• Older Vehicles: Many lenders won’t refinance an older vehicle that has depreciated significantly.
• Fees: Be sure to check your original car loan to make sure there aren’t any fees associated with paying it off early. If there are, refinancing may not be cost-effective. 
• Underwater Finances: If you owe much more than your vehicle’s currently worth, it can be much more difficult to get approved for refinancing. 

Learn About Your Financing Options at Ryan Family Dealerships

Regardless of your situation and needs, we here at Ryan Family Dealerships want to help. Give us a call at now for further details about how to refinance a car loan or anything else finance-related. Thinking about trading in your vehicle entirely? That may be another good option for you! Get your trade-in value now.