Refinance My Car Loan

A Question
About Dealership Refinancing

A refinance question from Luis in Downey, CA...

Can I refinance my car loan at the dealership I bought my car or if I can just go anywhere. I'm looking to refinance the term of the loan and I have pretty good credit, but I am not sure if a dealer is the best option.

Answer

Hi Luis,

I would honestly have to say that going back to the dealer would probably not be your best bet to refinance your car loan.

1) Many dealers don't offer a refinancing solution, because it's not all that profitable for them and they'd rather just try and sell you a new car.

This leads to the "well if we could get you into a new car and lower your payments" type of questions and it may seem good at first, but later you may regret it and realize that you are now even more in debt.

2) If a dealership does offer a refinancing option, then they will certainly try to profit as much as possible, which means that you could probably find a better refinance deal elsewhere.

3) On top of that, they might be the reason you want to refinance your car loan in the first place. They probably inflated your finance rate when you bought the car and as mentioned above they will probably try to do it again.

Credit Unions
All that being said if your credit is average to better than average I'd suggest trying with a local credit union as their refinance rates tend to beat out the traditional banks.

Keep in mind that all credit unions will differ, so it's in your best interest to check around before getting your credit run repeatedly.

You can find a nationwide listing of credit unions to help with your refinance here Credit Union National Association.

Traditional Banks
Traditional banks can be competitive, but fall off sharply as the vehicle gets older and or some miles on it. From what I've seen the banks will stay competitive on vehicles in the 2-3 year old range and with less than 50,000 miles.

Online Sources
As for online sources, I used to work with RateGenius, but found they didn't have a solution for many of my visitors. A great new site I've found however is Money Aisle. With nearly 200 visitors in their finance pipeline, they have helped many visitors to my site. Check them out here -> Refinance My Car Loan

Hope this answers your "refinance my car loan" question, but if you need any more help please don't hesitate to contact me. Justin

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