Car Loans

Should I buy a new car if I still owe money on my current car?

You certainly can buy a new car if you still owe money on your current car. The lender will be happy to roll both loans together. But, of course, what's going to happen is you're going to be owing more money, so you're going to be further in debt if you buy a new car while you still owe for your currennt one. From a sheer debt point of view, it's probably not the smartest thing to do.

What is an ideal term for a car loan?

The ideal term for a car loan is probably the shorter, the better. Nowadays, cars are so expensive and people are paying so much for their cars that sometimes the average car loan term can be six years or more. Realistically try to stick to three or four years, because that's what makes sense. If you go on much longer than that, what's happening is you're paying so much in interest that you're really paying much more than the car's worth, and you actually may end up owing more on the loan than the car is worth. And you definitely don't want that to happen.

Can I refinance my car?

You can refinance your car, but the question is would you want to refinance your car? The real reason for refinancing your car, as with any loan, is that you can actually get a loan with a lower interest rate. So it kind of depends on what's going on in the market. If you can actually get a lower rate than you have now, yeah go for it. But if rates have gone up or they are the same then it doesn't make any sense to do it.