I am thinking about refinancing my current auto loan that I have with a local bank. I have a 99 Ford Explorer on which I owe about $7300 (rolled my old loan into it-got screwed) so obviously I'm upside down on it right now. My husband and I looked to trade it in this past March but were only offered 5k and I refuse to take a loss on another car. Vehicle is in great shape, around 70k mi on it but my hubby wants a vehicle that HE wants, and he's never had a new vehicle...while I...have...many times... Anyway I'd love to get this paid off (or at least down enough that we can trade without a loss) so that he can get the car he wants.

The vehicle was purchased in Jan 05' w/ a 4 year loan, interest around 7.5 and I've got 30 payments to go on it at 277/mo...I know at this point I've gotten past most of the highest interest portion of the loan so I'm not sure if I should even bother refinancing it and even if I did, if I could get a better interest rate. My credit is good, in the mid 700's so that's not an issue, I'm just not sure if anyone offers lower interest rates on a 7 year old vehicle. Any ideas or should I just stick with what I have (cause its the best I'll get)? Our goal is to pay it off/down ASAP so I'd be willing to take a shorter payment term/higher payments as long as I know I'd save in the end on the interest which is STILL around 1.80 per diem. Or do you think I should just add on extra payments to get rid of it/pay it down?

Also, DH is interested in a Nissan Xterra. Anyone heard anything good/bad about them? I'm not real familiar with Nissan.

You probably won't find a much better rate on a 99. I just checked my credit unions rate sheet and they have great new and used rates (03+) but their rate on a 6 year or older vehicle is 7.19%.

Your best option is to probably just make extra payments and pay down the balance. You could also try selling it privately to see if you can get more for it. We sold our car to carmax. The dealer where we bought our VW from offered 1500 for our trade in. Carmax offered 2500 so we sold it to them. You don't have to buy a vechile from them either, they will just buy your car. It may be worth getting a quote from them if you have one in your area.

I think you're probably right...We thought about selling it privately but worry about any reprocussions should there "conveniently" be a problem with the car right after we sell it (you know how that goes). Are you liable for anything once the title is signed over?

IMO should leave it alone.