I did 4 years but am making larger payments so it will be sooner than that.

 

Check out LightStream. Everything is done electronically and the age of the vehicle doesn't matter.

 

Wow, what a forum! So many good answers in such a short time. I'm used to slower, less active forums....lol.

Penguin: I will check out Lightstream, thanks.

 

Have a payment you are comfortable with. Like above you can always make a larger payment, missed payments are frowned upon.

 

Another +1 for a credit union.

All payments must be on time (not just for car payments but for all of your credit accounts) or else you'll end up with even worse credit.

 

Good suggestion here. Always try for a payment that is less than you can afford. Then plan to pay that larger amount that you can actually afford, to pay off early. Then if some months are lean, you can pay the normal amount, which gives you breathing room.

 

You traded in a vehicle worth 10k on your S2000 as well. I doubt OP has that much to put down on a car. If he did, he's better off putting the reminder on credit card (roughly 5k) or getting a personal loan from Mom/Dad for the balance.

 

When I bought my car my credit was probably similar to yours, I got a 2002 with 50k miles for 16k + 2k warranty. Negotiated for 9 hours before I got the deal I wanted.

My payments are 375/mo but my credit has improved so much it's likely I could get a better plan now.

 

+1 for credit union. I bought my 07 with 24k miles for 24k. I was pre-approved before going down to pick it up. I also put some cash down though.

 

if you have a navy federal nearby go to them

I've used them for all 3 of my loans and had a decently low interest rate to match.

For my first car when five other places wouldn't give me a loan navy fed simply asks me "how much would you like" and I was confused for a moment trying to figure out how much I could get away with, but only got what was needed lol

you can even apply and get approved online, as I did with my last loan.