There are many ways to shop for a car, and just as many ways to shop for a car loan. Finding the best deal on the financing is just as important as negotiating the best price on the wheels themselves, and this article should help to shed some light on the sometimes myseterious world of auto financing.

Watch the Loan Length

There has been a growing, and somewhat disturbing, trend over the past decade to extend the length of car loans, until some have begun to resemble mini-mortgages more than auto financing. While the standard length of an automobile loan used to be no more than three, four or five years at the most, these days there are six, seven and even eight year car loans. Can the thirty year car mortgage be far behind?

In many ways this trend is perfectly understandable. The prices of cars have certainly gone up quite a bit in recent years, and in most cases the price of new cars has risen more quickly than either real wages or inflation. With earnings not keeping pace with car prices, it is easy to see that our earnings buy less car than they used to, and that extending the term of the car loan helps to lower payments.

What Long Term Car Loans are Dangerous

While it is certainly desirable, and even necessary, to keep the monthly car payment as low as possible, financing a car for six, seven or even eight years can be quite dangerous, and quite costly. Unlike homes, which tend to only go up in value, a car