With interest rates near all time lows for the last several years, many people have been refinancing their mortgages, lowering their mortgage interest rates and monthly payments. It is also possible to save a lot of money by refinancing your auto loan.

Auto loans carry much shorter payoff schedules than do home loans, so it is to your advantage to refinance your car loan as early as possible, before a good deal of the original loan has already been repaid. If you are already several years into making payments on a car, the savings will not be as great.

When you refinance an auto loan, you will pay off the existing loan completely and enter into a new loan agreement, which will ideally carry a lower interest rate than the original loan. If your refinance loan has a payoff time longer than what was left of your original car loan, and your interest rate is equal to or lower than your previous interest rate, you will in turn have lower monthly payments. You may opt to take the interest savings from the new loan and apply it toward the principal, thereby reducing your payoff time.

Before you apply for an auto refinance loan, you should determine your credit score. To qualify for a refinance loan, you do not have to have perfect credit, but your FICO score should be at least 550 or higher to qualify for a competitive interest rate.

The next thing to look at is the interest rate on your current auto loan. You want to make sure you will be able to get a lower interest rate when you refinance. If you find you can't get a lower interest rate than you already have, it may not be worth it to refinance, unless you are satisfied to simply extend your payoff time to get lower monthly payments. In contrast, if you are able to knock down your interest rate by several percentage points, you could save thousands of dollars during repayment.

When refinancing a car loan, you will need to know the exact amount needed to pay off your original loan. While some companies offer an auto equity loan with cash back, most traditional lenders will only loan enough money to cover the payoff cost of the vehicle. In either case, you will need to know the payoff balance of your existing loan.

Another benefit of auto loan refinancing is that in most cases you will be able to skip a payment. Because you are entering a completely new financial agreement, there will be some time involved in paying off your original loan and receiving a payment schedule for the refinance loan. This will allow you to effectively skip a monthly payment.

Finally, compare several lenders and get a feel for what kind of interest rate you are likely to get on an auto refinance loan. Rates and terms will vary from lender to lender. Before getting your car loan quotes, collect all necessary personal information, including address and phone number, time with your current employer and salary level, residence history, and contact information. Doing your homework ahead of time will insure that you get the best possible interest rate for your auto loan refinance.