Accelerating loan payments involves paying more than the required minimum toward your existing auto loan, whereas refinancing involves replacing your current auto loan with an entirely new one.
Accelerating your payments doesn’t change the terms of your original loan, but it can save you on interest and allow you to pay off the loan ahead of schedule. When you refinance a loan, you might get a lower interest rate or change the duration of the loan. Refinancing is a bigger change than accelerating your payments. Sometimes refinancing means you’ll pay more in total interest — especially if you extend your loan term. However, when looking for the best loan refinancing options, keep in mind that taking a longer loan term with more overall interest typically isn’t the wisest decision.