Christian, since auto loan interest is not tax deductible, you can limit the amount you pay over time by paying more per month (assuming your loan doesn't have a prepayment penalty). Many years ago, I had a four year car loan and paid it off in about 16 months. I saved several thousand dollars in interest. When I buy my next car, it will be all cash or a company car paid for/leased by my company.

If you book extra scenes in a month, throw those earnings against the loan, not into savings. Unless you can guarantee a better than 9.24% AFTER tax return on your money (and even if you want to put it into retirement a better than 9.24% return is still needed) you will be ahead by retiring the loan early.

It is not a good idea to pay things off early when there is strong inflation like they had in the 1970s. Then you want to pay the minimum to repay the obligation with "cheaper" dollars over time. Another time not to pay things off early, if you have some form of interest rate arbitrage, i.e., below market financing, subsidized loans, etc. and you can get better return on your money in the open market than paying your debt obligation early.