Back in December, I traded my old Grand Cherokee for a gas-hog demo (34,000 miles) 5.7L Hemi Limited Edition Jeep GC.

The cocksuckers at the dealership, after whiddling down a deal I couldn't refuse ($1000 down; $425/mo. for X months @ 8.95%). Mind you, I have a 770-credit score, so this was uncalled for. This all included an extended B2B warranty to 75,000 miles or an additional 3 years, whichever comes first.

I'm no dummy with money, but the terms of the loan changed somewhere in between the deal and the closing. I would up paying that $425 per month for 7 years by their terms.

I took the fucker to my own bank, rolled my camera gear into it and re-fi'd for $610/mo. over 5.5 years. Not the best deal I've ever seen, but it saved me about $4,000.

Car dealers are fucking schisters.

In my line of thinking, due to your shitty credit, you should have taken the longer term loan, and put extra down in principal like you intend to do with the 48mo loan. I also have a Toyota Yaris for a commuter car, which I'm paying $332 per month over 5 years (@ 4.9%). If all goes right, it'll be paid off long before that, a $20k loan and Toyota has no early payoff penalty.

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A smart always walks into a dealership with outside financing. NEVER get financing at the dealership even with a high FICO score. Get financing first at your credit union, local bank you bank with, or national banks. Last resort is financing with manufacturer bank unless you are leasing.

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This was my lesson in prepayment penalties. I took a $600 hit between allowing the first payment month to lag (made the payment on time, but out of $425, $200 was interest alone) and the early payoff penalty at the original financial institution.

As mentioned above, my own bank was able to roll my camera gear & the 'new' Jeep into one, knock 18 months off the loan term & almost 2.5% all in one swipe. I'm no genius with money, but this experience definitely made me rethink future financing decisions.