Whether one loan actually beats paying off what you already owe — measured against the best you could do without consolidating, not against making minimum payments forever.
Payment, total interest, and the effective APR once an origination fee is deducted from what actually reaches your account.
What paying extra actually saves you — in interest and in months — on a car loan, a personal loan, or anything else that amortizes.
Add up your recurring monthly debts — for a mortgage debt-to-income (DTI) check, a rent application, or a payoff plan.
One number, in writing, itemised — and the scripts that get it. Every line a dealer can add, which of them are negotiable, and what your own state's tax rules do to the total.
One number, itemised, with the taxable amount working your state's trade-in rule live rather than leaving it to you to remember: four states with a sales tax credit nothing against a trade-in, and Ohio credits it against a new vehicle only. Checks a documentation fee against the nine statutory caps this site has confirmed, and is explicit that the other 41 states are unresearched rather than uncapped. Prices the F&I office as the optional extra it is, and adds the trade-in payoff back into the amount financed — because negative equity does not disappear when you trade the car, it moves into the new loan and accrues interest.