What happens when you get your car loan paid off?

[KCRoadFan]

From your experience - when you finish paying off your car loan, what was it like for you? I'm on track to have my car paid off this September.

[JayhawkCO]

Generally I've gotten a letter and the title the next month.

[Max Rockatansky]

The title shows up in the mail.  Sometimes you get a letter from the lienholder telling you what to expect.

[Big John]

Got a letter saying the loan was paid off and the title in the same envelope.

[Road Hog]

You get the title and then your vehicle breaks down majorly the next month.

[ozarkman417]

You become broke... /s. Quite the opposite actually, now that you don't have a multi-hundred dollar monthly expense to worry about. There's a bit of truth to the being broke part for me because not too long ago I had just enough in my savings to pay it off early. Unfortunately, I had a repair bill for it around the same time, draining my bank account which means less trips in said car for a bit.

[mgk920]

The last couple of decades my usual routine has been to drive a fully owned used car until experiencing the good fortune(?) of having someone else drive into it, then use the insurance settlement and cash on hand to replace the car with another decent used car.  No ongoing loan debt.



Mike

[ilpt4u]

From your experience - when you finish paying off your car loan, what was it like for you? I'm on track to have my car paid off this September.

Had I made the final payment in cash (or from another account at the bank that had my car note) I could have received my title at the time of the final payment was (made it in person). I cut a check from my primary use checking account at another bank, so I got the title about a week later in the mail

It does tend to loosen the budget a bit, having a few hundred not allocated to loan payments every month. Save it. Spend it. Whatever, but it isn't going to the bank, anymore

[Scott5114]

In Oklahoma, you would get the title at the time of sale, but it has the lien information printed on it. So whenever you pay the car off, you just get a letter from the lienholder saying the lien is released. Then either you take that into the tag agency with the title and get a new lien-free title, or you just keep the two together so if you sell the car the new owner can get a lien-free title (or one with only their own lien on it).

[kkt]

The dealership where you bought it starts sending you trade-in offers.

[Big John]

The dealership where you bought it starts sending you trade-in offers.

Or tell you they are in desperate need of vehicles that just happen to be of your make, model and year.

[formulanone]

The dealership where you bought it starts sending you trade-in offers.

Or tell you they are in desperate need of vehicles that just happen to be of your make, model and year.

It was actually true in 2021 and 2022. Much less the case now.

Some were getting so desperate as to have employees' nicer rides and visitors park up front to make it appear a little more full.

[1995hoo]

The exact process almost certainly depends on the state and how title works. In Virginia, unlike in Oklahoma, you normally don't get the title when the lien is in place. So when I paid mine off, I got a letter from the bank confirming I'd paid it off and telling me they'd notify the DMV that the lien was satisfied. A few days later, I received the title from the DMV and it has a notation that there are no liens (I can look to see the exact wording if you're interested edited because I found myself wondering: It says, "No liens—lien satisfied on (date)."). I keep the title in the same file folder where I keep the maintenance records so that everything's in one place and so that it's easy to find if I ever sell the car or trade it in.

In theory, ideally you would take the money you've been using for the car payment and save that amount each month in a high-yield account or similar, in part to build up money for the next time you need to buy a car (which hopefully won't be for a long time). In theory you wouldn't miss having that amount around as disposable income. In reality, of course, that's hard to do because there are always other things on which to use the money.

[WillWeaverRVA]

You get the title in the mail from the DMV, then your car activates a setting that attracts other cars and hazardous objects to crash into it while also making everything more prone to breaking.

[epzik8]

Well, in my roommate's case, he's planning to get a new one (and perhaps do the whole thing over).

[catch22]

In Oklahoma, you would get the title at the time of sale, but it has the lien information printed on it. So whenever you pay the car off, you just get a letter from the lienholder saying the lien is released. Then either you take that into the tag agency with the title and get a new lien-free title, or you just keep the two together so if you sell the car the new owner can get a lien-free title (or one with only their own lien on it).

Pretty much the same in Michigan.

[jmacswimmer]

In Oklahoma, you would get the title at the time of sale, but it has the lien information printed on it. So whenever you pay the car off, you just get a letter from the lienholder saying the lien is released. Then either you take that into the tag agency with the title and get a new lien-free title, or you just keep the two together so if you sell the car the new owner can get a lien-free title (or one with only their own lien on it).

Pretty much the same in Michigan.

Likewise for Maryland - I got the lien release paperwork (printed on the same fancy paper that the MVA uses for titles) a few weeks after paying off my car, and simply filed it away with the original title (which has the lien information on it).

(I think the MVA charged a fee for getting a new lien-free title printed IIRC, so that certainly helped my decision in just keeping the original title + lien release. That, and the need to pay a visit to the MVA.)

[triplemultiplex]

From your experience - when you finish paying off your car loan, what was it like for you? I'm on track to have my car paid off this September.

Something will go wrong with the car that will cost at least a grand to fix.

The Universe has a funny sense of humor about things like paying off a car.

[SP Cook]

Time before last, the bank (which does business locally, but its not my bank, and which is, ironically for this state, the only top 100 bank based here) just sent me a release, like for a home loan, they had lost the title.  I had to go to the DMV and wait hours for a new title.  I complained to the bank and they gave me the $10 fee, but that is all.  Never do business with them again. 

Usually I just get the thing in the mail after a couple of weeks.  Life pro tip, at least in my state, if you lose a title and have to get it reprinted they will only print it for the bank and with the bank's lien recorded on it, which can be difficult after some time has passed.  Best practice is when you have some free time, take the title with the lien release signed on it, and get a new title printed, which will be clear.  Then if you have to get a new one, the DMV will print a clear one.

A friend of mine moved here from NJ.  Owed money on his car.  Went to the DMV and they gave him a "x title" which is not a title at all, they just registered the car and where the title number is on the registration card it just was a bunch of x's.  Well he paid the car off but never told the bank he moved.  So bank mailed the title to his NJ address, where it got returned to sender.  Bank just shredded the mail. 

So fast forward, he drives the car for many more years.  Then he has to trade, car is broken down, big $$ repair.  Does not have a title.  Bank in NJ has been bought out multiple times, took a week to even figure out what it was called now.  Ended up having to have a NJ friend take a power of attorney to the NJ DMV and get a NJ title printed, and then get the NJ lien released from the bank, and then take the title to the WV DMV, get a WV title, and then sign that over to the dealer.    Always get your title moved to your new state, the USPS only forwards mail for 6 months, and the bank is just going to slap it in an envelope and mail it to what is on the title.

[kkt]

Time before last, the bank (which does business locally, but its not my bank, and which is, ironically for this state, the only top 100 bank based here) just sent me a release, like for a home loan, they had lost the title.  I had to go to the DMV and wait hours for a new title.  I complained to the bank and they gave me the $10 fee, but that is all.  Never do business with them again. 

If you'd known they'd lost their homework the title, maybe you should have stopped making the payments years ago!

They should have at least paid you for your time waiting in line at the DMV.  Do you think if THEY had to go to some office and waiting line for a few hours because of YOUR screwup, they wouldn't charge you?

[jeffandnicole]

Time before last, the bank (which does business locally, but its not my bank, and which is, ironically for this state, the only top 100 bank based here) just sent me a release, like for a home loan, they had lost the title.  I had to go to the DMV and wait hours for a new title.  I complained to the bank and they gave me the $10 fee, but that is all.  Never do business with them again. 

If you'd known they'd lost their homework the title, maybe you should have stopped making the payments years ago!

They should have at least paid you for your time waiting in line at the DMV.  Do you think if THEY had to go to some office and waiting line for a few hours because of YOUR screwup, they wouldn't charge you?

How would someone know the bank lost the title?  It's not like we check in every 3 months to physically see it.

As for recouping money for time, since people aren't billing themselves, there's no "loss".  Yeah, there's a few instances here and there where people have recouped time for money (or at least claimed they got paid for their time, which is a vague figure to begin with), but normally that's not how it works.

[Scott5114]

From your experience - when you finish paying off your car loan, what was it like for you? I'm on track to have my car paid off this September.

Something will go wrong with the car that will cost at least a grand to fix.

I had one car get totaled right after paying it off.

[Rothman]

From your experience - when you finish paying off your car loan, what was it like for you? I'm on track to have my car paid off this September.

Something will go wrong with the car that will cost at least a grand to fix.

I had one car get totaled right after paying it off.

So, your life is God's sense of humor.

[1995hoo]

From your experience - when you finish paying off your car loan, what was it like for you? I'm on track to have my car paid off this September.

Something will go wrong with the car that will cost at least a grand to fix.

I had one car get totaled right after paying it off.

My 1997 Accord got totaled when I had one payment left. It was also, naturally, the day after the mechanic told me I maintained the car so religiously, I'd easily get 250,000 miles as long as I wasn't in a wreck.

[kkt]

From your experience - when you finish paying off your car loan, what was it like for you? I'm on track to have my car paid off this September.

Something will go wrong with the car that will cost at least a grand to fix.

I had one car get totaled right after paying it off.

So, your life is God's sense of humor.

God has a middle schooler's sense of humor.