If Harold is still chugging away next summer, I recommend that you try to get yourself in better financial position instead of running out and commiting that $400 to years of payments.
Read the posts by all the people on this board who keep their cars for a long time for inspiration. I will admit I'm driving a pretty new one now, but that's only because I lost my dad. When I inherited his car last summer, I was driving a Grand Caravan with 230,000 miles. My DH's Camry is about to hit 100,000 miles and we think of it as "new." He would probably still be driving his "old" Camry if someone hadn't pulled out in front of him.
and OP,stay with your idea, pay your bills down, then apply what you were paying to a savings acct. to build a nice down payment for when harold actually dies
