To refinance a car loan, the car has to qualify as much as you do. At the two big lenders we checked, that means roughly 10 years old or newer, a clean title with no salvage, branded or bonded history, a loan balance inside a set range, and at Chase no more than 120,000 miles. Capital One also turns away commercial and rideshare vehicles, lemon buybacks and lease buyouts. If your car fails any of those, your credit score will not save the application.
We read the refinance requirements from Capital One and Chase on November 8, 2026, plus the CFPB's guidance on prepayment penalties. It is easy to discover the vehicle rules late, after a soft-pull offer looked great, and then the deal dies over a title brand they did not know about or a car that aged out of the program a month ago. That is a miserable way to find out.
Age, mileage and loan amount
Capital One says vehicles must be 10 years old or newer and that it refinances cars, light trucks, minivans and SUVs for personal use only. Its loan amount runs from $7,500 to $75,000, and it adds that your current balance cannot be significantly greater than the car's estimated value. It also will not refinance makes no longer in production, giving Suzuki and Isuzu as examples, or motorcycles and RVs.
Chase sets the estimated payoff between $4,000 and $99,999, caps mileage at 120,000, and requires the car to be 10 years old or newer, or 5 years or newer for certain makes. Chase also wants at least 12 months left on your current loan, and it wants you to have had that loan for at least 91 days. So a two-month-old dealer loan you regret is too fresh at Chase, and a loan with eight payments left is too short.
Title rules: the part that kills deals
This is where vehicle history comes in. Chase states plainly that your title cannot be salvaged, branded or bonded. Capital One excludes salvage and branded titles too, plus vehicles with a history of chronic malfunctions or a manufacturer or dealer buyback, meaning lemons. It also excludes lease buyouts and any vehicle without a VIN or an issued title.
Capital One says it uses third-party information, including the VIN and the year, make and model, during the process. In practice, if a brand is sitting in the title history, expect it to come out. Our posts on refinancing a branded title car and why banks deny rebuilt title refinances cover what your options look like if that happens. If you bought the car used and never saw a full report, this is a good moment to pull one, before a lender pulls it for you.
Who has to be on the title
Capital One requires at least one applicant or co-applicant to be on the original loan and listed as a registered owner on the title. Chase says all current owners on the title must apply together, and that refinancing cannot change who is on the title or the state where it is titled. If you were hoping to drop an ex from the title as part of the refinance, that is a separate DMV job first.
Capital One also limits applicants to addresses in the contiguous United States, so Alaska, Hawaii and Puerto Rico addresses are not eligible for its program. Chase notes some states have extra rules; in New York, for example, the title must be provided.
Your current lender and the payoff
- Capital One only refinances loans from lenders that report to a major credit bureau, are FDIC or NCUA insured, or are both BBB-accredited and state-registered. A small lender that does none of those three will not qualify, no matter how good your credit looks.
- Chase says your current financing must appear on your credit report and your lien must be perfected, which means recorded on the title.
- Both lenders pay off your old loan and handle the title change. Chase says documents take about two weeks after approval, then 30 to 60 days for the payoff and title update depending on the DMV. Keep making payments to the old lender until you see it paid off.
- Capital One asks for the vehicle title or title transfer documents such as a limited power of attorney so it can record its lien. Our explainer on who holds the title during a car loan covers how that paperwork usually moves.
Run the numbers before you apply
Capital One publishes a representative example: $25,000 at 9.50% APR for 60 months comes to a monthly payment of $525.05. Chase advertises that customers who refinanced with it between May 2025 and June 2026 saved an average of $2,600 over the life of the loan, excluding optional coverage, tax, title and registration fees. Averages are averages. If your new term is longer than what you have left, a lower payment can still cost you more in total interest, so compare the total of payments on both loans, not just the monthly figure.
Prepayment penalties and fees
The CFPB says your contract and state law decide whether you can pay off an auto loan early without a penalty, and points you to the Truth in Lending disclosures in your original paperwork. Read those before you apply. Our post on car loan prepayment penalties goes deeper. Chase says it does not charge an application fee, but some states charge title fees and taxes on a refinance, which Chase rolls into the new loan.
Check the car before the rate
Before you apply anywhere, write down the model year, the exact odometer reading, the title state and status, and your payoff amount, then match them against each lender's list. If you are not sure about the title history, run a report. CARFAX itself charges roughly $39.99 to $44.99 for one report. We resell CARFAX and AutoCheck reports under license and are not affiliated with either company or Experian; recent prices here were about $5.50 for a guest, $4.50 for a member and $6.75 for both. Check the number at checkout, because it can change. Lender rules change too, so treat the numbers above as what the lenders published when we checked.
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