How Many Years is 72 Months? (For Most Car Shoppers, Too Many)

Seventy-two months equals six years — and if you’re shopping for a car, that’s a long time to make payments. But such loans have become commonplace as consumers buy ever-pricier vehicles, and seven-year loans are rising in their wake. (That’s 84 months, in case you’re counting.)

Related: What to Know Before Taking on a 72- or 84-Month Car Loan

Popularity for such loans spiked in the early stages of the COVID-19 pandemic, with automakers rolling out financing incentives to spur suddenly stagnant sales. Most notable among them was a rise in 0% financing for 72 or 84 months from the likes of Fiat Chrysler Automobiles, GM and Hyundai. In fact, 84-month financing became so popular that it accounted for more than 1 in 5 new-vehicle sales for a short period in late March and early April 2020, or more than double its pre-COVID popularity, according to J.D. Power.

Especially among automakers’ finance arms — think Chrysler Capital or GM Financial — 72- and 84-month loans have “really continued to be almost a staple of their product offering,” said Greg McBride, chief financial analyst at Bankrate. “That’s only perpetuated in recent years as the average sticker price of new-car purchases has risen.”

Not that most shoppers actually secure such advertised rates. Bankrate notes that only about 1 in 10 car shoppers actually qualifies for low-interest financing, leaving the vast majority to contend with higher rates, especially for longer terms. Lengthier car loans require banks to take on more risk, so interest rates are typically higher. Witness average auto-loan terms as of April 2020, as tallied by Lending Tree:

• Three years (36 months): 4.21%
• Four years (48 months): 4.31%
• Five years (60 months): 4.37%
• Six years (72 months): 4.45%

Of course, longer loans lower your monthly payment amounts. Finance $30,000 on a vehicle at 4.37% for 60 months and your monthly payment works out to $558; finance the same amount at 4.45% for 72 months and the payment drops to $476.

You’ll also pay more over the life of the loan: roughly $4,300 in total interest for the 72-month term, versus around $3,500 in the 60-month term. And that’s not the only problem:

• You could be upside-down on the car for much of the loan term, owing more money than its residual value if you need to trade it in.
• Along the same lines, your insurance provider may require you to carry gap insurance, which pays the difference in the event of a total loss between what your car was worth and what you still owe on the loan.
• You might encounter a budget crunch five or six years down the road, with monthly payments unchanged and expensive repairs on a vehicle that’s past its new-car warranty.

For the creditworthy few who can get 0% loans for such lengthy terms, it’s free money — but even then, months or years of upside-down equity awaits from the moment you drive off the lot. That’s the sort of exposure you want to limit, McBride warned.

“Zero percent interest rate can offset that [exposure to negative equity], but you’re still knocking down that balance at a slower pace,” he said. “Having less equity in the vehicle does subject you to a deficiency balance in the event the car is totaled, or the added cost of carrying gap insurance. The depreciation of the car doesn’t depend on whether you got 0% financing or not. The car’s going to depreciate at the same pace.”

More From Cars.com:

• Cars.com Buying Guide: How to Buy a Car
• Car Loans: How to Get the Best Interest Rate
• Auto Loan Basics for First-Time Buyers
• More Car Financing Advice
• Find Your Next Car

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