Need advice on car loan....

[Shwaa]

So I bought a 2013 Tacoma in Jan 2014.  Slightly used (5k miles), from dealership.  My down payment was 7k and I ended up with a 24k dollar loan.  ( I know, not the smartest idea at the time...but anyways....)

Lately I have been trying to pay it down aggressively.  My monthly payment is $450/mo and I always paid $600/mo...but the last 3 months  I have been paying $850/mo.   At this rate, I will have it paid off in 36 months (3 years) on a 60 month loan.  The APR is 2.9%.

I have 12k in savings, and I max out both my retirement accounts (401k, Roth IRA).   I put $500 into my savings every month.  It was $750/mo but I lowered it since I raised my car payment...

My question is the following...
 
Would you dip into that savings account to pay the truck off even faster and continue the $850 per month on top of that? 
Or stop the savings allocation for now and take that $500/mo and put it towards the car, for $1350 per month total?
Or just keep going along at $850, keep putting $500/mo into savings,  and pay it off by January 2017?

I love the truck and plan to have it for many years after it's paid off.  This loan though just aggravates me, but I know it's my own fault...

Advice?

Thanks!

[Uturn]

I would pay it off.  APR = investment compounding interest in reverse. 

Take as much as you are comfortable pulling out of savings, then add as much monthly to the loan as you can until it is gone.

[SwordGuy]

I can buy three low-mileage used cars in fine condition for the cost of your vehicle.   

Or a rental house that will, after another $10,000 is put into it, pay a truck payment like that.

But I'm one of those "Meh.  It's an automobile.  It gets me places.  The places I go and what I'm doing there and who I'm with while there are the important bits" kind of guys.

I hope you find that perspective useful in years to come. 

It's a fairly low interest rate.  You would probably do better investing the money in an index fund.

[lbmustache]

I would do option #2 since you 1) have a decent amount in savings and 2) the APR isn't crazy high to necessitate paying it off right this second (though of course, faster is better).

[DaveR]

Personally, I'd sell it and buy something less costly. I'm a bit like SwordGuy in that regard.

Since you seem like you'll probably keep it, pay it off as fast as possible. We don't know your whole debt picture, but assuming you don't have a bunch of other (credit card, student loan) debt at higher rates, take some of your savings to pay down the loan. Don't deplete you're savings, but you can likely put $6k-10k toward the loan. Then, every free dollar goes to wiping out the loan: $1350/mo plus any other cash you can find.

The truck should be paid off in 12 months. Then you rebuild savings (at a $1350/mo rate) and set aside cash for a truck maintenance fund (for a 3+ year old truck coming out of warranty).

[Shwaa]

Thanks for the feedback everyone.  I'm in it for the long haul with this one (so not planning on selling it and buying something cheaper).
Gonna try to pay it off within a year.  Take some of the savings and boost my payment even more.  Shouldnt be a problem.

Oh to answer the question, I have no other debt currently. So it will be nice to be out of this one!