Unless your are applying for a new loan, auto or mortgage etc.. or having revolving accounts that apr would jump up because of DTI and if not PIF each month I wouldn't worry about what your score would be after this auto loan. As for making a chunk of payments, if the funds were available at time of sale you should have put that money on dp to lower your over all interest paid on the loan and make your monthly payment lower. Any points lost you can expect to get back in 6 months with all payments paid on time everytime.