Car is under my girlfriend's name, can I refinance it?

If we deconstruct the question to its constituent pieces, it sounds like you want to discharge the loan on your (ex-girlfriend’s) existing car, sell it and take out a loan to buy a new car.

Well, you are allowed to pay off the loan on the old car, subject to early discharge conditions. You are also allowed to apply for a loan on the new car. But if the old car is not in your name, it isn’t yours to sell.

As the car title is in your girlfriend's name, she is the registered owner of the car. Lender is the legal owner of the car.

There are couple of options:

• Let the girl friend trade-in the car: As the title is under your girlfriend's name, she has to visit dealership to trade-in the existing car, there are paper works, where dealership will take care of paying-off existing loan and factor that in the price of the new car. New car will be in your girlfriend's name.

• Pay off the loan and girl friend can gift the title to you: Once the loan is paid off, your girlfriend can gift the car to you. When the car is in loan, she cannot gift the car to you. Once the title is in your name, you can trade in the car, as the title is in your name. In this case, girl friend need not be present for trade-in, as the car title is in your name.