Consumers are turning to longer automobile loans to keep their monthly payments low, according to the Dallas Morning News. While six-year loans might make new cars and trucks more attainable, they may prove to be a bigger problem than solution, some dealers say.

Among them: Consumers, in the long term, could slide deeper into debt. And local dealers – who for nearly a decade have counted on consistent sales growth in one of the nation's strongest new-vehicle markets – could see more peaks and valleys in their business as people are forced to keep their heavily financed vehicles for a longer time, the News said.

Six-year financing is not yet a major issue with the nation's car dealers and might not become one if the economy continues to strengthen, pushing up the value of trade-ins and used cars, according to Paul Taylor, chief

economist at the National Automobile Dealers Association (NADA).