I have a question on trading in a car?

Question

does it matter how long i have owned the car? i have only had it for 3 months and im making payments on it but want to trade it in because of therising gas prices. i know some places that'll pay off my trade no matter how much i owe on it but is their a time limit where i need to have owned my car before i can trade it in? or no?

Answer 1

I believe that there is no time limit as long as you have the title.

Answer 2

First off how long did you finance it for? if you financed for lets say 60 months and you have only made 3 payments you have quite a bit of negative equity. In order to be in a position where you are paying on the principle and not the interest you should pay at leat 2 1/2 years -3 years before you could trade it in. they will tack the negative back onto your new loan so you would pay for it one way or the other. true they do pay it off but the money spent to pay it off gets tacked back onto your new loan.

Answer 3

Sure you can.  I used to work as a car salesman when I was younger, and on more than one occasion, I took trade ins from customer's that had bought a car three WEEKS ago.  But unless you made a decent-sized down payment, you're likely in bad shape from a negative-equity standpoint.

You're going to have to roll in that negative equity into your new loan, or pay it off in cash.  Keep that in mind, since this might cost you thousands of dollars to drive that trade-in of yours for three months.  Really do the math and consider if the gas savings will be worth it.

Good luck!

Answer 4

You can trade it in whenever you want, I just took a truck in on trade that the guy had for 4 mnths. Like most other people  have said its going to cost you a ton of money in negative equity though. Any dealership will pay off your loan but when they do they charge you the same amount more on the new loan. You will lose $4-5 thousand minimum, probably more, and maybe alot more.

Answer 5

Nope, you can trade in a car any time you want. It's your car, your money, you can do whatever you want to with it.

Just realize that you will lose money by trading in a car that you are still making payments on. How much you lose depends on what you're driving now and what you want to trade it in on.

Answer 6

I don't think you understand.  Yes they can payoff your car, but the negative equity is put back into the car you are buying.  If you have a lot of negative equity and plan on buying a different car, your loan to value may be way out of whack and they will not be able to get you financed.

Answer 7

well what i was told when i got my car you have to wait 6 months or up to a year so it can help your credit a little and then you can trade in the car. i never heard of trading the car during 3 months of purchase, but go ahead and try or just call a dealership and ask them that question or go back to the same dealership you bought it at or thge bank financing your car.