I need to trade in my car for a more fuel efficiant car.?

Question

i am still paying the car off. Can i take it to trade in at another dealer or do i have to trade it in where i purchased it in the first place. i don't much care for the place i got it at and i just need a car that semi nice that i can pay off quickly. i hav car payments lol

Answer 1

Before you rush out and buy a new car just to get better fuel efficiency, you should step back for a moment and do a little math.

You need to figure your break even point on your new car.  You could be throwing good money after bad.

How much money are you going to lose on your old car in the deal?  First off, you very seldom come out ahead when trading a car.  Even if you think you are getting a good deal, the dealer will make up the difference on the price of the new car. And if your old car isn't a very fuel efficient model, the dealer is going to give you less because he is going to have a hard time selling it so he will give you less money for it.

Your old car must be fairly new as you are still making payments on it.  So suppose you lose $3000 on your old car in trade.  You have to save $3000 in gas with your new car to make up the difference.  Even if your new car's fuel mileage is 10 MPG better than what you drive now, it can take several years and up to 100,000 miles to make up the difference.

Also, it sounds like you want to pay more money for less car.  This is a little less tangible calculation, but should also be considered in your break even point.

So buying a new car just to save a few bucks every week on gas doesn't make sense.  You would only be shifting from paying money to the oil company to paying the car dealer.  You are better off keeping your old car until it is used up and buying a more fuel efficient model then.

Answer 2

ataboy jack

good answer

gotta run the numbers

Answer 3

trade it in to a honda dealer the si gets like 30mpg in the highway

Answer 4

you can certainly trade at another dealer. depending on how much you owe, they will add the difference to the price of your new car. So if you owe like 5k and you're looking at a Honda Fit(15k), don't expect a great deal. If you have a credit Union, try to get your loan through that first. if not, see if your credit is good enough for the manufacturer loan(i.e, American Honda Finance, etc.) If you missed payments, that will also affect your loan rate. Otherwise, they'll look for an outside bank that will give you a loan for a crazy APR(like 18% for 7 years with payments of $250/month, something crazy like that). Stay up!