I got a loan from a used car dealership and have been making $431 monthly payments (w/ a 13-15% interest rate) for about a year now on a 2004 Chrysler Sebring.
Walked out the door at about $14K+, I'm tired of the car and want to trade it in via another car dealer for something better like a Mazda 6 that might run around $15-16K+... but not sure if it's too early to even try??
What type of time frame should I be safe to try this i... or is it based on how much you have paid so far?
Any info would be greatly appreciated. =] - Thanks in advance.
2007-04-18 17:37:31 · 7 answers · asked by Anonymous in Cars & Transportation ➔ Buying & Selling
you will probably get the best deal form the same dealer you bought this car from /
2007-04-18 17:43:50 · answer #1 · answered by Anonymous · 0⤊ 0⤋
Unfortunately the Sebring doesn't have a very high resale value. Not sure what model/options/mileage you have on your car but that will determine what it's worth as a trade-in or if you sell it yourself. Selling it yourself will get you more. Go to kbb.com. That's Kelly Blue Book. It'll give you a rough estimate on what your car's worth. Say it's worth $10,000 and you still owe $13,000 that means you're already $3,000 in the red (that's bad). Since you've only had the car about a year and your interest rate is very high than you couldn't have paid too much towards your principle. One option is to find a dealer that may "pay off" your loan and give you a clean slate to buy a new car from them. Otherwise they may try to carry over what you owe on the price of your new car. Don't get suckered into this. Really the best time after buying a car and trading it in for a new one is at least half of the loan term. The longer you wait the better because the beginning months are mostly interest payments. Call your bank, find out what your payoff is, then find out what your Sebring is worth. Do the math and go from there. Good Luck.
2007-04-18 17:56:18 · answer #2 · answered by John C 4 · 0⤊ 0⤋
At this point it's a virtual certainty that you are "upside down" on your note, meaning that you owe more than the car is worth. Sebrings don't hold their value at all which only compounds your problem.
If you trade now, that shortfall WILL be added to the note on your new car so not only will you be paying for the new one but you'll be paying off the shortage on your old car as well. This will leave you even further upside down than you currently are.
If you have a 5 year loan at that extremely high rate it's not likely that you'll be right side up on the loan for another 2 - 3 years at least. Any attempt to trade it off before then will cost you dearly in the long run.
Ask yourself this: "Do I really want to pay $19k for a stripped down Mazda 6 that's only worth $16k to begin with?" Hopefully your answer will be a resounding NO!
2007-04-19 00:41:05 · answer #3 · answered by Bostonian In MO 7 · 0⤊ 0⤋
There is no time limit. You can trade cars every day if you can get financing. You will have to either roll the first loan into the newer car financing or pay the Chrysler off and assume the new loan. If you have good credit you might get a loan for the old and newer car as one new loan. But good luck with that 30 grand for a used car would be stretching things a bit
2007-04-18 17:48:29 · answer #4 · answered by redd headd 7 · 0⤊ 0⤋
You can trade in the car all right but they are probably going to hit you hard. That was one hell of an interest rate you were given. What is probably going to happen is that you are not going to get in trade what you owe on the car. This means that if you can't sell the car yourself for what you owe and the dealer doesn't give you enough, it will be tacked on to your new car purchase. Now depending on the amount of years in the loan and the interest rate, you could have one hell of a monthly payment. You can give it a shot though.
2007-04-18 17:49:14 · answer #5 · answered by Tex 2 · 0⤊ 0⤋
Most likely you will be upside down, meaning that you actually now owe more than the car is worth after depreciation. So if you are wanting to trade it in and you paid 14K, they may say it is only worth 11K and you still owe 12500.
For the first year you are mostly paying interest. It is worth looking into but I am afraid you will be disappointed with your result. Good luck though!
2007-04-18 17:46:11 · answer #6 · answered by ReaderTX 2 · 0⤊ 0⤋
It depends on how far down your current loan has been paid. They might ask for another down payment, and it still might be hard to get someone to pick up the loan.
2007-04-18 17:40:59 · answer #7 · answered by prettygirlsmakegraves 3 · 0⤊ 0⤋