I got my car brand new in 2005. When is the best time to trade in?

Question

I got my car, brand new, in October of 2005 when I was 18 years old - paid in cash, no loan. I am 20 years old now and I really do love my car, but I'm wondering when the best time to trade it in is? The car is an 05 Haundai Elentra (I hope I spelled that correctly). I've been very good with oil changes and such.

I know that as soon as I start driving it, the value goes down a lot!

I'm thinking that I may want to keep the car for a total of 5 years (3 more years). Will the value go down much between now and two or three years down the road? (I mean, granted I continue to up keep the car and have no accidents) ??

Any info on this would be great. Thanks!!

Answer 1

Car value depreciates very quickly. If you look at kelly blue book, kbb.com and search your model and year, they'll tell you the current value on the market for it. Also try searching the same car but a 3 years earlier model. Put in your expected milage in 3 years and how the condition will be and you'll see the value of the car in 3 years which you want to sell it.

You can't really sell a used car for very much. The earlier the better because the value will greatly depreciate each year that passes. Good luck!

The car your talking about is a Hyundai Elantra.

Answer 2

An Elantra, even at two years old is mostly worthless. I'm not having a pop at you, or your car, but they're fairly unloved by the public and the motor trade.

But....

You've got what actually is a very good car, that's fully paid for and that you love. Why would you want to get rid of it???

You've already done the steepest part of the depreciation, you can carry on driving it for as long as you want and not lose much more. In the other 3 years you intend to keep it, yes it will drop in value a little more, but nothing like as much as it already has. It certainly isn't worth you trading it in now as anything new you replace it with will depreciate much more in that time than your Elantra will.

By the way - a big thumbs up to you for buying a sensible car and paying for it in full when you were 18. Stay away from credit forever if you can!

Answer 3

Unfortunately you purchased a Hyundai Elantra. But good your not making payments on it. Inexpensive entry level cars will not be worth much at trade up time. Your car is 3 model years old. Look at the auto trader classified in the paper and see what the average retail is then have some one look in the New car dealers black book based on condition and miles you might decide to finance your next car using the Hyundai Elantra as a down payment. If you were thinking I'd just drive this car a couple more years it might not bring very much money. Seriously think New Financed car soon Build Credit.

Answer 4

I would trade it in when the earlier of the following happens - You average more than $100 a month maintenance on it over the course of 12 months; or Something major goes wrong that will cost more to fix than the car is worth.

Answer 5

I would say just keep it. Drive it tell you can't drive it any more. If you own nothing on it, there is no point in trading it in, in another 3 years when there is nothing wrong with it. Keep up the common maintenance and it should last at least 10 years.

Answer 6

Your call will go down in value each year even if you stopped driving it. As long as your car has less than 100,000 miles on it when you trade it in, you should be able to get a fair trade. Most dealers will not offer any warrenty when they resell a car if it has more than 100,000 miles. So they must sell it for less than if it had 97,000 miles.

Answer 7

I would get rid of it as soon as possible and purchase something that holds it's value a bit better!

Answer 8

Keep it until the warranty is off it.