My fiance and I currently own a 2001 truck that has over 100,000 miles on it. We still owe over $10,000 on this vehicle. The blue book value is close to what we owe. We want to get another car, something that is newer and uses less gas, but we have never traded in before. We are on the Dave Ramsey plan and I know we are not supposed to acquire any more debt. We have 3 year left on our loan, and we though about finding a car, trading in our truck, and getting another 3 year loan, that way we are still paying the same amount of time. Is anyone experienced with trading in and other car matters? We really need a new vehicle!

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Soon to be married and learning to stretch a dollar!

some (quite a few around here) dealerships WILL pay off your trade w a purchase. ford has decreased sales by 25% this last yr so they are hurting. OR try an auto auction here the truck would go for 3-4k.

Is that the blue book trade in value? If so, you might consider trying to sell the truck on your own.. You would likely get more $$ and be able to pay off the loan & have some extra to use towards a down payment on the new car.

Watch your newspaper ads. With some (if not all) dealerships buying a new car that is on advertisiement is a lot like buying any other item with a coupon... especially when there is a rebate involved. Yes, you usually have little to no negotiating room, but you go into the deal knowing what the lowest $$ is on the vehical.

Make sure you test drive all the styles of vehicals you are considering. Make notes of your must have features. This way when you are watching the ads you can call to see if the vehical in question has what you want (ie cruise control or sunroof, ect..). When you make this call see if you can make an appt to see that vehical. In the dealership I worked for we had a policy that if a customer was coming in w/ an appt we could pull the key for that vehical up to 15 minutes before the appt, and hold it for 15 minutes after they were going to arrive. This way, if we promised someone over the phone that the car was here, it was likely to still be there when they arrived. I don't know if this is standard practice or not.

Usually this is the best time of year to buy new. Go for an 07 model year. be willing to spend all day if you have to (only if it is a busy day though..), and be willing to walk away from the deal if you do not get the terms you want.

Another tip.. do not fall in love with the new car. Be willing to walk away from the deal.. because you never know when the sales person (or their boss) will negotiate themselves lower to sell you the car.

I hope this helped!
If you have any other questions please feel free to pm me.

True, any dealership will do this, but believe me, it's not free. They pay it off and tack the amount you still owe onto the new loan - it's called negative equity and can be very dangerous. It's better to sell it on your own. You will ALWAYS get less in trade in. Blue Book is much more than trade in value. If you go to Edmunds.com, you can get some interesting info on negotiating, along with your true trade in value. My gut feel is that you would be better off keeping this thing, unless it gets too expensive to keep in gas and maintenance. But it certainly wouldn't hurt to shop around. My first place to shop would be in research on the web. That way, too, the new car smell doesn't make you high and do something out of emotion.

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Make someone's heart smile today.

+1 on the trade in thing. I have a truck that I will be selling outright - I owe $11k on it still, KBB puts the resale at $12k, trade-in at $8k, and for s&g I took it to a dealer ship to see what they might give me for a trade - $6k. Um no. I have 112k miles on it, runs great - only getting rid of it to buy a more used vehicle that we can buy outright.

Why do you NEED a "new" vehicle? Many vehicles can go well over 100k miles, my mom's Dodge just rolled over 200k. I'm sure my truck would make it to 200k easily. Proper maintenance can make them keep going and going and going....I had to put $1200 in repairs into my truck last year, but that has me completely set (new brakes all around, new shocks, thermostat, starter, plugs, etc).

I plan on buying an ad on autotrader.com and possibly cars.com. Both offer decent ad packages, with lots of people checking them. It also helps to check out what similar year/model/mileage vehicles are selling for in your area.

I would either keep it until paid off and then keep it another year why you save up the car payments into a savings and then pay cash for a used one. That would be the Dave way.

or

If you are dead set on getting more debt, then sell it first-don't trade it in! Try selling it on Craiglist since it's free to advertise.

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A woman is like a teabag. You never know how strong she is until she gets into hot water.-Eleanor Roosevelt

Well it seems that the big suggestion here is to keep the car. I'm ok with that. But how do you sell a car that you owe money on? May seem like a silly question, but I've never done this. We have our loan through the motor company itself, so do we sell it, get the cash, pay it off, transfer title? I'd appreciate any help on this part.

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Soon to be married and learning to stretch a dollar!

How do you sell a car that is secured by a loan?

You sell the car like you would if you owned it outright. You submit the transfer paperwork to the department of motor vehicles. The buyer will go down to the department and ask for a transfer of title. This will trigger the loan department to ask for you to pay-off the loan. Once you do so, the title is transferred to the new owner. Even if you default on the loan, the new owner gets their own title. The loan company then starts legal proceedings against you to get their money back. If you have more questions, you can ask your department of motor vehicles for more information.

On the bigger picture, I'm inclined to keep the vehicle or sell it but don't borrow to acquire another vehicle.

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"I've been rich and I've been poor but independently wealthy is where it is at."

Your postings have really helped. We decided to ride it out, go to some dealers and find out what kind of car we would like in the future, and then try to sell our car later. Thank you so much!

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Soon to be married and learning to stretch a dollar!

For fun, see if you can get a trade in quote for your truck. It's sometimes pretty depressing! Dealerships can be brutal!